Well, it turns out that one particular branch of ‘podcasters’ (and I use this term loosely for obvious reasons) are doing that: White noise podcasters. 

According to a leaked internal Spotify document accessed by Bloomberg, these creators are costing the listening platform $38 million a year. In response, the document proposes removing all white noise content from the platform and banning any future uploads.

A Spotify spokesperson claims the proposal “did not come to fruition”. However, some white noise podcasters have reported episodes disappearing off the platform.

But why are white noise podcasts such a cash cow, and should you jump on the bandwagon to get a slice of the pie?

What’s a White Noise Podcast?

First of all, let’s clarify exactly what we mean by a white noise podcast. Essentially, these are recordings of various types of sounds; this could be waves crashing, birds tweeting, or the hum of an old air conditioning unit. Sometimes, it’s just plain old static noises. Whatever sound the creator has recorded, they often piece them together on a loop, so one episode can easily be hours long. Saying that, a ‘good’ white noise podcast is one that doesn’t loop, but consists of one long continuous recording.

Studies have shown listening to white noise can be helpful in all types of different situations. It can help you focus (I’m listening to the sounds of the Amazonian rainforest as I type this), aid sleep, comfort unsettled babies, or drown out noisy neighbours. As someone who lives in a building full of partying students, I even splashed out on a white noise machine that I can run all night when I have to. 

White noise recordings have been categorised by Spotify as podcasts – or specifically, as ‘talk’ content – to distinguish them from music. This means they get lumped together with podcasts, even though they have no talking in them.

How White Noise Podcasters Make So Much Money

White noise content is mind-bogglingly popular. The Spotify document stated that they account for a whopping 3 million daily hours of podcast listening on the platform.

They’re so popular, in fact, that one recording, 12-hour Sound Machines made it to number 15 in the overall podcast charts in 2022. This put it shoulder-to-shoulder with The New York Times’ The Daily.

Bloomerg’s Ashley Carmen has estimated that these podcasters are cashing in up to $19,000 a month from white noise content.

And how are they making so much money? It seems a few factors have come together to create this “perfect storm” for Spotify:

• White noise content is extremely popular.
• Until now, white noise podcasts have been labelled as ‘talk’ content on Spotify.
• Spotify proactively promotes ‘talk’ content over music because there’s more opportunity for ad insertion ($$$), and it’s all part of their new strategy to dominate the podcasting market.
• White noise podcasts are hours long, so have plenty of opportunity for monetization through programmatic ad insertion.
• This content is about as evergreen as it gets. If someone finds a white noise recording the like, they might even listen to it multiple times a day, every day. 

Thanks to all of the above, white noise podcast creators have been able to generate a fair whack. And they do this by creating and monetizing just a handful of recordings. 

But of course, since Spotify realised how much money it’s been losing, it has switched strategy from actively promoting white noise podcasts to considering banning all future uploads.

What Can Podcasters Learn From This? 

You might be thinking that the big learning here is to jump on the white noise bandwagon. All you need to do is start publishing hours-long recordings of your shower running, and the cash will start flooding in, right?

But unfortunately, now that Spotify has caught onto things, that ship has most certainly sailed. If you’re a seasoned white noise podcaster, we’re sorry for your loss.

(For what it’s worth, ASMR podcasts are booming, and there’s plenty of demand for more Binaural Beats content, too!)

One big takeaway here is hardly a revelation – that major platforms like Spotify have the power to pull the rug from under the feet of creators whenever something doesn’t suit them.

And sure, Spotify told Bloomberg that the proposal was abandoned, but this Reddit thread suggests this isn’t entirely true. One creator also told Bloomberg that their white noise podcast disappeared for three weeks and cost them 50,000 downloads per day.

But There’s Good News for Podcasters…

There’s a positive to take from all this, though, and it’s that most podcasters have the power to make themselves irreplaceable. You can do this by creating truly unique content based on your own insights and experiences, and this safeguards you against the whims or trends of any one company.

Let’s face it, the vast majority of white noise podcasters likely weren’t swimming in Scrooge McDuck-style pools of Spotify gold recently. Some have found themselves in a “right time, right place” position and they’ve done well from it. But the problem with this content is that, although white noise has a lot of big selling points, these don’t extend to its creators.

There are undoubtedly some brilliant sound designers making these shows in innovative ways, but anyone with a DAW (or a mic and a shower) can join in and – quite literally – contribute to the noise. If Spotify kicks you off for your white noise podcast, it’s going to be tough to take any of your audience with you. But if you’re that person they turn up to listen to every single week because you entertain, inspire, or motivate them, then your podcast is bulletproof.

Sure, Spotify, Apple, or anyone else can hurt your show. But they can never take it all away from you. And that’s part of the power of podcasting.

What is ADHD?

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder isn’t quite what it sounds like. Though it appears to be an inability to pay attention, it’s better described as an inability to control how you pay attention or for how long.

ADHD is caused by a lack of neurotransmitters in the brain, affecting motivation, reward, impulsivity, memory, and emotional stability. To be more specific, ADHD symptoms can be:

• Inattention to detail
• Distractibility and impulsivity
• Difficulty prioritizing, or executive dysfunction
• Poor working memory
• Physical restlessness, fidgeting, or trouble sitting still
• Conversational self-restraint is challenging
• Time blindness
• Difficulty managing one’s emotions, or emotional dysregulation,
• Difficulty finishing tasks, or avoiding tedious tasks altogether
• and hyperfocus, a “perfect storm” of the aforementioned symptoms.

Most people experience one or two of these symptoms situationally (i.e., distractibility after a poor night of sleep). People diagnosed with ADHD experience many or all of these symptoms for years (if not their whole life), starting before age 12.

People who have ADHD may appear spontaneous, creative, and energetic. And they’re constantly struggling with their symptoms. It looks fun, but it’s not.

This article is absolutely not an attempt to diagnose or treat any condition. If you think you have ADHD, see a doctor. The strategies in the rest of this article can help any podcaster.

ADHD and Podcasting: Opportunities and Challenges

People with ADHD often make good podcasters because:

• It’s new (or relatively new), and the technology and industry rapidly evolve.
• Podcasters can use different kinds of creative thinking (writing, visual art, audio editing, social skills) all in the same episode.
• People with ADHD are passionate about their interests. With podcasting, they can research, explore, and promote their interests.
• Communication and creative self-expression are at the center of podcasting.
• Podcasters can work whenever inspiration strikes.

But, sometimes podcasting challenges people with ADHD because:

• People with ADHD love new things, and the newness can wear off.
• Bright lights burn out. Some ADHD podcasters put a ton of work into starting a project, exhaust themselves, and never finish.
• Conversational self-restraint and communication aren’t the same thing.
• Attention to detail, managing time, and deadlines are their kryptonite.
• Podcasting doesn’t have an immediate reward. No reward, no motivation.

ADHD podcasters have made great shows, built podcasting communities, and still manage podcast networks that benefit them and everyone involved. But, they use different strategies and more structure. Systems and strategies, as boring as they may seem, help.

What Strategies Can Podcasters with ADHD Use to Make Better Podcasts?

Here’s a list of strategies that make podcasting easier. I’ll show you how they fit with ADHD symptoms. Though any podcaster can benefit from these strategies, podcasters with ADHD may find them more necessary and can customize them to fit their needs.

1. Use a Physical Notebook or Planner

Never underestimate the power of a physical journal. A University of Tokyo study from 2021 shows stronger brain activity when writing with pen or pencil on paper than when using digital devices. The tactile, dextrous parts of writing on paper make the information more memorable and satisfy some of the need to fidget. You may need two, one for ideas and one for planning, or use separate sections of a bigger notebook.

Start with a brain dump: take unstructured ideas to priorities.

Start your day (or your project or work session) with a morning brain dump (or freewriting session). This helps you avoid distractibility, control impulses, and prioritize tasks. Writing down all the ideas for each podcast episode helps podcasters with ADHD avoid talking uncontrollably while recording. When you’ve got all the ideas out, you can prioritize what’s important to discuss and what’s not. Most importantly, this helps you brainstorm and refine your ideas for your podcast episode or season.

Take Your Priorities and Tasks to Your Planner

Time blocking, or writing down how much time you plan to spend on different tasks, helps podcasters with ADHD prevent time blindness. This also helps you know how much time to budget for each task, or if you need to get help.

Working Memory vs. Task Switching

If you have to use more than one app, website, or software at a time, keep that notebook close by. Working memory is essential in podcasting. This helps you remember, for example, a timestamp while editing your show notes or what dates to add to your interview calendar. Task switching leaves room for distraction and kills momentum.

There are loads of note-taking apps out there, but Dr. Russell Barkley, one of the leading experts in ADHD, says that digital devices aren’t reliable enough. “Let’s go low tech. Let’s go back to paper and pencil.” However, Cal Newport doesn’t want to lose momentum while doing deep work. He keeps a text document titled Working Memory on his computer’s desktop. MacOS Ventura has a similar feature for the Notes app; slide your cursor down to the bottom right corner of the screen, and a note will pop up.

