Who owns a podcast’s ‘brand’?
Very few people who pay attention to the podcast market here in the UK will be unfamiliar with The High Low, a podcast that was made for several years by journalists Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes, and which regularly featured as one of the most popular shows in the UK. Those same people will be surprised, therefore, by the announcement last week that Emily Ratajkowski, the Blurred Lines supermodel-turned-author, known to the internet as emrata, was to start her own podcast. “That’s right, I finally have a podcast,” she announced on Instagram. “Now introducing: HIGH LOW! I’m really fucking excited!” Ah well, the name isn’t so unique as to be impossible to reuse. Probably there’s no crossover and the shows will be totally different… Ratajkoswki’s expressed purpose in making her podcast is to invite on “celebrities, incredible authors, close friends and people I admire” to a show where they’ll be “discussing everything from politics and feminism to sex and Tik Tok”. Hmm… the old High Low was a weekly chat discussing high and low culture, from celebrities and technology to arts and books. It also featured (perhaps more occasional) celebrity guests including Tina Brown, Jim Chapman and Graham Norton. Both are aimed predominantly at young women; both have a distinct feminist identity. Now, the Alderton/Sykes High Low (herein called the “old High Low”) ended in December 2020 and perhaps that makes the title fair game, though the archive is still live and popular. To me, the repetition feels weird, as though the decision has been made by someone who has no idea of the marketplace into which they’re entering. All the more baffling is the fact that the Ratajkowski podcast is being made by Somethin’ Else, a British company (now a subsidiary of Sony Music). Someon’ at Somethin’ Else must’ve known about the existence of another podcast called The High Low before they commissioned the Ratajkowski version. Someone must’ve Googled the name.
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