Podcasts, in general, have become a staple for many people in today’s society as a wonderfully easy way to listen to thoughtful advice and provide entertainment. Music podcasts are an excellent way to expose listeners to new music since music is a common ground for almost everyone.
Many podcasters will give up trying after a handful of episodes if they do not see the results they desire. It is essential for good podcasters to stick it out for the long haul, to get through those harrowing early episodes where you don’t have a lot of noticeability. Persistence is essential because it takes time to establish a following and get yourself known in the podcasting world.
When you start and run a podcast, you will find that things don’t always happen according to plan. Suddenly you don’t have enough time to get your episodes recorded, or your audio hardware or software is not working correctly. Things happen, and they will test your patience.
So, how do you find the will to stick it out? How do you make it great? What can you do to make sure your podcast will find success and achieve the goals you have set?
If you want to build a great music podcast, there are some steps that you should take to establish yourself as a top-notch podcaster above the rest. Here are some tips you can use to help you build the best music podcast.
DEFINE WHAT “GREAT” MEANS TO YOU
Success means different things to many people. You have to find and set up for yourself what this success looks like when it comes to your podcast. It could be that you want to see your downloads go up or obtaining more inquiries for your business and gaining clientele. Some podcasters only do it for entertainment value, to help others by telling their stories.
To fully establish what you deem to be a successful podcast, you have to figure out what will determine that for you. So ask yourself, “What does ‘great’ mean to me?” Write it down and put that in a place you can look at it every day to know the goal that you hope to achieve.
Many business owners and entrepreneurs like to call this their “why,” meaning – why are you starting and providing a podcast? This “why” will help you to keep going when things become difficult. Podcasting is not an easy feat, and there will be obstacles to overcome, so you have to know the reason behind why you created the podcast in the first place. It will help take you on that journey to reach your goals.
CHOOSING YOUR SHOW’S THEME
Once you know why you are moving forward with your music podcast, it’s time to choose the kind of music show you want. You probably already have an idea for this, but now you need to think about what type of audience you’d like to target. Will this be for adults, or kids, or all-inclusive? The theme will coincide with what will appeal to your audience. The type of music you plan to showcase should also work alongside the theme of the music you choose.
A vital part here is that you need to make sure you have a music license for your podcast theme music. You can choose from various music licensing companies to get commercial use of your song. There may be fees associated with this, but the investment is well worth it to get the best theme music for your podcast. If music is the focus, you have to be meticulous, even picky, about the music you decide upon.
If you want to avoid licensing, you could focus your show solely on independent artists and utilize independent music in that fashion. There are plenty of resources for independent music available across the internet, such as Audio Jungle. But you should keep in mind that it is still essential to ask for permission to play the indie artists’ music in your podcast.
PUT IT TOGETHER
Now that the show’s style and the content have been established, you can start collecting your music. Being organized is what will be vital for you here. You should keep track using the metadata to label everything within a folder or playlist in your music program, where you can see track length and artist information.
It would also help if you group your songs into playlists based on individual episodes – this also helps with seeing what songs sound good together, and then you can make sure the total time will be close to the show length you decide you want your episodes. Having more than one show prepared ahead of time, probably a handful, allows you to ensure that you have plenty of content for future shows and will shorten the amount of time it takes to establish your podcast’s style.
Listen to the beginning and end of each track you plan to showcase. This will help you when you are recording; you provide yourself with the right amount of time before and after the singer comes on to narrate if you so desire. Get your podcast episodes scripted, and then record those episodes ASAP, so they are ready to go.
MANAGE AND PROMOTE YOUR PODCAST
Now comes the post-work. Many people get to the point of putting the show together, launching the podcast, creating episodes weekly or monthly, and doing nothing more. There is a HUGE step that gets missed – the management and marketing of your podcast. These two things are crucial to taking a good podcast and making it into a great one.
Managing your podcast means connecting yourself to things like analytics, launching on other platforms, adding video and monetizing with a shortener for your YouTube channel, and finding out more about your listeners, so that you can provide them with what they want. Managing your analytics goes hand in hand with the marketing aspect as well, where you can directly communicate with listeners and gain feedback about what they would like to hear on your podcast.
Great music podcasts adopt a specific format and organize their music to fit into the scene they want to create. Production is meticulous, with each show needs to be written with one particular driving focus. Your content should be published with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in mind. You can even get creative with your narration throughout your episodes, bring in special guests or “spotlight” independent artists to interview, and expand your network.
Marketing is also a critical factor in building a great podcast. Engaging your listeners through social media or building an email list can go a long way to helping you land more followers. You should also research how some other great music podcasts such as Lime or Caribbean Free Radio and see what they are doing within their podcasts. Continuously studying and improving your techniques and how they market themselves will provide you with some great insight and tools to use for your podcast.
You also want to continue providing content that addresses what your audience wants to solve a problem, educating them on how to improve themselves or inspiring them with the music. You will struggle to grow.
Lastly, remember to be consistent with your episodes to provide that trust to your audience, and they will become loyal listeners. The podcast world has become a competitive marketplace. Having a set launch and marketing strategy will take you further into the game. It takes time to become an established podcaster, and you will learn a lot along the way.