Our Podcast Host Planner Journal can go anywhere you go, won’t try to distract you, and never needs recharging or the wi-fi password. But any notebook will do.

2. Use Project Management Software With a Calendar and Reminders

Any project management software, like Trello, Asana, or Google Calendar, something tied to a calendar that actively reminds you, is essential. Your paper notebooks are for idea generation. The project management software helps podcasters manage time, deadlines, and reminders.

Asana shows you how to make a podcast planning template with their software. Trello shares the template for the board they use to produce their company podcast. There are hundreds all over the internet. Find one that’s right for you. Think of this as the highway your podcast drives on and the journal as a wilderness trail.

3. Get Away From Your Screen Regularly

Podcasting can involve a lot of time spent staring at a screen and clicking. This tires you out and encourages distraction. You should get up and stretch, walk around, and rest your eyes periodically. Podcasters with ADHD particularly benefit from working away from the screen. For example, listen to your raw audio while taking a walk. Walking helps with brain stimulation for the editing stage (not to mention fidgeting), and you can use a phone app like EditPoint to prepare notes for your next editing session.

Recording your podcast outside alleviates complacency and adds an extra layer of ambiance. And, obviously, being outside in nature benefits your mind and body, boosting the neurotransmitters that podcasters with ADHD need.

Getting away from your screen doesn’t always mean moving your body outside. Exercise mindfulness techniques to slow down, take stock, clear your head, and maintain perspective. Mindfulness can help podcasters with ADHD manage their emotions, whether it’s from a bad review or an exciting opportunity.

4. Practice Active Listening

Podcasting attracts people who like to talk. People who have ADHD often struggle to manage how much they speak or about how many topics. Learning to practice active listening helps podcasters with ADHD by leaps and bounds. Listening rather than speaking encourages dialogue with guests to converse effectively. This practice also helps you generate ideas for future content: by listening more attentively, you will pick up information you hadn’t considered. Active listening on the part of the podcaster makes for a more informative experience for the audience. Let there be occasional silence; let people be interesting on their own.

5. Dedicate Time and Space to your Creative Work and Make It Rewarding

Schedule your podcast work sessions like it’s a second job. Treat this as the time to do something special for yourself. When you do what Cal Newport calls Deep Work, don’t multitask. If podcasters with ADHD switch between different apps, websites, and software, their working memory is taxed, and there’s room for distraction.

Build reward into the habit of your podcasting work sessions. This is a two-fold process. You have to have a reward while you’re working and a reward after the task for getting it done.

What are some ways to make podcasting tasks more rewarding?

Use tools that make it easy and enjoyable to do your work. Use reliable podcasting gear so it doesn’t distract you from the work. Tactile tools help podcasters with ADHD; try a video game controller or a Stream Deck to help with editing. Body doubling, working in parallel with another person, helps podcasters with ADHD feel less complacent. Listening to music with binaural beats can help with focus, though you don’t want to use this while recording or editing. If there’s a podcasting task you don’t enjoy, an all-in-one podcasting software like Alitu or one of its alternatives can shift some labor.

Again, when you finish a task or a work session, reward yourself. This restarts your productivity cycle and helps you stay motivated to work on your podcast. The rewards don’t have to be huge. Watch a clip from a favorite movie, play with the cat, do five minutes of yoga, whatever makes you feel good.

Rewards Help Prevent Podfade

We know that people who have ADHD tend to have short time horizons. If an experience isn’t rewarding, podcasters with ADHD can lose interest. Design your podcasting time and space with that in mind. Think of this as the time you spend exploring a topic you love and learning more about it while sharing it with people who care about it. Don’t wait for someone else to validate you.

Podcasters with ADHD: Uniquely Suited, But Need More Preparation

Creative enterprises tend to attract people with attention deficit disorder. They can use their symptoms as tools, instead of coping with them as obstacles. Podcasters with ADHD can find connections between ideas that others are unlikely to, which makes them ideal interpreters for society. But, people with ADHD are easily derailed by the nearest or latest dopamine pumping system, and the Internet is full of them. Traditional productivity methods are more necessary for people with ADHD than for neurotypical creators. Podcasters with ADHD need to rely on productivity methods, tweak them to their needs, and include rewards. With a little extra work up front, they can help others be more productive and continue to share ideas, inspire with their stories, and amplify others’ voices. As Gustave Flaubert said, “Be steady and well-ordered in your life so you can be fierce and original in your work.”

• Transistor. fm is one of our favorite podcast hosting platforms.
• It lets you pay one price and manage one or many podcast feeds.
• The drag-and-drop interface is clear and easy to use.
• Private podcast feeds are now available for all pricing levels. 
• You can automatically post your audio podcast to YouTube, with a static image. 
• There are no limits on the number of team members you can add to your podcasting account. 
• Responsive embedded players make sharing your podcast even easier.
• Transistor integrates easily with email newsletter software and social media.
• Pricing is reasonable and based on the amount of downloads and/or subscribers.
• For the full review, read on!

Transistor are one of our favorite media hosting platforms. We recommend them highly in our best media hosts roundup. But with more new podcast hosting providers appearing each month, this space is becoming increasingly competitive. With that in mind, it seemed like a good idea to revisit our dedicated Transistor.fm review.

Editor’s Note

Our Transistor.fm review was initially written in 2020. We update this post periodically to reflect changes in technology, our recommendations, and because we’re always learning new things.

Our Transistor.fm link is an affiliate because it’s a service we know and love. We’d earn a small commission should you choose to sign up, though never at any extra cost to yourself. Rest assured; affiliates never influence our content or conclusions – you’ll always get our honest thoughts, no matter what!

If you need a media host (yes, you do need a host for your podcast), Transistor is a great place to start. For the majority of independent podcasters, this could be your podcasts’ forever home.

Notice I said plural, podcasts, and I don’t mean episodes. Transistor lets you have multiple RSS feeds, whether public or private, for one price. Other than that, Transistor is so straightforward that writing a review of this podcast host is harder than using it.

Transistor.fm Is Easy to Start and Use

Transistor has a clear interface where all the steps are nice, big, and welcoming. You can drag and drop your audio and cover art files. The only confusing part about this media host is when you’re thinking, “It can’t be that simple.”

Additionally, there’s plenty of opportunity to try all aspects of hosting with Transistor and see how it works, before you commit financially. The 14-day free trial gives you time to test it thoroughly. 

In the past, I’ve used podcast hosting services where I was grateful for their customer support because I had to use it to understand the interface. While Transistor has a knowledge base one click away (and responsive customer service), you might not need it.

Transistor.fm & Audio Files

Unlike some other media hosting services, Transistor doesn’t compress your audio. Though Transistor has file size limits, they’re so big that they won’t affect the average independent podcaster. Transistor says, “We typically don’t recommend files any larger than 200MB… audio files (MP3 is preferred) should be encoded at 44100 Hz and around 128 kbps quality.”

If this doesn’t make any sense to you, consider this. Episode 6 of Jarnsaxa Rising runs just under 25 minutes and has at least eight voices and many tracks of music and sound effects. The audio file clocks in at 29.2 MB. In short, you’ll be fine.

Multiple Public and Private Podcasts

We all know that once you launch a podcast, you start thinking of other ones you can make. Transistor.fm will let you set up as many podcasts as you want for one membership fee. This is great if you want to make podcasts for your business and personal interests. It’s also excellent if you want to have one public podcast and a second private podcast with bonus content. Transistor now has private podcasting for all price tiers. At the Starter level, they’re simply unlisted and can have up to 50 members.

Transistor.fm helps your private subscribers access their podcast, and helps you keep it private. For the Professional and Business plans, each subscriber receives their own RSS feed, an onboarding email, plus a unique website player that tracks their progress through the episodes. If you’re teaching a course through your podcast, you can even see how far along your subscribers are in the process. 

Transistor and YouTube Auto-Posting

Transistor users who purchase the Professional or Business plan can automatically send every podcast episode to YouTube. Your audio files get converted to “video” files, which display your preferred static image.  And, Transistor only stores your secure access token in order to talk to the API. They don’t access any of your other Google or YouTube info. 

Unlimited User Logins for One Price

If you have help making your podcast, Transistor doesn’t make you swap around one login. Instead, they allow unlimited user logins for the same account, and with different permissions (either as admins or members). This is great for security.

Responsive Embedded Players

By default, Transistor.fm’s player has three buttons that only appear when the user hovers their mouse cursor over the player. The buttons’ options are “subscribe,” “share,” and “more info,” which provide the show notes in the embedded player window. The player is thoughtfully created to prevent autoplay from skewing your download data. 

A multi-episode player lets you showcase specific episodes. If you have a special montage episode, a trailer, or introduction episodes, you can highlight them for new listeners.

