Mark Rushton discusses the growth of his podcast of music

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In December of 2004, Iowa-based Ambient/electronic Musician Mark Rushton put out his first MP3 podcast. A year later athttp://podcast.markrushton.comhe's seeing thousands worldwide who are freely downloading his mix of original ambient, electronica, and blended field recordings created in his home studio and performed live with such musicians as bass player Jon Harnish and multi-instrumentalist Duke Lancaster. Rushton had only heard of the term "podcast" in late 2004, but the concept seemed ripe for massive growth. People who sought out podcasts were searching the internet for radio-like shows of their favorite types of talk, discussion, or music that could be easily downloaded, syndicated, and listened to at one's own leisure using a computer, an iPod, or their favorite MP3 player.

Rushton had spent a couple of years sending out demos, promos, and finished CDs to radio stations and record companies, but despite some scattered radio play on public stations the efforts generated no attention.

After issuing several podcasts and being included in numerous podcast directories, Rushton noticed he started acquiring a regular audience of downloaders in the low hundreds each month.

Then, in the summer of 2005, iTunes, Apple's music program, started supporting podcasters. The audience has since skyrocketed.

Rushton's recent 24-minute podcast, issued in late November of 2005, received 2200 downloads in the first two and a half weeks. That's more than double the performance of October's podcast during the same time span.

"This is way beyond any expectation I ever had." said Rushton. "When I started podcasting, I figured I'd get maybe 40 or 50 people listening on a regular basis."

Podcasting success has led to additional sales of Rushton's CDs and pay-downloads, as well as offers to use his music for commercial purposes. The possibility for more live performances in 2006 also beckons.

"Jon Harnish and I have been working on a lot of music over the past year, mostly in a live setting, so we're getting used to coming up with amazing stuff on-the-fly. Most of our podcasts are just rebroadcasts of recordings we created while working live and improvisationally. We already have a tremendous back catalog of unheard recordings that will appear in podcasts throughout 2006, " explains Rushton.

Harnish, himself, is launching his own website and podcast - AvantAnomaly.com - this month. An initial podcast is already out via iTunes and Yahoo's Podcast search engine and features avant-garde jazz and leftfield pop that Harnish has created with drummer Nik Gerboth.

"It's great stuff, " said Rushton. "They do this bass and drums piece that's incredible. You've got to hear it."

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