Live podcasting takes off at SXSW, with iHeartRadio, PRX, TuneIn

sxsw logo 300wLive podcasting is increasingly a thing, and is playing out at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) interactive festival next week in Austin.

For the first year, SXSW has opened a Podcast Stage for live podcast production, turning what is historically a recorded medium into performance art. It’s not a first-time breakthrough for podcasting generally, but it does start to put podcasting on an even footing with live music as a festival attraction — especially since the interactive and music agendas overlap this year.

“We’re giving podcasts the chance to record live at SXSW 2017 as part of the first ever Podcast Stage,” SXSW noted. “Open to all badge holders, the Podcast Stage will host up to 42 podcasts as diverse and varied as the crowd at SXSW.”

Over the course of seven days, six podcasts per day will take over the stage (including rebranding it if they want). The stage is sponsored by TuneIn.

iHeartRadio is also jumping into the live-podcast idea. On March 14, iHR partners with PRX for live performances from eight well-known podcasts at The Capital Factory. Performers include:

Mortified, from Radiotopia
Intercepted, from First Look Media
CRYBABIES, from Earwolf
Joseph Fink from Night Vale Presents
Another Round, from BuzzFeed
Dinner Party Download, from APM
Wrongful Conviction, from reVolver Podcasts
Found, from Wondery

It’s a startling fact — you can spend your days at SXSW listening to live podcast performances.


Brad Hill