How do you make a podcast that does well? What are the most common problems that independent podcasts have to deal with? How do podcasts bring in money? We look at these questions and the lessons you can learn from the popular Coverville podcast in our case study.
What's that?
The Coverville podcast is usually put out twice or three times a week, and it focuses on cover songs by different artists (reinterpreted versions of previously recorded songs by another artist.) Most of the time, the show starts with a short introduction and overview of the day's theme. The songs are then played, with interesting facts about the song and the artist sprinkled in between. Most of the time, the shows last about 35 minutes and have about six different songs. There is information about the performer and the original album, as well as information about the person being covered. You might think that an all-covers show would be full of bad songs and versions of good songs that are almost too painful to listen to. You couldn't be more wrong. The covers on the show could easily stand on their own as songs, and they are done in a variety of ways that make them interesting. For example, a jazz version of "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath or a mellow acoustic cover of "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix A Lot is both unexpectedly entertaining. The show also changes things up by having "cover story" shows every once in a while. These shows feature covers of songs that were all written by the same artist. For example, a show that only plays Pink Floyd songs covered by other artists. There are also shows called "Originalville," which feature the original versions of songs that aren't as well known as their covers. Coverville started out as a hobby of the show's host, Brian Ibbott, in September 2004. It grew to have about 25,000 dedicated listeners per show.
So what?
At first, Ibbott thought of sponsorships as a way to cover his operating costs. A few other podcasting-related sites, such as ipodder, sponsored him. Coverville is a music show, after all, so they have to get licenses, buy CDs, MP3s, etc. Don't say that having more listeners is great, but that it also means having more bandwidth, which costs more money. Also, since the iTunes Top 100 is based on how many people have subscribed to a song in the last week, the bigger names often take the lead. Most of the time, these shows were originally made for another medium and have been remade for a podcast. Take the popular Ricky Gervais podcast, which is about the funny things he does, or the popular LOST podcast, which is about what's going on in the show. Not only is it a very popular TV show, but it also has the money of ABC networks behind it. So, what should an independent podcast do?
What's next?
Coverville still has a few sponsors that are related to podcasting and a few smaller sites. Bigger retailers may not be too far away (Coverville was sponsored by Tower Records over the summer.) But even though large retailers are still a bit of an oddity in the podcasting world, they are starting to show up more and more. Also, by joining an advertising network (Coverville has joined the Backbeat Media Podcast Network), they can offer both current and potential advertisers a larger and therefore more appealing audience. Coverville also won the People's Choice Award for Best Music Podcast at the 2005 Podcast Awards. This is partly because the show has so many loyal fans. In fact, having an active fan base is very important in a business where word of mouth is very important. With more people signing up for Coverville, fans of the show raving about it, and more high-profile sponsors coming on board, the future of Coverville looks very bright. So, in short, Coverville went from being a hobby to a way to make money by building a strong fan base, getting word-of-mouth attention, and working with other podcasts to get more advertisers.
