How to get into podcasting without selling your soul
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Here we are again, on another snowy (but glowy!) Vocal Friday.
If you’re just joining us, I’m Michal Stein, a producer with Vocal Fry Studios, and a freelance producer around town. We send out this newsletter every Friday to bring you, our dear readers, some insight into what the heck is going on in the wild west that is the podcast industry. We also bring you job postings, podcast recommendations, and nuggets of wisdom for fellow freelancers out there.
When Joni Mitchell sang, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone,” she was talking about my personal access to her music catalogue.
Following Neil Young’s departure from Spotify, Joni Mitchell announced last Friday evening that she was pulling her music, too. Graham Nash requested his music be pulled earlier this week, and now, David Crosby (not to be confused with Dave Crosbie, editor for The Decibel — hi Dave!) and Stephen Stills have requested their catalogues be removed, too.
On the podcast front, on January 29, Brené Brown, whose shows Dare to Lead and Unlocking Us are exclusive to Spotify, tweeted that she would not be releasing new episodes until further notice. She posted an explanation to her website about why she was pausing her podcasts. She makes it clear that she’s not trying to censor Joe Rogan, but rather, she wants Spotify to have a more transparent misinformation policy.
Wendy Zukerman, EP/host of Gimlet show Science Vs, tweeted a statement on January 31 that “until Spotify implements stronger methods to prevent the spread of misinformation on the platform, we will no longer be making new Science Vs episodes, except those intended to counteract misinformation being spread on Spotify.” In a February 1 update, she said that Spotify says they want to work with them.
I mentioned in last week’s newsletter that Spotify’s response to the backlash over Joe Rogan tells us a lot about where their priorities lie — with podcasts, and more specifically, with Rogan’s podcast. As more artists and podcasts leave the platform, one would think they’d need to come up with some kind of stronger response, even if they’ll never drop Rogan, which it doesn’t seem like they’re planning to do any time soon. Others have already pointed this out — if they do drop Rogan, he’ll just take his show and his 11 million listeners elsewhere.
Roxane Gay wrote about why she decided to remove her podcast from Spotify in the New York Times. Artists taking a stand to remove their work from Spotify is not the same as censorship, she explains. No one is being censored here. Rather, these are the tools they have with which to take a stand. She compares this to a previous situation she’s been in where she walked away from a publisher who, at the time, was planning to publish alt-right commentator Milo Yiannoupolos.
“He had every right to air his political beliefs, but he didn’t have a right to a lucrative book contract. Nor did I, for that matter. The right I did have was to decide who I wanted to do business with,” she writes.
No doubt this debacle will continue to unfold for a while longer. It is already exhausting. So, in the meantime, I’ll take comfort in Gay’s much more level-headed explanation of the issue than I could possibly procure, and will be hanging with Joni and the boys over on YouTube until I can figure out a better way to listen to music.
On Monday, January 31, 2022, Vocal Fry senior producer Jay Cockburn’s book, The Podcaster's Audio Guide, was published! I bother Jay with audio questions all the time — so by compiling all of his wisdom into a guide, fellow podcast producers can benefit from Jay’s wisdom even if you don’t have him on Slack.
My copy is still in the mail, so I wanted to ask him some questions for Vocal Fridays to tide me over until it arrives.
Congratulations on publishing The Podcaster’s Audio Guide, Jay! What made you want to write a book about how to make podcasts?
Pettiness and a total misunderstanding about how much effort it would be. There are so many podcasts out there that have really bad audio quality and this annoyed me. It's actually pretty easy to make them sound really good, you don't even need to be a sound engineer. You just need to know a few things, so I pitched a book with those things in it!
Unfortunately, while I know a few things about sound, I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to writing books. Turns out, it's hard and takes lots of time. I'm so tired.
What do you think is one of the most common misconceptions people have about what goes into producing podcasts?
A year ago I might have said that people often think that podcasts are just audio blogging, but I think that's changing and there's more recognition that audio is just another form of storytelling with endless formats. Today I'd say it's more about how much work goes into making a podcast. I spend 15 to 25 hours a week on just one show and I'm part of a team of at least six people. Research, scripting, editing, it all eats up hours.
Do you have a favourite tip that ended up in the book?
