The Elimination of Podsafe Music in the Podcast
So, the big announcement in today’s show is that podsafe music will no longer be a part of the daily Financial Aid Podcast, at least for a little while. There are six key reasons for this, from least important to most important.
1. Music, due to its very nature, was only 30% of the show but 50% of the file size. Using LAME and a mostly-voice show, a 14 minute show is now down to 8 MB. The smaller and shorter I can make my shows, the more likely it is someone can carve out a small part of their day to tune in.
2. I’ve received several pieces of feedback from audience members, some students, some financial aid professionals, who have said that my taste and selection in music is not theirs, and so they’re somewhat less likely to tune in.
3. I did a SurveyMonkey survey of show listeners recently, and out of all the segments on the show, music was rated close to the bottom for favorite parts of the show. This is YOUR show, really, not mine, and you, the audience, have spoken. In case you were wondering, the daily scholarship, Free Stuff Fridays, and news are the top three segments.
4. Finding new, good podsafe music is a very time-intensive task, taking me a couple of hours every Sunday to do research and listening – time I could be spending instead researching financial aid and college affordability. For every gem of podsafe music, there’s an increasingly large quantity of garbage.
5. One of the key business reasons I’ve included music in the show in the past is to garner additional inbound links to the podcast’s web site. Google, of course, loves links and views them as votes of a site’s legitimacy and authority. By a rough back of the envelope calculation, of the approximately 300 musicians I’ve played on the show, only 5% – 10% have ever linked back to the show or even made mention of it – making for, from a business perspective, a terrible return on social currency investment.
In the early days, receiving an email and a link was commonplace, and there are still musicians such as Matthew Ebel, Rich Palmer, and Anji Bee who generously link back to the show (I’ve provided direct outbound links to every musician I’ve played) but the vast majority do not, and since the business reason for playing music is not operating, it’s another reason to discontinue the practice.
6. The most, most, most important reason of all: this is a show about financial aid. I would presume people tune in to hear about, learn about, and get info about financial aid, and not necessarily music. For music, I would presume people would tune into great music shows like Accident Hash, Binary Starcast, High Orbit, In Over Your Head, or any of the other major music shows out there.
Will there ever be music on the Financial Aid Podcast again? Sure – in the form of the Student Loan Radio shows on the weekends. These will remain around, and will be music and entertainment focused. I think this works better, actually, because if you want to tune in for the music, you know exactly what you’ll be getting. During the weekdays, the Financial Aid Podcast will deliver impactful, no frills financial aid and scholarship information. On weekends, during leisure time, and when I’m out of the office on vacation, Student Loan Radio will deliver leisure-quality entertainment.
Are you a podcaster? What do you think of this change to the show?
Are you a podsafe musician? Does this change matter to you?
Are you a listener of the show? What’s YOUR take, since as a member of the audience, your opinion counts the most?
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Strangely enough, even though I didn’t always like what you played, I’m sorry to see the tunes go. I’m older, and in the finaid world, but I always figured the tunes were there to appeal to the younger crowd and I just stopped or fast forwarded after a brief listen if the piece wasn’t to my taste. I liked the feature though because it introduced me to some new artists, and “Everybody needs a Ninja” is now my kids new favorite. The only reason I could truly see for cutting it out is the file size. That can make a difference for some people, but for my part, I’m all for the music.
Though I was also surprised to see this announcement, I can absolutely understand your decision. And, as Lynette mentioned, I absolutely applaud your diligence in taking the time to understand your listeners’ motivation for subscribing or consuming your show. Fantastic job.
While I’m sad to see the music go, I always thought it was weird that you played my tunes in a Financial Aid show. Heck, I don’t even have student loans to pay off. This does make a lot of sense, but I’m definitely glad you’re keeping the weekend music.
I have heard others say similar things. Don’t add music to a topical show unless it adds value to the show.
As a listener, I think you’ve made the right decision. When I listen to informational podcasts I’ll fast forward to the information, and rarely listen to what I consider “fluff,” which includes music, mostly because of the time factor. Although I think I discovered Jonathan Coulton through your show quite awhile back!
Like C.C., this caught me off guard. I did enjoy the song at the end of the episode, but I can understand your rationale. There are plenty of other music podcasts to listen to.
Quite a coincidence. Your podcast randomly crossed my mind this morning and I specifically wondered about the rationale for including music in a topical show focused on financial aid. Out of the blue I see a tweet on exactly that issue, and you answered all my questions in your post. Maybe we’re evolving to Twitter on a telepathic plane.
Chris, you do excellent work and provide a vital voice. The music was a fun frill but not the essence of the value anyway. Thanks for everyone you do for students and graduates!
Hats off to you for keeping in touch with your listeners and changing with the times.
This caught me completely off guard upon reading it, but your reasons make complete sense.
Glad to know that the weekend show will still be around though. You love music way to much not to be playing tunes!
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