What is PodPeopleDB?
The IMDB of Podcast Hosts
PodPeopleDB is an open database platform designed to catalog and track podcast hosts and guests across the podcasting ecosystem. Think of it as IMDB, but for podcast personalities instead of actors.
Key Features
- Host & Guest Tracking: Maintain a comprehensive database of podcast hosts and guest appearances across episodes.
- Episode-Level Granularity: Track guests on specific episodes, not just podcast-wide hosts.
- Podcast 2.0 Integration: Automatic parsing of podcast:person tags from both podcast feeds and individual episodes.
- Community Driven: Allow users to submit episode-specific guest information and podcast hosts.
- Developer Friendly: REST API access to all data with episode guest endpoints.
- Open Data: Free access to the database for developers and podcast apps.
Why PodPeopleDB?
The podcasting world lacks a centralized database for tracking hosts and guests across shows. While services exist to track shows and episodes, there's no easy way to follow your favorite hosts across different podcasts or discover where a particular guest has appeared. That said, before some company swoops in and makes a paid version of this app, let's make a great free and open source version!
Use Cases
- For Listeners:
- Track your favorite podcast hosts across different shows
- Discover all episodes where a specific guest has appeared
- Contribute guest information for episodes you've listened to
- Find episodes based on who appeared as a guest
- For Developers:
- Build podcast apps with episode-level guest discovery
- Add "Submit Guest Info" buttons that link to episode pages
- Display episode guests alongside standard episode metadata
- Enable host/guest following across the podcast ecosystem
- For Researchers:
- Study podcast guest networks and conversation patterns
- Analyze host mobility across different podcast networks
- Research episode-level collaboration trends