Transistor’s Integrations for Audience Engagement and Analytics

Transistor.fm integrates neatly with newsletter and mailing list sites like MailChimp, Convertikit, HubSpot, and more. You can share a link to your episode directly to Twitter/X, too.

Transistor provides all the basic analytics you need, such as how many downloads over time, and a “best guess” of the subscriber count.

Recently, Transistor added an Episode Comparison feature, which displays daily download numbers for different episodes as a table. This makes it easy to see which parts of your show or promotions have the most impact. 

And you can integrate your RSS feed with third-party analytics services. This means if you use a service like Gumball, Podder or Chartable to see your rankings and reviews in other countries, you can lock that into your dashboard with Transistor.

Transistor’s integrations can save you a lot of task switching.

Dynamic Audio Insertion

Not only does Transistor offer dynamic audio insertion but also dynamic show notes. If a part of your show notes doesn’t change, you can type it in once, and apply it to all or some of your episodes. Transistor isn’t integrated with an advertising network, but they recommend a few in their knowledge base. 

Transistor.fm Pricing

Transistor.fm is neither the most expensive nor the least expensive podcast hosting service on the Internet. After your 14-day free trial, pricing works like this:

• Starter: $19/month, or $190 a year
• Professional: $49 a month, or $490 a year
• Business: $99 a month, or $990 a year 

When you pay annually, you get two months for free. Considering its features, Transistor.fm is reasonably priced.

These pricing tiers are based on download and subscriber activity.

• Starter: 20K downloads a month and 50 private subscribers
• Professional: 100K downloads a month, 500 private podcast subscribers, plus dynamic ads and show notes, and auto-posting to YouTube
• Business: 250K monthly downloads, up to 3K private subscribers, dynamic ads and show notes, auto-posting to YouTube, and you can remove Transistor’s branding from the player.

If you’re an indie podcaster starting out, that first pricing tier is not a bad place to be. It’s unlikely that anyone would suddenly find their podcast went from 250 downloads a month to 250,000 in a matter of hours. Even if this does happen (congratulations!), Transistor’s policy is to work with the user and avoid surprise charges. Their FAQ says, “There’s no ‘automatic shut off;’ we’ll continue to serve audio for your listeners.”

They probably assume that if you want to auto-post to YouTube, you have monetization set up and are willing to invest the extra $30/month for convenience.

Is There a Downside to Transistor.fm?

Honestly, I tried to find one. The model of pricing based on downloads (not uncommon) might worry some podcasters, but you’d be surprised at how high these upper limits are when it comes to average podcast downloads. Put it this way: if your show gets that popular, you’ll have no problem monetizing and covering any increased hosting costs.

Since this article was first published, Transistor’s prices haven’t increased, but each pricing tier’s limits have expanded to allow even more downloads and subscribers. Plus, they’ve added dynamic audio insertion, which is a great feature, especially regarding calls to action. Now, independent podcasters get more for their money.

There are loads of great hosting options on the market these days, but Transistor.fm stands out as an excellent choice for simplicity, ease of use, and premium content. That said, if you’re still looking to shop around a bit, you might want to check out our ultimate podcast hosting roundup, which has a free “hosting chooser” tool to tailor your desired features.

• Easy of use 5/5
• Pricing 4/5
• Tools & Features 5/5

Editor’s Note

Our video podcast guide was initially written in 2018. We update this post periodically to reflect changes in technology, our recommendations, and because we’re always learning new things.

This post contains the odd affiliate link to products we think you might find interesting or useful. We’d earn a small commission should you choose to buy through them, though never at any extra cost to yourself!

So does it really matter how different people define podcasts? Not always. But I suppose it can. For example, if someone hears you have a podcast, yet they can’t find it on their listening app of choice, that will cause a bit of confusion and frustration, which will, in turn, hamper your growth.

But we’ve already contributed to the ins and outs of the “what is a podcast?” discussion, with Colin’s “explanation in plain English”. This time around, I’d like to talk specifically about video podcasts. What exactly is a video podcast, and should you make one? And are they essentially just videos on YouTube?

Can Video Content on YouTube Be a Podcast?

For years, you’ve been able to find loads of videos of podcasts on YouTube – most famously, Joe Rogan. These are video recordings of podcast episodes rather than the podcast episodes themselves.

But in 2022, YouTube made some official moves to “get into podcasting”. Being one of the world’s biggest content platforms and search engines, this was good news for the medium.

At the time of writing, though, YouTube’s podcast offerings are still limited, both in regional availability and in features. Some creators and viewers may be able to access dedicated “podcast” pages. But these are little more than re-skinned YouTube channels.

The next move for YouTube looks to be RSS feed ingestion. Though this might sound like a serious medical complaint, it basically means that YouTube will use your show’s RSS feed to add podcasts, their details, and their episodes. The issue with this (as opposed to fully supporting RSS) is that any edits you make to published episodes, episode titles, or shownotes won’t show up in the YouTube version of your podcast. You’d need to log into YouTube and replicate the changes there.

Sure, it’ll still be a step forward, but many would argue a slightly misplaced one. They’re taking a process that should be simple and making it more difficult.

Of course, there’s no need to burden listeners or viewers with these technical distinctions. Saying “find the podcast on YouTube” is absolutely fine, so long as you’ve made it available everywhere else, too. You’ll never reach a wider audience if you don’t make your content available on their podcasting platform of choice.

So, even if you have access to the early iteration of podcasts on YouTube, treat this as a companion to your show. Your central hub should always be your podcast hosting account.

So, Is There Such a Thing as a Video Podcast?

Podcasts are overwhelmingly done in audio, and are subscribed to or ‘followed’ in places like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Overcast. There’s a tiny percentage of actual video podcasts out there, too. The most popular places they can be found are Apple/iTunes and Spotify, but some other directories can support them. An example of one on Apple is Ted Talks Daily, which is a video companion to the audio-only version of the show.

Spotify is still relatively new to the video podcast party, though they announced plans to support them back in mid-2020. You can now make an exclusive video podcast on the platform if you’re using Spotify for Podcasters to host and publish your content.

Spotify’s involvement will undoubtedly further the growth of video podcasts (as an aside, check out some of the best video podcasts on Spotify). But until now, they’ve been relatively obscure things, dwarfed by their audio-only counterparts.

So, as video podcasting becomes much more common, should you jump into the pool with your own content?

Related Article

Why Video Can’t & Won’t Replace Audio in Podcasting

Just like video supposedly killed the radio star, it’s about to do away with the audio podcaster too. Or so we’re told.  Find out more »

Do My Audio Podcast Audience Want Video Content?

Nearly a third of the podcast audience surveyed here prefers to “actively watch” a podcast with a video component.

Consumers were asked their preference for three podcast experiences:

• Audio only without any video (43% preference)
• Play video in the background or minimize on device while listening (29%)
• Actively watch while listening (28%)

This data suggests that there’s undoubtedly a demand for video podcasts. Whether or not your existing audience wants a video element might not be the primary reason for deciding to go down this route, though. Instead, new visibility and extra discoverability could be seen as the primary benefit. If some existing listeners want to transition to watching your content, then treat that as an added bonus.

Where Do People Watch Podcasts?

In the same Cumulus Media/Signal Hill Insights data, mentioned above, there are some other interesting stats.

35% of weekly podcast listeners who prefer podcasts with video name YouTube as the podcast platform they use the most.

This is with Spotify in second place (21%) and Apple Podcasts third on 9%. Compare this to audio-only podcasts data and you have Apple top on 30%, Spotify second with 24%, and YouTube third with 6%.

So if you’re going to create any sort of visual element around your podcast, then uploading to YouTube is a no-brainer.

You might choose to go above and beyond just uploading the entire episode, too. From a new visibility point of view, capturing someone’s attention with video content on YouTube for more than a few minutes is rare. Instead, you can use select clips that focus on one particular question or topic, and upload them as ‘micro-content’. This technique is explained in detail in Gavin Bell’s guide to running ads on Facebook.

This way, your podcast is on YouTube (comfortably the biggest video platform on the web), and the fact that it isn’t technically a podcast? Well, nobody really cares. As long as your audience can still get the audio version anywhere podcasts are consumed, then you’re golden.

A lot of the debate around video podcasts (as well as content in general) is centred on what medium is “best”. But podcasting (audio), YouTube (video), and blogging (shownotes) can all complement each other in a sustainable and effective manner. Check out our series on Content Stacking for a full guide on how to get the best from this approach.

Video Podcast Hosting Providers

As we’ve covered already, uploading content to YouTube stands apart from all other podcasting apps, listening platforms, and directories. Think of that as an additional walled garden.

If you want your video podcast to appear in Apple Podcasts, then Podbean and Castos are two great hosting services that enable this. I’ve linked to our full reviews of both so you can find out a bit more about them.

And, to create a Spotify-only video podcast on the platform, you’ll need to upload to Spotify for Podcasters (formerly Anchor).