Yes! I love this one because of how dumb it is. “Find out where the sound is coming from and point the microphone at it.” I stole this from a BBC sound engineer called James Birtwistle. I was recording a band from Belize and one of the instruments was an empty turtle shell that the percussionist hit with a stick. I had never recorded a turtle shell before, and you really can't Google mic techniques for... well, for a corpse. So I asked James and that was his response. It's so simple but it applies to recording anything.
What’s one thing you wish you had known when you started out as a producer?
That my interests in nerdy things like science fiction, video games and housing policy are actually strengths and I should have leaned into them earlier. Indulge in your weirdest side and you’ll find stories that nobody else would have found.
Hey fiction podcast lovers! The Truth is hiring an associate producer to work 20 hours a week at a rate of $2,500/month. I did the math for you, that’s $31.25/hour. See their Twitter thread for more info about the position and how to apply.
Canadaland is hiring a Chief Operating Officer, and the posted salary range is $90,000 to $120,000. Apply by EOD February 11.
Calling all post-secondary students! The Toronto Star is hiring their next batch of radio roomers. Many Toronto Star journalists got their start in the Radio Room, doing eight-hour shifts answering the phones, monitoring social media, and checking with police, fire and paramedics to see what’s going on in the city. There’s no posted deadline, but it’s a good idea to apply soon.
The Star is also still looking for a podcast producer for a 3-month contract.
If you’re fluent in Inuktitut or Cree, you can apply for a temporary position of researcher assigned to the CBC’s Indigenous Language Archive Project by EOD March 11. This can be done anywhere in Canada on either a part-time or full-time basis.
CBC Alberta is hiring a permanent, full-time host/producer for Daybreak Alberta. Apply by EOD February 9.
CBC Quebec is hiring a columnist/researcher for a full-time, one-year contract, assigned to Quebec AM and Breakaway. Apply by EOD February 16.
If you love taking your weekend in the middle of everyone else’s work week (going to the AGO on like a Tuesday afternoon is the best), CBC Toronto is hiring a permanent, full-time weekend assignment producer. Apply by EOD February 10.
CBC Toronto is hiring a full-time, permanent planning producer for World Report. Apply by EOD February 15.
CBC Windsor is hiring a full-time, permanent executive producer for News and Current Affairs. Apply by EOD February 10.
CBC North is hiring a community engagement producer to work out of Yellowknife, Whitehorse or Iqaluit. This is a permanent, full-time position and applications are due EOD February 9.
Lots of hiring in the Atlantic provinces! Both CBC Newfoundland & Labrador and Nova Scotia are hiring permanent, full-time managing editors (both applications due EOD February 9) and CBC PEI is hiring a temporary associate producer for Island Morning. That application is due EOD February 18.
It’s February 4. Do you know where your T4s are?
My taxes are a real mess of T4s and self-reported income. I have many, many spreadsheets, and as I finalize my 2021 taxes, they’re going to get out of control. As for me? I plan to stay calm, cool, and collected, because I will be Girlbossing my way into tax season.
Because Girlboss, the website, has some pretty helpful tips for freelancers, like this totally not-intimidating guide to your finances as a freelancer and this guide on how to go freelance and not burn out.
I will be honest with you: almost every tax season, I have at least one meltdown. This time-honoured tradition long predates my life as a freelancer. It is hard and frustrating and confusing! Plus, February and March are garbage months anyway, so adding the stress of taxes on top of it really only makes it worse. But we will get through our 2021 taxes together!
Over the course of the Hot Docs Podcast Festival, they played clips from different podcasts. One that really caught my ear was Living Hyphen, from the magazine of the same name. As the name suggests, it’s about hyphenated identities and experiences living in the diaspora. The first season focuses on the concept of being “homestuck,” as the pandemic has forced us all to be for the last 23 months. How do we learn to show love from afar? The first episode opens with Kyle Jarencio reading Instagram captions, which are evocative and lovely. It’s the kind of podcast I want to listen to while working on my knitting, or taking a bath — quiet moments that can support gentle contemplation. There are times when the sound design feels a bit too heavy handed — that an already emotional moment is being made even more so — but for the most part, it pulls the episode along in a way that feels quiet and intimate.
We’re busy reading Jay’s new book.
We want to hear from you! What are you looking for in your podcast news? Let us know on Twitter, Instagram, or by email at info@vocalfrystudios.com. Thanks to Emily Latimer for editing this newsletter, and to Katie Jensen for designing it. We’ll see you again on February 11. Until then, here’s an update from producer Ren’s moody teen kitten, Fig.
Yours in friends and fries,
Michal
