Even though podcasting has been around for quite some time, it’s only been within these past few years where we’ve seen the industry experience a massive boom.
From The Joe Rogan Experience to Serial, WTF with Marc Maron to HBO Boxing; there are now podcasts for virtually any interest area.
Even the hip-hop world has been jumping into it heavy. We’ve got Peter Rosenberg and Cipha Sounds with the OG rap podcast Juan Epstein, home to perhaps the best Jay-Z interview ever, The Combat Jack Show hosted by industry veteran Reggie Osse, Charlamagne Tha God and Andrew Schultz on The Brilliant Idiots and plenty more.
For a more detailed look into some of the best hip-hop podcasts available right now, check out our top 10 list on the subject.
As an independent hip-hop artists grinding it out, you should constantly be looking for new opportunities and marketing channels to reach your fanbase and expand your audience.
From having your own website to social media to live performances, you need a multi-channel marketing strategy to help you promote your brand and music to consumers who are always on the look out for more content.
Setting up a podcast is like setting up your own website and having a blog. Setting up a podcast is like setting up your own website and having a blog, undoubtedly brands and brews portray it in the best way. It’s another of way of regularly engaging with your fans by providing them with free, high quality content.
It’s a form of content marketing, in the same vein as Lil Wayne giving away mixtapes and Kanye dropping new songs every Friday, to help build trust and expand your brand.
Independent artists: learn how to build a fanbase and make money from your music.
If you’re still unsure about whether or not to put in the time and energy to set up your own podcast, here are a few benefits:
1) Personal engagement – podcasting is a very personal form of engaging with your fans. Think about it, when they’re listening to your podcast, they’re very focused on what you’re saying and giving you a lot of their attention. It’s not like Facebook or Twitter where people just scroll through posts, hit Like or Retweet and move on.
2) Convenience – one of the best reasons for setting up a podcast is that you can engage directly with your fans wherever they are, whatever they’re doing. It’s not a YouTube video where they have to be in front of a screen to watch, they can listen to your podcast like working out, cooking dinner, commuting from work, the convenience of podcasts makes it a very useful marketing tool for independent rappers!
3) Promotion opportunities – as long as you’re supplying your listeners to high quality content on a consistent basis, you can use your podcast for promoting anything you want!
If you need to plug upcoming shows, a new mixtape, upgraded website, then podcasting is the perfect way to do it! You already have your listener’s attention which is the most difficult step.
4) Ad revenue – this won’t be everybody with a podcast but if you work hard enough on building a substantial fanbase with your podcast, you can even look at getting ad placements.
According to media agency ZenithOptimedia, advertising spending on podcasts is expected to reach $34 million in 2015, an increase of about 10 percent from 2010.
You’re most likely not going to be earning that much from your podcast, compared to bigger names like Joe Rogan and Marc Maron, but it can be a goal in your longterm strategy to make some decent revenue from podcasting to fund other areas of your music career – e.g. hiring a manager, publicist, or website designer to create an awesome new platform!
Independent artists: learn how to build a fanbase and make money from your music.