If your show already exists on an existing hosting provider, we don’t recommend fully moving it over to Spotify for Podcasters as it isn’t the most robust or stable platform out there. You might, instead, just create a separate video podcast version of your show there.

Just be sure to give the show a slightly different name, should you choose to go down this route. For example, Podcraft: The Video Series. This means you won’t have two almost identical copies of your podcast on Spotify.

The video component of your show would only be available on Spotify. Anywhere else that ends up listing the feed (likely, Google Podcasts) would only play the video’s audio. Because you wouldn’t be submitting this to Apple Podcasts, though, it won’t appear in a lot of other popular listening apps.

A counter-argument to this is that having both a video and audio version of your podcast can split your downloads (as in Apple Podcasts) and could complicate CPM for any podcast sponsorship you plan to run. However, the audio version will almost always be much higher, and you can easily clarify this in your media kit if it’s an issue.

How to Record Video & Audio Footage of Your Podcast Episodes

Whether you’re doing a traditional video podcast, or recording videos alongside your podcast, there is no shortage of tools to capture it all.

SquadCast, Riverside.fm, Iris, and VEED are four popular platforms for video podcasters. Veed, in particular, has some great video editing tools as well as a free tool to convert videos to audio. We dive into these video podcasting and remote recording tools in more detail in our How to Put a Podcast on YouTube article, too.

Best Platform to Export Audio as Podcast Videos?

Of course, your video doesn’t always need to be “video” in the conventional sense. There are many different types of video podcasts. Some podcasters upload videos that are static images (usually the show’s cover art) with the audio recording playing alongside it. This means you can get your show onto platforms like YouTube without much additional effort.

You can easily export video in this way if you’re using Alitu to record and edit your podcast, or, if you host with Libsyn or RedCircle.

Alternatively, you can go that extra wee step and create Audiograms for your podcast. These are similar to static images but can include dynamic waveforms and closed captions. Audiograms work better for pulling short shareable clips from an episode, as opposed to being fully-fledged episodes in their own right.

Does Your Video Clip Thumbnail Matter?

We all know that old adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” right? Well, as far as I’m concerned, it must have been coined by an author who didn’t have any illustrator pals. Now, more than ever, people judge everything by its cover, and if you think video is any different, you’re living in a fantasy world.

Crafting a great custom thumbnail for your video is essential for hooking a big portion of your views. The thumbnail is what makes viewers want to watch your video, and you should spend a good deal of time coming up with something creative. If you don’t upload your own thumbnail, YouTube will automatically choose one for you, and this is no good. It won’t do anything to capture your audience. Do a bit of research on what your competitors are up to and get creative. You’ll improve over time and come to know what performs and what doesn’t.

Looking for a free tool to make great custom thumbnails for your video podcasts? Check out Canva, where you’ll find loads of different designs and templates!

Video Podcast Equipment List

So, if you’re looking to make a video podcast where you record yourself and your surroundings, what fancy equipment can you use to take things to the next level?

Video Podcast Equipment Checklist

Our checklist includes affiliate links. We may earn a small commission should you choose to buy through them (never at any extra cost to you!).

A High Definition Camera, or, Multiple Cameras

With the quality of video on iPhones and Androids now, getting multiple cameras together to record should be easy. Many podcasts use a multi-camera approach to their video podcasts. It’s not necessary to use multiple cameras; however, it can make your videos look much more dynamic.

One option here to consider is the Logitech C920x HD Pro Webcam. It’ll give you HD 1080p recording, has built-in lighting adjustment, and costs around $60.

Tripod

You’ll need to be hands-free when recording your podcast, especially if you’re handling the recording process yourself. Most videographers would recommend using a tripod to capture your video podcast effectively.

Pro Tip! Be sure to “spike” (put tape on the floor) your tripod position, which means you can replicate the positioning for future episodes. This helps improve the continuity of your videos.

This portable 40″ alloy phone tripod also works as a selfie stick. It’s collapsable for transport and comes with a remote Bluetooth shutter. You can usually pick one up brand new for around $23.

Lighting

The key here is to eliminate shadows on your face and make you or your guests look the best they can. You can do this with lights from the home. You’ll need at least two lights, preferably three. A soft light source for faces is best, a second light for the background to create depth, and a third source to fill the space. The third light can also accent hair, or create a ‘hot or cold’ sidelight for the face. Achieve nice lighting, and your audience will keep coming back, time and time again.

This 10″ LED ring light provides face lighting and encircles the camera to add dramatic ‘eyelight’. It has three light temperature settings to align with other lights in the room, as well as a built-in adjustable smartphone Tripod. You can usually buy one for less than $20.

External Microphone

Good audio quality for podcasting is essential in order to record the clearest and cleanest sound. The use of an external microphone should be a focus for any video podcaster, too. Additionally, using external microphones doesn’t increase the complexity of video podcasting and is undoubtedly worth every bit of extra effort.

A popular mic amongst video podcasters is the Rode Wireless Go. This gives you a lot of freedom of movement in front of the camera, and – being a Rode mic – offers a great level of audio quality, too.

Also, be sure to check out the Shure MV88+ video kit when organising your special equipment shopping list.

Video Podcasts: Summary & Next Steps

So, in summary, the most popular routes for making a video podcast are;

1. Create a full video version of your show, using Podbean or Castos, and make it available in Apple/iTunes alongside the audio podcast. Upload to YouTube as an additional step.
2. Create a Spotify-only video podcast by hosting on Spotify for Podcasters. Upload to YouTube as an additional step.
3. Upload ‘static image’ versions of your podcast episodes directly to YouTube by hosting on Alitu or RedCircle.
4. Film your recording sessions. Create highly shareable and searchable ‘micro-content’ using short clips. You can optimise both video and static images for different social media platforms, too. Post them on YouTube, Instagram, and or Facebook. Make this part of a ‘content stacking‘ approach.

Like almost anything else in podcasting, there’s no “right” approach here. Only what fits best for your unique ambitions, workflow, time available, and budget. It’ll certainly be interesting to keep an eye on further roll-outs of podcasts on YouTube, and see what happens there, but at this stage, it’s early days.

On a final note, we’ve mentioned Alitu as an option for exporting ‘static image’ video versions of your podcast episodes. Did you know that Alitu is one single ‘podcast maker’ tool to get podcast recording, editing, production, transcription, and hosting all under one subscription? Try it out, free for a week, and take a look for yourself!

Well, I am the one who pops his head out from beneath the nearest boulder.

I don’t read social media feeds, so most of the things that are “breaking”, “trending”, or “latest news” will pass right by me, unnoticed.  

You might think that’s akin to burying my head in the sand. But that’s not the case. I am very much open to new information – I just try to be as deliberate as possible about it.

That’s one of the many reasons I love podcasts. You can get up to speed on the latest happenings in your field, industry, or areas of interest. And, you can really get into a topic, deliberately and deeply, spending as much time as it takes to understand the finer points and nuances of someone’s argument, analysis, or perspective.

But I also like to read, and there’s undoubtedly a lot of fantastic written content out there on the web. I mean, it’s literally my job to try and contribute to that.

I don’t want to miss out on the latest news or updates in podcasting. In fact, if I’d like to stay useful and employed, then it’s vital that I don’t. But I’d prefer for it to be served up in a format that isn’t sandwiched between the rantings of some furious arsehole and a cat meme.

I’m a big fan of email newsletters. There are a lot of great ones out there in the podcast industry. These help keep me in the know whilst I lounge in cool darkness under my rock. But even then, I’m not going to log into my inbox to do an hour of informed, deep-dive reading. Even if I did, there would inevitably be other correspondence in there that would demand my attention, so newsletters alone can’t be the solution.

Fortunately, as a podcaster, I know that there are few problems in life that can’t be solved by the RSS feed. And once again, I’m leaning on this venerable technology to stay informed in words as well as sounds.

To optimise my workflow, I use two other tools – Feedly and Instapaper.

Using Feedly to Follow Your Favourite Websites

Feedly will be old news to many, but a revelation to some. It’s an RSS-reader tool that lets you “follow” websites or blogs in the same way you’d follow something on a social media app. The crucial and glorious difference is that it comes without all the horrible baggage those platforms drag along with them.

You can start using Feedly for free. Or, upgrade for an extremely reasonable $8 a month (annual savings are available) if you want to follow more than 100 websites or more than three “topics”.

So, how does Feedly work?

Well, when I say “topics”, the correct term on Feedly is “Folders”. You can create a folder to group together blogs and articles that follow a similar subject matter or theme. This makes it much easier to curate.

You might be really into the nuts and bolts of the podcasting industry, so you can have a folder for that. Then, you might want to keep up on a sport or certain sports team. Or the latest music news in your genre of choice. The World (Wide Web) really is your oyster.

