by | Jan 16, 2020 | Uncategorized
You're starting a podcast and (ugh) want to know how to profit from it, but Jen Briney monetized her podcast without corporate sponsors. So, while newbies shouldn't even be thinking that far out yet, know that there most certainly are myriad ways to (eventually) bring in dollars from your show. In other words, it's not just sponsors-or-bust. Jen Briney’s podcast, Congressional Dish, is essential listening for people who want to know what’s happening in the halls of Congress. Fiercely independent and driven by Jen’s passion for research, each episode breaks down complex legislation and spotlights news from the House and Senate. This labor of love has been Jen’s full-time job since 2012. But instead of having corporate sponsors, Jen relies on her listeners to support the podcast. Here’s how she makes it work while still having time to read every word of the Congressional bills she discusses on the show. Starting without a monetization plan When Jen started Congressional Dish, she and her husband decided to test the format for a year. “We decided to take the financial pressure off of it,” she said, and they agreed she wouldn’t initially try to make money from the show. When she started monetizing in late 2013, she set up a PayPal account. Listeners contributed about $25 in monthly subscriptions, which paid her hosting costs. That foundation grew slowly but steadily, Jen said, in part because she was honest with listeners — especially when her husband became unemployed and the pair had to move across the country. Jen waited tables for nine months while also working on Congressional Dish. She said her...
by | Dec 30, 2019 | Uncategorized
Getting your subscribers to contribute to your podcast is one thing, but using that listener support to help bring in a 40-person choir for your audio drama’s soundtrack is a great way to (re-)invest in your own show. When you’re in the U.S. and that 40-person choir is from Budapest, now your show is truly international. That’s what Travis Vengroff can claim in talking about his show “Dark Dice” and the soundtrack he was able to fund and facilitate for it. Already a multi-instrumentalist and producer for 16 years, he knew in early 2018 that he wanted to “give the show my best at a worthy soundtrack. This would be an opportunity to show my strength as a musician and music director, to showcase the work of friends, to do justice to the story, and to challenge myself after about four years of relative musical silence.” Most content creators at some point are faced with a decision regarding audio, but few go to the lengths of enlisting a sound designer or sourcing a 40-person choir from another country. For Vengroff, though, it wasn’t as difficult as it might sound. Leveraging contacts “I called an old friend… who knows how to capture a Hollywood sound without a Hollywood budget, and can turn a basic idea into exactly what I want,” Vengroff explained. “He and I went from idea to arrangement… within a few hours. “From there, he got to work on the choir arrangement, because I felt it would sound much better with an actual choir… I knew a choir in Budapest, and wrote lyrics while Enzo (Puzzovio, a fairly...
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