There’s enough podcasters now… we have a union. Or a trade group. Or something. The Association for Downloadable Media has the following mission statement:

To provide leadership in and organization of advertising and audience measurement standards, research, education and advocacy to all those involved in portable media (Podcasts/ATOM/RSS media enclosures) across the Internet, iPods, MP3 players, mobile devices, P2P and other upcoming platforms.

So, now that that’s clear… on to membership. Corporations pay $1000 per year and individuals pay $150 per year. No benefits are mentioned, but that doesn’t mean there are some on the horizon.

I’ve been doing work with nonprofits, including trade associations, for the better part of the last decade. Some are effective, but some are not. I think there are certainly some important heavy hitters involved here (including a few I respect quite a bit), but I think the jury’s still out until we see some substantive work from the group.