Once you’ve created a folder, you use the search bar in Feedly to find or paste the content sites you’d like to hear from. In my case, I made one called “Podcasting” and hooked it up to all the good podcast blogs out there. When any of them publish new posts, they drop into my Feedly folder within minutes. Feedly’s “Similar Feeds” feature means you have the opportunity to constantly discover new content to add to your reading rota, too.

I’ll then check in on Feedly deliberately and on my own terms to find a fresh batch of interesting, informative, and well-written articles waiting for me.

But – here’s my next barrier – I hate reading on a computer screen. So, I use a second tool in my arsenal: Instapaper.

Instapaper to Send Articles to Your Kindle

Instapaper is a superb app that lets you send lists of articles directly to your Kindle. As a side note for podcast enthusiasts, it was founded by Marco Arment of Overcast fame.

So, I simply look at my “Podcasting” folder on Feedly and copy the links that catch my eye to Instapaper. I’ll probably give posts like “How to Start a Podcast” a miss (not through any disrespect to the author, of course!), but the latest edition of Podnews is always a must, and I see Castos has a compelling new roundup of the best chairs for podcasting, so that gets added too. Then, I hit “Send articles to Kindle”, and off they go.

My Kindle was built in a Clyde shipyard at some point in the 1930s, but it still easily handles regular deliveries of Instapaper-compiled posts for me to take away and read at my leisure. Usually, this is when my daughter is watching Peter Rabbit. I mean, it’s not that I take no interest in the show. But on around my 800th watchthrough, it became apparent that Mr. Tod was never actually going to eat Peter and his pals.

So, whilst they go through the motions in the background, I can catch up on the latest podcasting news without being distracted enough not to notice she’s started juggling flaming knives on the arm of the couch.

No Stress RSS

This is yet another way RSS technology can work for you. Just like your favourite podcast episodes, you don’t need to go out there into the irradiated wastes to scavenge for them – they can be delivered to you automatically the minute they’re published.

If you also deploy this tactic to compile your reading lists, you can win back so much time from the doomscroll and all its accompanying horrors. And more time gives you the freedom to create much better content, which, in turn, grows your audience. Or, you can just kick back and watch some Peter Rabbit. It’s entirely up to you.

So, at a minimum, get signed up to Feedly, then build your list of “must read” resources to follow (add us, please!). Then, if you want to make the experience even better, try out Instapaper too. And if you like it, be sure to let me know.

You’ll find me under that rock over there.

First up, though, you might be wondering…

What is a Plugin?

In short, a plugin is a tool you can add to a piece of software to enhance it. In the audio world, many of us use a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) as our podcast editing software program. DAWs can do a lot in their default form, but adding a plugin or two can really take them to the next level, as well as help speed up and ease your production workflow. You might think of a plugin in the way you’d think of a photo filter on your phone.

And when we talk about audio plugins, the first company that springs to mind is Waves…

Who or What is Waves?

In short, they are one of the oldest plugin brands out there.  Chances are most of the music, TV shows, or movies you’ve consumed have utilized a tool(s) from Waves during production. They know this stuff inside out, and they have loads of great options for producers of all walks and backgrounds.

My Favorite Waves Plugins for Podcast Production

By now, you might be keen to find out which Waves plugins you can deploy in your own podcasting workflow. The following list is based on my personal preferences within my own experiences. Plugins not mentioned do not reflect their quality in any way.

Editor’s Note – Affiliates Ahoy!

As a quick heads-up, we use affiliate links to products and services we think you’ll find interesting. These help support all the free content we put out. But rest assured, they never impact how we report on or review anything, and we’ll always give you our honest opinion, no matter what!

Clarity Vx for Noise Reduction

I want to start this off with a heavy hitter.  When Clarity Vx first came to market, it blew my mind. This noise reduction tool is VERY easy to use, even if you know little about audio software tools. 

Clarity Vx is a lot harder to “overdo it”. Most noise reduction tools can leave artefacts if you aren’t careful with settings. In a nutshell, artefacts are unpleasant sounds caused by the processing. This can create tubey/muffled-sounding audio or noise bursts. Fortunately, Clarity Vx does a great job of avoiding these issues.

Potential Cons of the Waves Clarity VX Plugin

The biggest con of Clarity Vx, whether the standard version or pro, is that it is CPU resource-heavy.  But it does such a good job that I still recommend checking this one out.

MaxxVolume for Volume Levels

MaxxVolume acts as a “maximizer” and a leveler. This means it boosts loudness whilst evening out any fluctuations. It takes some fiddling to find that sweet spot, but it gets you very close to those elusive internet and podcast loudness levels.  This is my dialogue plugin chain go-to for audio drama and podcast work.

Potential Cons of the Waves MaxxVolume Plugin

A potential downside is that it does take some manual manipulation of sliders to get the best results, so it may feel daunting for people still learning the ropes. 

However, Waves has a “One Knob” series of plugins. They are precisely that – one knob. Those might be worth checking out if manual settings feel too overwhelming.

Vocal Rider for Extra Fader Control

Cue in Vocal Rider. This plugin rides the fader up and down. Vocal Rider can be used by itself, but I think it works best with MaxxVolume or One Knob Louder to glue the audio together a bit more.

Potential Cons of the Waves Vocal Rider Plugin

By itself, it’s sometimes a little choppy if the dialogue has extreme fluctuations in loudness. It also won’t make a recording overly loud to match internet loudness targets of -16lufs or -14lufs.

But, all things considered, Vocal Rider is great for those who don’t necessarily want to muck around with compressors or volume automation. It can really help simplify things for you.

C4 Multiband Compressor

Speaking of compressors… the C4 Multi-band Compressor is a worthy string to add to your bow.

This multi-function tool acts like a compressor, limiter, expander, and even EQ.  You have four bands (or six if you go with the C6). For each “band”, you can edit the frequency range that the band covers and how that band is processed. It’s very much precision mixing. Why is this handy? Say there’s an issue with a resonance that makes the voice less clear than you’d like. You can find where the audio issue exists and process only that issue, leaving the rest of the frequencies of the voice untouched. Or you can sculpt the tone of the voice with precision control.

Potential Cons of the C4 Multiband Compressor Plugin

You may need to learn some new audio terms and their meaning to utilize this tool fully, but it’s not very complex!

Vitamin Sonic Enhancer for Optimal Audio

As the name suggests, the Vitamin Sonic Enhancer is a sonic enhancer. Think of it as an extra “special sauce” applied to your audio.  Moving the sliders “enhances” the lows, low mids, mids, high mids or high-frequency ranges. It features a Punch and Width parameter that can enhance your audio further should the scenario call for it.

It’s not a tool that exists to fix any problem. Its purpose is to simply enhance your audio once you’re 99% done with the mix.

Potential Cons of the Vitamin Sonic Enhancer Plugin

Not so much a downside of the plugin itself but more a fact of good audio practice: Any enhancement tools are there to make good material great and not to make bad material good. So remember how you record at the source is always the ultimate key to great-sounding audio. Master your mic technique and pay attention to your recording environment. Once you have these in place, you can get the best from any sort of enhancer plugin.

Waves Plugins for Podcast Production: Conclusion

Waves have heaps more plugins to their name. I could probably write several articles on tools you can use for each production process! Waves offer various options to try out their software with free time-limited trials or subscription models for monthly payments if you need more time experimenting. You can also obtain a perpetual license should you wish to pick up a few tools at a time.  Waves periodically have sales where you can obtain a perpetual license for $29.99 USD, which is great for indie podcasters and audio professionals just starting their careers!

Remember, if you’re still at the head-scratching stage with audio production, you can always check out our full guide to podcast editing. There, we’ll walk you through it all, starting with the very basics!

If you’re a podcaster who uses both of these platforms to share your content, you’ll be pleased to hear this. More ears on your exclusive content means more opportunities to monetise.

Clearly, this new integration has its perks. But there are a few things to be aware of – and even cautious about – if you’re going to go down the route of using it.

Let’s take a quick look at how the integration actually works, and what this new partnership means for independent podcasting.

How the Spotify-Patreon Integration Works

Using the Spotify and Patreon integration is just a matter of linking your Patreon account to your Spotify creator account. 

Once your accounts are linked, Patreon-hosted episodes will sync to your Spotify feed. They’ll appear with a lock symbol and a ‘paid’ tag, so listeners can distinguish between free and exclusive content. When someone clicks to listen to a premium episode, a pop-up banner will appear asking if they want to ‘Get access’.

Anyone who clicks the button will be redirected to your Patreon page. There, they can learn how to access your subscriber-only content (aka pay for it). 

Reasons to Be Cheerful About This News

Of course, there are many reasons to be happy about an integration like this. In a nutshell, this provides a streamlined way to create and monetise premium podcast content with your listeners.

If you’re already using Patreon for your podcast, you can now promote your premium content to millions of Spotify users. Previously, listeners could only access and listen to Patreon-exclusive content within the Patreon app. Patreon isn’t a listening platform per se, so building it into people’s listening habits isn’t easy. Making this content available on Spotify is undoubtedly going to change that.

