A company called the Podcast Host has recently secured a transatlantic funding round. With this in the bag, the company has launched what is described as the world’s first ever generative podcast NFT collection. The podcasts come under the branding of ‘The Curious Companion’.
This has come about in conjunction with the podcast making webapp Alitu, which provides podcast-specific tools for recording, production, editing and audio cleanup.
One reason for the venture is because podcast listenership is growing. For example, in the US alone 57 percent of people have listened to a podcast at least once in 2021, according to Infinite Dial.
The launch of the podcasts as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is set to be the first of a number of experiments with digital content in different forms, beginning with podcasting NFTs. The company’s aim is to inspire more podcasters to think outside of the box when it comes to monetising their content
In terms of the podcast content, The Curious Companion is a series of podcasts each based around a very short story with over 6000 possible variations. The podcasts are minted on the Solana blockchain for podcast fans, and those with an eye on future investments, to collect and own.
For those concerned with the environmental impact of blockchains, the Solana platform is assessed as having a relatively low carbon impact. This is because, per transaction Solana uses 1,837 Joules, approximately the same amount of energy consumed by two Google searches.
Over the course of five weeks, starting in the last week of January 2022, the Podcast Host is releasing 20 variations of the stories per week on Solsea. Using the platforms on digital currency, these will sell for around 0.2 SOL per podcast (this is equivalent to $26.84 at the time of writing).
These are entry level prices, and in time the cost of podcasts as NFTs is expected to rise should this latest non-interchangeable digital application prove to be a success in the emergent NFT market.
Along with video and images, the podcast format appears to tick the NFT box – as a unique unit of data employing technology that allows digital content.
