For iTricks, the release of five new podcasts on iTunes turned into great success stories. In only three weeks, they have rocketed up the iTunes charts thanks, in part, to the crush of new iPod owners over the holidays.
Fort Lauderdale, FL (PRWeb) January 8, 2007 -- As millions of people went online to the Apple iTunes store over the Christmas holiday to load up their iPods, iTricks.com, the web's leading daily magic news site, saw the number of people downloading its podcasts skyrocket, putting several of them into the top ten of the performance arts category. Four of its podcasts were also selected by the Apple iTunes store as new and noteworthy to be showcased in their featured section. While that alone should make any podcast producer happy, the fact that iTricks only launched their podcasts three weeks prior and the iTricks.com website just a month before that, makes it even more of a reason to celebrate.
iTricks publisher Andrew Mayne was surprised by the attention, "Who knew this many people wanted to hear the inside story of Criss Angel getting spanked by a 200 pound dominatrix and a midget in a pool full of chocolate? Besides me, that is. Magic is big right now and podcasting is getting bigger too. It only makes sense to offer fans of magic a way to get news through this medium." A highly sought after magician and magic consultant who has worked for David Blaine and others, Mayne is no stranger to net broadcasting. In 1997 he helped James "The Amazing" Randi launch his Internet radio show. He then launched the Magic Radio Show, the first Internet audio show for magicians which ran for over three years.
Starting just two months ago, iTricks.com has already become the leading website for covering daily magic industry news. Featuring stories on rumors of a Michael Jackson and David Blaine team-up, coverage of Criss Angel's continuing rise to stardom as well as other magic related news, the site has reaffirmed that magic has become a substantial part of pop culture.
Editor-in-Chief of iTricks.com and current host of the iTricks podcasts, Justin Robert Young said, "We knew magic was big. We knew the iPod was big. We had no idea how the two would play out together. As we were launching our four new celebrity focused podcasts on Christmas day and facing the same slow server times from an overcrowded iTunes, we had no idea how many of those people were becoming subscribers to our podcasts. We thought it would be a quiet time to launch our new podcasts. We were wrong on that. Very wrong."
iTricks has five weekly podcasts to cover the magic beat. Their 'Magic Week in Review' covers the top stories of the week and runs 25 minutes. For focused magic celebrity news, they offer individual podcasts focusing on David Blaine, David Copperfield, Criss Angel and Penn & Teller, each averaging about three and a half minutes a week. Just how much news is there to cover with these personalities? Quite a lot according to Mayne. He says that, "Unlike an actor or a singer, you're a magician 24 hours a day. Everything you do is looked at in a different light. If Copperfield buys an island, it's got to be a magic island. If David Blaine starts just talking about an idea for a new project, you can bet it will be interesting and crazy. These people lead very bizarre and interesting lives. Deciding what not to cover is often the biggest challenge."
The iTricks podcasts can be found in the Apple iTunes store by searching for 'iTricks'. They're also available at www.iTricks.com.
###
|