If you have listeners who already use Spotify to listen to your show but aren’t aware you have subscriber-only content available on Patreon, this means you can now begin promoting that premium content to them without any extra cost or effort. As Spotify is a well-known brand, it’s likely that listeners will feel comfortable paying for content through the platform, too.

Reasons to Be Cautious of This Integration

So here comes the slightly cynical part of this story…

While this partnership involves two of the biggest tech brands in podcasting, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should blindly throw all your podcast monetisation eggs into this one big newly-integrated basket.

Neither of these companies have done much to give us confidence that they’re stable or reliable players in the podcasting industry in recent years. In fact, they’ve done the opposite.

How Much Can You Trust Patreon?

Just a few years ago, Patreon was involved in a major data leak that saw the personal data of 2.3 million Patreon users released to the public. And how did Patreon respond to this? A few years later, the company ‘parted ways’ with its entire data security team without comment.

And who remembers when Patreon announced it was going to start charging backers a fee for every pledge? The news went down so badly that the plans were never even rolled out.

Earlier this month, Patreon also suddenly decided to switch billing credit cards from the US to billing from Ireland. The move resulted in banks rejecting many transactions as potentially fraudulent. And, as one podcaster discovered, Patreon automatically deletes any subscriptions with patrons that are associated with bounced transactions.

My aim here isn’t to bash Patreon, but to highlight the fact that just because Patreon is a household name doesn’t make it a reliable place to exclusively host your premium content. If Patreon shuts down all operations tomorrow, how can you be sure your exclusive podcast content doesn’t sink along with it?

How Much Can You Trust Spotify?

And while Spotify is undoubtedly one of the most popular podcast-listening platforms nowadays, the company has been creating a lot of unnecessary instability for the industry of late.

Their strategy in the last year has been pretty erratic, to say the least. Hot Pod’s Amrit Kahled recently described it as ‘off the rails’. Spotify threw huge sums of cash at big-name podcasters to secure exclusive deals (The Obamas’ Higher Ground and Where Should We Begin with Esther Perel, for example) only to axe them shortly after.

They also purchased some of the most successful podcast media companies (Gimlet and Parcast) only to quickly downsize them into ‘Spotify Studios’. The move saw 11 exclusive podcasts get the axe. The constant layoffs within the Spotify podcasting team are another red flag, too.

There was one quote in Spotify’s press release about the Patreon integration that I found particularly jarring:

“While some platforms focus on building closed systems that push creators and their fans further apart, Spotify and Patreon are building a more open ecosystem that delivers greater value to everyone, particularly creators and fans.”

Julian Gutman, Chief Product Officer at Patreon

But Spotify’s strategy in recent years has been to sign high-profile shows and lock them exclusively to their platform. That’s not supporting an ‘open ecosystem‘ for podcasting at all. It’s the complete opposite. Sure, Spotify has played a big part in raising the profile of podcasting these past few years, but criticism towards it within the industry is, more often than not, justified.

So, Should I Use the Patreon-Spotify Integration?

Again, I’m not here to say that Spotify and Patreon shouldn’t be part of your podcasting plans. Far from it, in fact. Publishing your content on as many platforms as possible is critical to podcast growth. And there’s no denying it; selling premium Patreon content via Spotify looks like a quick, easy, and mainstream way to earn from your bonus content.

But think carefully before focusing on this as your primary podcast income stream. Sign up, test out, and experiment for sure. You can even dedicate a bit more time to it if it does well, too. But make sure it’s not at the expense of other monetisation avenues you currently have in place. Avenues that are more stable, within your control, and not at the mercy of two pretty unreliable and unpredictable players in the industry.

Are you planning to publish premium Patreon content on Spotify? Let us know how you get on in the IndiePod Community.

Investigative Journalism exposes corruption, human rights violations, environmental issues, and other matters of public interest. This kind of journalism can have a significant impact on society; it holds the powerful accountable for their actions, raises awareness, and sparks change. 

Here’s how podcasts are helping the growth of investigative journalism in Africa, and the challenges and opportunities these podcasts currently face.

The Growth of Investigative Journalism Podcasts in Africa

The first non-profit organization for investigative journalism in Africa was established over a decade ago. Since then, reports have shown that investigative journalism organizations have emerged in more than 20 countries across the continent.

This style of journalism has the power to set the news agenda by covering issues neglected by traditional media. As such, this medium has been able to expose ‘the darker and the hidden side’ of some African countries.

Digital media, like podcasts, have changed the African investigative journalism scene. Over the years, podcasting in Africa has grown a lot with the help of podcast production and donor funding centers. Today, journalists and media companies are using podcasts as a platform to expose crime, injustice, abuse, and social issues from the ground up.

But this type of podcasting is not without its challenges…

Challenges Facing African Investigative Journalism

Investigative Journalism is a difficult and risky venture. The 2022 State of Media Freedom and Safety of Journalists in Africa Report shows that many African countries rank low in media freedom and the safety of journalists. Journalists face threats, harassment, censorship, and legal problems from governments, companies, and other actors who want to silence them.

Investigative journalism is also often expensive and time-consuming. In Africa, many media outlets struggle to support this kind of journalism. And while donor-funded centers fill in the gap, they face challenges in finding accurate data and funds. They also face challenges in keeping journalists safe while carrying out their work.

African podcasts come with their own general growth challenges, like lack of financial support and limited internet access. These challenges apply to investigative journalism shows as much as they do to any other topic or niche.

Opportunities for African Investigative Journalism

Despite these challenges, podcasts have proven an effective medium for investigative journalism in Africa. They also offer a solution to some of the biggest challenges investigative journalists currently face on the continent.

For instance, podcasts are relatively cheap and easy to produce compared to other forms of media. To create a podcast, a journalist only needs a recording device and an internet connection. This removes the barrier of needing expensive equipment to carry out their reporting.

Podcasts also allow journalists to bypass much of the censorship and gatekeeping that traditional African media face. Journalists can freely engage their audiences with nuanced, unreserved, truthful and compelling storytelling. 

Podcasts are also an easy way to reach audiences through online platforms directly. This means journalists can reach wider audiences, and listeners can access the content anonymously.

Podcasts enhance journalists’ credibility by reporting on matters not covered by traditional media. They give audiences better access to information, which improves public awareness of important topics, empowers listeners and sparks debate. As a result, podcasts can create communities of informed and active Africans.

3 Investigative Journalism Podcasts in Africa

So with all this in mind, here are three African investigative podcasts you should consider subscribing to:

Africa Eye

Africa Eye is a BBC TV production that’s also available as a podcast. A team of undercover African journalists is behind the production, and they investigate various topics like Wildlife trafficking, fake news, and sexual harassment.

The production team’s lives are often at risk, so they’re forced to use hidden cameras for reportage. Africa Eye is a podcast that empowers listeners to make informed decisions by giving factual and reliable information.

Sound Africa Podcast

Sound Africa is an independent podcast collective. This collective produces stories that challenge stereotypes and explore the diversity and complexity of Africa.

Sound Africa reports on Africa’s history, politics, culture and identity using narrative and creative methods. The podcast also collaborates with local media outlets to amplify African journalists and storytellers’ reports.

Volume

Volume is a podcast production company with investigative units and training centers focused on podcasting and audio journalism. One of these units is Alibi Investigations; the organization offers support, mentoring, and training to working African investigative journalists.

Alibi collaborates with these journalists to produce different podcast series. The unit also offers paid training in investigative podcasting to newsrooms across Africa.

So far, Volume Africa has produced over 20 podcast series on misinformation, corruption, crime, digital rights, health justice, culture, etc. These include Alibi, South Africa’s first investigative limited series podcast, and Too Many Enemies, an investigative journey into why Wandile Bozwana was killed, who organized the hit, and who ultimately was responsible for the murder. 

The Future of Investigative Journalism Podcasts in Africa

Podcasts and investigative journalism complement each other in quality and goals. They showcase their power in reporting, information sharing, and bringing about social change. Podcasts’ ability to let journalists investigate and produce gripping stories shows how they amplify African voices and perspectives. This is especially true for sidelined yet vital issues that affect Africans. Podcasts have also changed how audiences consume investigative stories because listeners can easily access them. On top of that, audiences engage more deeply with the stories through voices, emotions, and sounds of the people involved.

Podcasts are also accessed at any time and anywhere via the internet. And this reduces the risk of creators being censored or stopped from telling the truth.

Investigative podcasts are essential and have a bright future in the African media industry. They enhance journalists’ ability to uncover corruption, hold governments responsible, and give a voice to marginalized groups.

Indie podcasters worldwide can help these podcasts thrive by supporting and protecting the open podcasting ecosystem. The more some larger companies try to build their own walled-off versions of “podcasting”, the easier it will be to block, censor, or control a population’s content. And that only serves to put the power back into the hands of those who want to silence others. It’s important that this isn’t allowed to happen.

