Popular Podcast Switching to Paid Subscriptions

I have enjoyed the Ricky Gervais Show. When looking at it from their perspective, it seemed like something that didn't take a great deal of time or effort to create, and free seemed like an appropriate price. Why should they produce it for free? It's a great promotion for them. It's a way of investing little and earning a good chunk of mind share, which translates into more television appearances, movies, etc.

Does everything have to be filtered through the great commercial sieve? Is there no room in our capitalistic world view for even the simplest free work? Is it always true that, "If it's worth experiencing, it's worth buying?"

For me, the fact that it was free was somehow part of the attraction. There was a connection between the people creating the podcast and the listeners that is not there with a paid subscription service, and I'll miss that. As a listener, I'm asking myself if I'll now pay $2 for a show that is suddenly half as enjoyable to me. Sadly, I think the answer for me is no.

Just as sad, I don't think that anyone wanting to charge $2 for the podcast will understand. Viewed in monetary terms, the calculus is, either it's worth $2 or it isn't. The conclusion will be that podcast listeners are cheapskates who want a bunch of free entertainment. There is no variable in the commercial equation that will consider how podcast listeners feel about the qualitative difference between a free podcast and paid programming. Maybe this question will help create some insight: Do you pay for sex?

I could be wrong. I think three times as many listeners followed Howard Stern to paid satellite radio than they expected. I don't understand that market, but they're welcome to it. But in that case, they were probably expecting more of what Howard Stern produces. In addition to the richer experience, they also are presumably escaping the numerous commercials on broadcast radio, and that's something I do understand and value. In the case of the podcast, there was no censorship and no commercials, other than plugs for their videos and such. So, I'll be interested to see if The Ricky Gervais Show continues to be the most downloaded podcast when it costs $2. I doubt it.

I guess I'll need to get my MonkeyNews somewhere else. Gee, I hope they didn't register a trademark for MonkeyNews. I might owe them a royalty... or they might sue me for using their intellectual property in a public forum. Oh my.

And presumably this means listeners will have to download audibles specific software and have an audible supported device to listen?

What a crock. Has anyone heard from Guinness about this? To me, this just seems like a perfect ploy to make money. I've heard the last 5 shows. Who would pay two bucks for that? Kudos on the money-maker, but sadly, you lost me.

The whole Howard Stern thing was surprising, how many people paid money to subscribe to the satellite program (and bought the fancy radio receiver to listen with, to boot).

But there has also apparently been a backlash, with scores of disgruntled listeners recording and re-broadcasting the subscription-only show. A recent piece on the "Marketplace" program on american public radio talked about the proliferation of pirated versions of the show...

Bruce, I like your analogy of paying for sex (and no, I wouldn't :-). While many podcasters are working hard to find ways to make money at this (hate that word "monetize"), I wonder, too, whether that will change the relationship between the artist/creator/producer and the audience. I'm sure it *will* change the relationship, but it's anyone's guess whether it will be for the better or not.

It will certainly be interesting to see, a month or six weeks from now, whether Gervais is still "the most listened-to" podcast.

'Earworms soar to audio book number 1 spot - New best seller on Audible.com & iTunes'

Earworms Learning launch the world’s first ‘musical brain trainer’. A revolution in language learning begins with the launch of Earworms Learning language training programmes for download at audible.com & iTunes.

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For scientific and background information on this exciting new concept, visit: www.earwormslearning.com

Recent Celebrity Comments About Earworms Learning:

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Nigel Powell, columnist for the Sunday Times: "Did you know that music helps you remember stuff? It actually sounds quite logical when you think of those times that you try to get a catchy tune out of your head. Well these people have developed a language training course based around music, and pupils using their technique regularly achieve average marks of over 90 % compared to less than 50 % with conventional book based learning."

Ricky and Steve as straight men? Karl's wisdom and insight? $2 a pop? I'm in. It's hiliarious and easily worth 7 cents a minute.

I love the show and really appreciate the 12 episodes that we received at no cost.

While I support artists being paid for their work, $2 per podcast feels excessive. How is a podcast different from a song in terms of costs? Why not charge $.99 per show?

fans of the podcasts might not know that theres a whole heap of ricky steve and karl available on XFM website. all for free.

http://www.xfm.co.uk/Article.asp?id=3673

season 1 and 2 are downloadable but the early years archive has to be listened to on stream. u can hear when the guys first met Karl and from week to week he becomes more confident and integral to the show. its more natural and much funnier.

some of the stuff that seems spontaneously said on the podcasts is already said on these sesssions. Hours and hours of fun. here Ricky 'Burst' with laughter at a genuinely idiotic karl.