How to Podcast

As far as starting a podcast, I guess I would start by asking what you already know about podcasts so I would know where to start in my explanation. Having the studio would put you well ahead of the pack for the most part. Once you have a recording, publishing it as a podcast is easy. You have to decide where on the internet to host it (more later), handle licensing questions if you're playing music (more later on this too), and do something so people know it exists (item three below).

First, where to host it. You already have a web site, so you have some idea what this is like, but be careful. Podcasts tend to be large files (40 megabytes per episode is not even beginning to stretch it), and so the more popular your show, the higher the bandwidth costs will be for you. On the other hand, you can host it with someone like Podshow (where mine is) or Podango (which has a revenue sharing scheme, nice). These sites provide free hosting and pay all the bandwidth costs. In exchange, you're driving traffic to the site, and they make money from advertising on the site. When you finish an episode, you post it to their site and add some show notes, they do the rest automatically.

Second, music licensing. If you want to play most commercial music, you're talking to ASCAP/BMI and the bill is not small. On the other hand, there are may sites (check wikipedia's "podsafe" entry for links) that provide podsafe music. This is music that is licensed under different terms from ASCAP/BMI. It may be a Creative Commons license, or something like Podshow's license, but it usually comes down to "you can play the music without paying a fee, we consider it a fair trade for the exposure, but you're obligated to tell your listeners where to buy our music." There are other licenses in between which charge fees that scale down much further than the ASCAP/BMI setup. None of it is hard, but it's something important to pay attention to.

Third, letting people know you exist. The first thing I would recommend is adding your podcast to some of the common places people look for podcasts: iTunes, Podcast Alley, Podcast Pickle are the three biggies. It's easy to do, and gets you at least to where people can find you if they know to look. The second step is to create a short promo and make it available, then contact some people with podcasts who might have an audience overlap with you. So far, the general attitude favors helping each other over rivalry.

That's a quick start. If you want more let me know, but for now I don't know what areas to cover in more detail or where I might be boring you.

Podsafe Music

What is podsafe music and why should I, as an artist, care?

According to Wikipedia:

Podsafe is a term created in the podcasting community to refer to any work which, through its licensing, specifically allows the use of the work in podcasting, regardless of restrictions the same work might have in other realms. For example, a song may be legal to use in podcasts, but may need to be purchased or have royalties paid for over-the-air radio use, television use, and possibly even personal use.

According to the Podsafe Music Network:

Podsafe music is described as a work that meets all of the following conditions: Works submitted to the Podsafe Music Network are the property of the artist, and all rights to these works, including lyrics and music, are the property of the artist. AND All works contain no recordings, lyrics, copyrights, or other elements that are the copyright of any other artist, except under the limited provisions of the Creative Commons License Agreement (http://www.creativecommons.org). AND Despite any recording contracts with RIAA, ASCAP, or BMI, or other recording industry entity, the artist retains ownership of the works, and is free to distribute, broadcast, license or sell these works at the artist's discretion.

The basic idea is that the owner of the music allows the podcaster to use it in exchange for the exposure the artist will gain from this use. This has proven to be a mutually beneficial arrangement for thousands of podcasters and thousands of artists.

A simple way for artists to make music podsafe and available to podcasters is for them to post it to the Podsafe Music Network (PMN). This service provides a pre-packaged license for the artist and the podcasters setting forth what is allowed and what is not. It also provides an opportunity for the music to be sold online at 99 cents a song with no DRM, although this aspect of the PMN is optional.

While the PMN is by no means the only avenue for the distribution of podsafe music, it is often the simplest with the least overhead for the artist.