What Is ClipGen?

ClipGen is a web-based software. You upload the audio file, video file, or provide the YouTube URL. ClipGen then transcribes your podcast episode and uses an algorithm to pick the best parts. You can fine-tune the clips, download and share them on YouTube, Instagram, Threads, or any other social media platform.

I asked co-founder Ollie Crow what ClipGen’s selection criteria is. With videos, ClipGen uses facial recognition and tracking to determine which person is talking, and how. This won’t work for audio-only podcasts. He said ClipGen’s algorithm uses “things like keywords, pauses, laughter, etc.”

“As we’ve gained more and more feedback from customers, we’ve added more features into the scoring algorithm and tweaked thresholds. Now, it scores all possible clips and effectively takes the top 10-12.”

How Much Does ClipGen Cost?

ClipGen starts with a Free tier, no credit card required. After that, the pricing and features are determined by the amount of data, number of clips, and image clarity. (either 720p or 1080p).

• Free: Upload up to 60 minutes of audio or video, to make up to five video clips at 720p, per month.
• Creator: For £15.00, you can upload up to 120 minutes of audio or video and make up to 20 720p clips per month.
• Pro: For £30.00 per month, you can upload up to 120 minutes of audio or video, and make up to 30 clips at 1080p.

The prices are adjustable within each tier. Also, the sliders on their pricing page are fun to play with.

How is ClipGen’s User Experience?

ClipGen’s guidance is minimalist. Some apps offer walkthroughs showing what parts of the screen do different tasks. Others explain what different parts of the screen are if you hover your cursor on or near them. ClipGen’s dashboard is meant for true creatives who eschew rules or structure and click on things until something happens.

The instructions consist of a button that says, “Need Help?” This takes you to a YouTube video tutorial. Text is so 20th century.

But everyone learns differently: some people need printed instructions. ClipGen lacks written instructions, a knowledge base, or support articles. I’m surprised they didn’t have an AI tool transcribe the tutorial video and process it for clarity.

How Does ClipGen Work?

Upload your audio or video file, or enter the link to your YouTube video. ClipGen transcribes and analyzes the file. According to ClipGen’s estimates, a 45-minute podcast episode takes about 20 minutes to process, and a 2-3 hour episode about 30 minutes. You won’t receive a notification when processing is complete: you’ll have to wait and hit refresh.

ClipGen’s clips each have a description, keywords with hashtags, and an editable transcript. Pick the aspect ratio and colors for emphasized words or the waveform at the bottom. The result is similar to an audiogram you could make with Headliner or Wavve.

The user interface assumes you know the numbers of which aspect ratios are best to use on which social media platform. I used a 1:1 ratio. Unlike Headliner, users can’t adjust where the waveform or captions are in the screen layout. Here’s one of the clips that ClipGen selected.

As you can see above, the captions are over the logo, which makes them harder to read.

ClipGen’s Selections and Descriptions

Using AI to choose the “best” or “most interesting” sections feels awkward. It’s like asking a calculator if 7 or 9 is nicer.

In the episode I uploaded, we discussed a deck of cards with writing exercises. ClipGen picked out a section where we talked about a writing prompt, “List three things your character wants. How could each of them lead to ruin?” Then we gave a sample answer that takes place during the Trojan War.

The transcription’s spelling and accuracy were excellent. But, ClipGen focused on the Trojan War and suggested the title, “The Perils of Love, House and Job.” ClipGen’s suggested hashtags were #loveintereststalker, #newhousetrap, and #jobsmurder. How this promotes a podcast clip about writing exercises is beyond me.

AI does a great job transcribing text and summarizing it quickly. But, it doesn’t glean meaning from metaphor the way humans do.

Is ClipGen.io Your Podcast’s Promotion Genie?

The Battle of Yavin sequence in Star Wars is widely regarded as one of the most thrilling cinema sequences ever. When George Lucas’ original editor turned in a rough cut that wasn’t good, Marcia Lucas took over. Not only did she have substantial editing experience, but also she intimately understood the story. Every moment of that intense, heart-pounding battle is due to her painstaking craft as an editor. Because she understood the story and the footage inside and out, watching every frame, she was able to show it at best advantage.

ClipGen’s team says the tool saves you from having to listen to a long podcast. This might be a good tool if you’re a social media manager, making clips for podcasts you dislike or don’t understand. But, if you’re not listening to the podcast to find out what happens and what it means, you run the risk of misrepresenting your client.

Most importantly, if you make a podcast, but can’t be bothered to listen to footage you recorded in order to promote it, why are you making a podcast in the first place?

Our podcast promotion guide has loads of ways to help your show reach new audiences, including making shareable video clips. Can ClipGen pick out sections of your podcast and package them for promotion? Sure. Does it know what will grab attention on social media, or what’s the “best?” That’s too subjective for a machine to find. Should you hand off “interestingness” to a machine? Probably not.

Have you tried out ClipGen on your own podcast? How did you get on? We’d love to hear about it in the IndiePod Community.

• There is a wide range of podcast editing software options on the market today.
• At their core, they all really function and work in the same way.
• For many, the choice comes down to budget. There are free options out there, like Audacity.
• Paid platforms like Adobe Audition are immensely powerful and flexible, though overkill for most podcasters.
• A dedicated podcast editing tool like Alitu is an excellent option for simplicity and automation. And it’s so much more than just editing software, too.
• Read on to find out more…

Is there a single best podcast editing software option out there? Unsurprisingly, no. But, we can tell you some of the best options FOR YOU!

That’s because, although all podcasters have much in common, there are also a lot of individual factors to think about with something like this.

People come to podcasting with different backgrounds, skill levels, experiences, commitments, ambitions, and budgets. And those are just a few factors that might help decide what the best podcast editing software for someone is.

This makes it impossible to recommend one podcast editing software option as “the best”, – so we will offer four recommendations under the following categories.

• Easiest
• Free
• Going Pro
• Advanced

Remember, if you’re looking for a guide to ALL types of software you’ll need to run a show, check out our main Podcast Software article for recording, editing, scheduling & planning software, and more!

Editor’s Note

Our ‘Best Podcast Editing Software’ guide was initially written in 2018. We update this post periodically to reflect changes in technology, our recommendations, and because we’re always learning new things!

The Easiest (& Quickest) Podcast Editing Software Option: Alitu

Are you a complete beginner with no real technical background and no desire to learn about podcast audio editing?

If so, there’s a tool called Alitu that’ll let you record and build your episodes in an incredibly simple way. All you need is an internet connection.

Alitu Price

Alitu pricing: $38 a month (7-day free trial available)

Reasons to Use Alitu

Its user-friendly interface is easier to navigate than your average social media app. And it’s so much more than just an audio editing software package.

You can record your audio in Alitu – either solo episodes or remote conversations – so you won’t need to pay extra for a call recorder subscription.

It’ll then take your raw recording, automatically balance out your audio levels, and do the cleanup and processing for you. It’ll let you add your music, segments, transitions, etc. Then, you can upload your episode via Alitu’s own hosting. That means you can publish directly to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the hundred other places podcasts are consumed.

Alitu will also create transcriptions for your episode to help you make sure your content is accessible for all.

One Alitu feature that’s going down a storm with users is the Playback Speed settings. This comes in handy when you’ve recorded hours of audio and need to listen through it to find and make any edits. With the Playback Speed feature, this can now be done in half the time. So if you’re in the “non-techy”, “complete beginner”, or “time-strapped” camps (or all three!), be sure to check out Alitu.

Reasons to Avoid Alitu

Alitu is designed to take care of a lot of the tech and audio production automatically. Whilst this is a big pro for inexperienced or time-starved podcasters, it can be seen as a lack of control for others. If you’ve worked with audio before, or, have a decent amount of time to spend working on production, then Alitu may not be your best podcast editing software option.

The Free Podcast Editing Software Option: Audacity

A stalwart in the world of podcasting, Audacity is an open-source audio recording and editing program. Such programs are also known as DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations).

Audacity Price

Audacity pricing: Free

Reasons to Use Audacity

Audacity is your best option if you’re a complete beginner, not looking to spend any money, but have some spare time to learn the basics of podcast editing.

The fact that Audacity is free makes it the most commonly used DAW in podcasting, too.

But being free isn’t its only appeal. It’s also packed with enough features to build any podcast episode you like.

The latest version has also introduced non-destructive editing, which is a big step forward for the platform. It used to be that when you cut stuff out in Audacity, it was gone for good. But now the software works the same way as most other podcast editors – your cuts are “hidden” rather than deleted entirely.

We have a huge, in-depth course on how to use Audacity, from beginner to pro, inside our IndiePod Community. But you’ll also find enough free tutorials out there to get you up and running if you’re working with no budget whatsoever!

