Indie Spotlight is here – five podcasts that could hardly be more different
With RelayPlay 1.4.1, a small experiment is launching that I’ve ended up enjoying much more than I originally expected: Indie Spotlight.
The idea behind it is actually pretty simple.
Podcast recommendations are getting increasingly good at showing us more of what we already like. Algorithms and AI can be incredibly useful for that, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it.
But sometimes I want exactly the opposite.
I want to discover something I would never have searched for myself.
That’s why Indie Spotlight deliberately works a little differently.
The podcasts aren’t selected based on click numbers, ratings or a recommendation algorithm. I listen to them myself, and in some cases I’ve even started getting to know the people behind them.
I add shows when I find something that makes me think:
“Someone else should hear this.”
My own taste isn’t the deciding factor either. I don’t need to personally subscribe to every podcast in Indie Spotlight. If I can understand why someone else would enjoy it and I find something genuinely interesting about it, that’s enough.
And the first five podcasts probably demonstrate that idea better than I ever could.
Two Emotionally Aware Idiots
Nicole and Taylor talk about their lives and pretty much whatever enters their heads along the way. Chaotic, loud, funny and wonderfully unpredictable at times.
More than anything, you can hear how much fun they have recording together. Their chemistry is the show, and that’s exactly what I love about it.
Running for Beginners
Almost the complete opposite in style.
A professionally produced podcast about running, aimed at beginners as well as people getting back into it. Informative, motivating and very accessible.
Running isn’t exactly one of my personal passions, but that’s also part of the point of Indie Spotlight: I can still recognize a really well-made podcast even when the subject isn’t something I would normally search for.
CHANGED BY CANCER
A much more serious and deeply personal show about cancer and the people whose lives have been changed by it.
It’s a subject I probably wouldn’t have clicked on based purely on the topic. But learning more about Randi and the story behind the podcast completely changed how I saw it.
Sometimes understanding the person behind a podcast changes the podcast itself.
Seitenwind – Der Bücher-Podcast
A German-language podcast about books and literature.
Different language, different subject, different audience.
And that’s exactly why it belongs here.
Zeitkapsel – Erinnerungen, die bleiben
Another German-language podcast that is still developing and finding its own format.
A lot of the conversations revolve around different kinds of “first times” in life – and no, not necessarily the first kind of “first time” some of you just thought of.
One part I particularly enjoy is their Dilemma segment, where they discuss situations that don’t necessarily have one obvious right answer.
Comedy. Running. Cancer. Books. Memories and dilemmas.
The mix is intentional.
The size of a podcast doesn’t matter.
Indie Spotlight isn’t supposed to be a competition, and it definitely isn’t a ranking.
The podcast in position #1 automatically changes every 24 hours, so everyone gets their time at the front. As more podcasts join, shows will also rotate in and out of the visible selection.
There are also no paid placements.
Of course I’m incredibly happy when a podcaster genuinely likes RelayPlay and chooses to tell their listeners about it. For a small independent app, that kind of support means a lot.
But an honest mention that comes from genuine enthusiasm is worth far more to me than someone reading a promotional message simply because their podcast appears in Indie Spotlight.
Nobody owes RelayPlay anything for being there.
Something else has happened during this experiment that I honestly didn’t expect:
Some of the podcasters have started helping me too.
Randi from CHANGED BY CANCER sends me ideas and things she discovers that might be interesting for RelayPlay.
Nicole and Taylor from Two Emotionally Aware Idiots give me feedback about the app, we throw ideas back and forth, and at the same time I get to watch them develop and improve their own podcast.
That was never part of my original plan.
Indie Spotlight was simply supposed to help interesting podcasts become a little more visible.
Instead, I’m finding that I’m learning just as much from the people behind them.
The covers aren’t just RSS feeds and metadata to me anymore. There are actual people behind them.
And that’s probably why I’ve had more fun working on this update than any RelayPlay update before it.
Maybe over time this becomes a small place where an app, podcasters and listeners all help each other discover something new.
No ranking. No paid placements. No algorithm deciding what should fit your existing taste next.
Just occasionally something different.
Maybe someone comes for a running podcast and ends up discovering two wonderfully chaotic women talking about their lives.
Maybe someone comes for comedy and finds a deeply personal story about cancer.
Maybe someone even tries a podcast in a language they wouldn’t normally listen to.
Maybe almost nothing happens at first.
That’s okay too. This is an experiment.
And if you make an independent podcast yourself and think it might fit into this little experiment, feel free to contact me.
Genre, size and language aren’t the deciding factors.
You don’t need a sales pitch or a marketing presentation. Just tell me the name of your podcast and a little about it. I’ll listen and see if I find something I’d like to show other people.
There’s no guaranteed placement and no checklist you have to satisfy. I want Indie Spotlight to stay personal and manageable.
And if you’re a listener who knows a podcast and thinks, “People here might never discover this otherwise,” you’re welcome to recommend that too.
I have plenty of ideas about where Indie Spotlight could eventually go, but I don’t want to plan all of that yet.
For now, the idea is enough:
Independent podcasts. A place to discover them. And hopefully a few people finding something they never would have searched for themselves.
Let’s see where it goes.
Marco
Developer of RelayPlay
