Thanks to a global boom in podcasting, the latest online phenomenon which allows people to automatically download radio shows on to their computers, iPods or mp3 players, a young Birmingham IT administrator has found fame world-wide.
Phil Coyne, aged 20 years from Halesowen, hosts and produces Bitjobs for the Masses (www.bitjobs.net), a podcast dedicated to revealing new musical talent and promoting unsigned bands. Having stumbled upon podcasting earlier in the year, Phil launched his own twice weekly show in March and was astonished to find that within 3 months he was getting over 2,000 listeners a week from all over the globe including America, Australia, Germany and Russia.
Within weeks Phil was also receiving submissions from singers, bands and their representatives hoping to get played on Bitjobs as the show has become increasingly well known. This and other music podcasts have had a major impact in highlighting some terrific musical talent that has until now remained undiscovered.
As Phil says: “The beauty of podcasting is that you can choose exactly what you want to do on the show, without having to worry about a radio station or its sponsors restricting your choices. This means I have the freedom to play the music I think deserves a wider audience, rather than playing the same old commercial play lists.
“I have to admit I was taken aback by the popularity of my podcast, particularly in the US, but it seems American’s just love the brummie accent, so I’m not complaining. It’s nice to think some Americans now know there’s a Birmingham in the West Midlands as well as Alabama!”
Phil has big plans to grown the audience for Bitjobs and has recently joined the Association of Music Podcasting (AMP), an association of over 60 music-based podcasts who are all working together to produce quality music podcasts.
In addition to that, he has also recently launched the FTM Podcast Network with the goal of allow local musicians to create their own podcasts that can be downloaded by their fans all around the world.
“There’s definitely a lot of people that are interested in seeing podcasts by their favourite bands. We’re going to see a lot more success stories akin to The Arctic Monkeys in the next few months brought about through play on podcasts.”
For further information about Bitjobs For The Masses visit www.bitjobs.net.
Media Enquiries to:
Phil Coyne
Bitjobs For The Masses
Tel: 07790068549
Notes to Editors:
1.Details of the Association of Music Podcasting (AMP) can be found at www.musicpodcsating.org.