Reasons to Avoid Audacity

Though the software has improved recently, it’s still a very “retro” looking platform that’ll be intimidating and confusing to beginners. Even experienced audio producers find its layout a bit baffling at times.

The Pro Podcast Editing Software Option: Hindenburg Journalist

Hindenburg Journalist is a DAW designed explicitly for podcasters and radio journalists.

Hindenburg Journalist Price

Hindenburg Journalist pricing: $99 (one-off) 

Reasons to Use Hindenburg Journalist

The Hindenburg website says the program’s “focus is on storytelling.” and “The design and features are tailored spoken-word productions.”

This actually makes it a little cleaner and less intimidating than its more advanced alternatives. 

With Hindenburg Journalist, you can assemble complex documentary-style episodes with multiple elements without being an audio production master. 

If you’re interested in learning whether Hindenburg is your best podcast editing software option, check out our more in-depth look at this tool.

Reasons to Avoid Hindenburg Journalist

Hindenburg Journalist falls into a nice spot on this roundup where it’s on the simpler side to use, and yet, still offers a lot of control. You’d get much more flexibility with Audition, though with added complexity. Alitu, on the other hand, will give you loads more features (hosting, call recording, etc.) but less control on the audio production side.

An alternative to Hindenburg at the Pro-level option is Reaper, and you can read our full Reaper review to get the lowdown on that software, too.

The Advanced Podcast Editing Software Option: Adobe Audition

Audition is a stalwart in the podcast editing software Pantheon. I learned on it back in 2010 and still use it to this day.

Adobe Audition Price

Adobe Audition pricing: $20.99 a month

You can also get Adobe Audition as part of an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, giving you access to their photo and video editors, along with many more of their apps. Heads up that our link here is an affiliate, so we’d earn a commission should you decide to buy through it (at no extra cost to yourself!).

Reasons to Use Adobe Audition

Adobe Audition is an excellent podcast software option for someone who wants complete flexibility and control over their projects.

This DAW has everything you need to achieve a level of mastery in audio editing and production.

I use it for high-quality audio multi-track editing, piecing separate tracks together (voices, music, sound effects, etc.) to produce audio drama soundscapes. Audition’s advanced tools make it a stand-out option if you’re prepared to spend some time and money on getting first-class sound quality.

Reasons to Avoid Adobe Audition

Unless you’re an experienced podcaster or audio editor, Audition can be a steep learning curve. I’ve also found it buggy and glitchy these past few years. I’m not convinced Adobe support it in the way they once did.

You can read my full review of Adobe Audition here, where I run through some of my favourite features for producing podcasts. That’ll give you a glimpse into how this advanced software looks, feels, and performs.

Podcast Editing Software FAQ

We’ve covered the main recommendations. But you might still have many questions about podcast editing software before making a final decision. Let’s take a look at some frequently asked questions.

What Your Podcast Editing Software Can (And Can’t) Do

First up, why might you want to use podcast editing software in the first place? In what ways can it help you? And what sort of things are beyond its power?

Double up as Podcast Recording Software

Podcast editing software typically doubles up as podcast recording software. This is handy because it means you only need one single platform to record and edit your podcast.

One exception here is if you’re recording remote conversations with interviewees or co-hosts. Most podcast editing software packages don’t have a remote call recorder feature (with one exception being Alitu). If you’re using something other than Alitu to edit your episodes, then you’ll want to use dedicated call recording software too. After each session, you’d then download your audio and import it into your podcast editing software to begin working on it.

Edits & Editing (Cutting Stuff Out)

People use podcast editing software for two main reasons. The obvious one is the editing out of mistakes and unwanted segments. This is literally where you cut out surplus content from the finished episode. For a deeper dive here, check out our ultimate guide to podcast editing.

Cleaning Up & Fixing Volume Levels

Another critical use of podcast editing software is a process known as “post-processing”. This is where you clean up any background noise, ensure that volume levels are consistent throughout, and that the overall volume of the episode is within generally accepted podcasting standards.

Audio Quality: Repair, or Enhance to Studio Standard?

Your podcast editing software can be a powerful tool. But it isn’t magic. Nor is it a substitute for good practices in the recording process. If you hear a podcast with great audio quality, the main factors at play are that the podcaster has a decent level of gear, is using it in the right way, and has taken the recording environment into consideration. Be sure to get your house in order on these fronts, and everything else will fall into place.

Add in Music

Any podcast editing software you choose will enable you to add music to your content. The challenge here is sourcing which music you’ll use and steering clear of copyright infringement. For what it’s worth, if you decide to opt for Alitu, then you’ll have full access to its podcast music library.

Background Noise

The cleaning up of “background noise” is a bit of an ambiguous term too. Editing software can easily clean up consistent sounds like the hiss or hum underneath the vocals caused by things like equipment, fans, or AC units. However, background noise like people shouting, doors slamming, and phones ringing aren’t so easy to remove. With a bit of know-how and the right tools, you can certainly have a stab, but often this type of audio surgery can leave audible flaws in the voices we’re trying to listen to.

Podcast Production Software Vs Audio Editing Software/Digital Audio Workstations

You can use any audio editing tools or software for your podcast, but dedicated podcast production software also exists nowadays.

For years, podcasters used equipment and software built – first and foremost – for music production.

As podcasting continues to grow, though, we’ve seen technology created specifically for the medium. Hardware-based examples of this are audio interface devices like the Zoom PodTrak P4 and Rode Rodecaster II.

Using pro-level software like Audition will give you tonnes of flexibility, including the ability to add and mix in all sorts of audio effects. But for most podcasters, this is overkill, and can add unnecessary complications.

Dedicated podcast editing software like Alitu, on the other hand, was tailor-made for podcasters. That means it has a suite of features for podcasters that stretch beyond the editing and production realm – from call recording to hosting and transcriptions built-in!

Podcast Editing Software Vs Hiring a Podcast Editor?

You’ve really two options when it comes to editing podcasts – you can learn to do it yourself, or you can hire someone else to do it.

If you work with a dedicated podcast editor, you can pay them to turn your source files and audio tracks into fully mixed and mastered episodes.

An additional benefit, alongside not having to do this work yourself, is that you can get feedback from an actual qualified human. Your podcast editor might send you a note along the lines of “Please turn off those noise gates”, “Buy yourself a pop filter”, or “Stop recording in that cave”.

It’s in their interest that your source material sounds as good as possible because they can polish it up even better. If you record low-quality audio, on the other hand, no producer or production software will be able to make it sound decent.

Whilst getting that human feedback from a podcast editor is a big plus, there are downsides to outsourcing, too. It’s a lot more expensive, for starters. And you’re also now relying on someone else to get your show ready and out on time.

There’s no right or wrong approach here – only what works best for you and your budget. If you’re interested in hiring a podcast producer, then check out your range of options, linked there. Or, if you’re set on finding the best podcast editing software to do it yourself, hopefully, this guide has helped you choose one!

Publishing Content: Uploading Your Files

Regardless of which editing process or software you use, you’ll eventually need to upload your finished episode files and make them ready for the world to hear.

In order to turn audio files into a podcast that can be found and subscribed to on platforms like Apple and Spotify, you will need a podcast hosting account.

There are loads of great podcast hosting providers out there. Once you sign up for one, you fill out your show’s description, add your cover art, and upload your very first episode. Then, you can start submitting your podcast to all the major listening apps and platforms.

Recording and editing podcasts, as well as uploading and publishing them, can all happen in one single place now, too, with Alitu. Hosting is the latest tool to be added to its arsenal, so you only need to work in one single place if you’re keen to save time, money, and, streamline your workflow.

But, as I’ve said, there are a lot of great podcast hosting options out there too, so check up our roundup if you’d like to do some shopping around.

Best Podcast Editing Software – Which Version?

As mentioned at the start, everyone is different, and it’s impossible to pick one single best podcast editing software option. It all depends on where you are at this moment in time in your podcasting journey.

There will always be exceptions, but on a general level, here’s a summary of my recommendations.

Looking to save time, avoid learning anything about audio editing, AND have access to a remote call recording, transcriptions, and hosting built into your editing software?

Looking for a free option, but are prepared to invest some time in learning audio editing?

Alternatively, if you can afford to spend some money, as well as a little time, you can learn the streamlined DAW Hindenburg Journalist, which is designed with audio storytelling in mind.

Or, if you want long-term flexibility and no limits on your quest for audio production mastery, check out Adobe Audition.

It’s also worth noting that – like whatever microphone you use – your editing software is just a means to an end. The quality of your podcast will ultimately be decided by its content, and no editing software or DAW can guarantee you growing an audience.

That said, none can hold you back from growing one, either!

So choose something, learn it, and use it to the best of your ability. But don’t let it distract you too much from the work that matters most – creating engaging episodes that people want to listen to.

Let Alitu Take Care of Your Podcast Editing

Alitu is a tool that takes your recording, polishes it up, adds your music, and publishes the episode, all automatically.

Learn more about Alitu