A New Tide To Lift Indie Podcasts - Lenny.fm

 Monetization is the Holy Grail for podcasts, especially independent podcasts, since they are mostly self-funded. Monetization for indie podcasts often comes through a company like Patreon where listeners can donate or through a subscription model, although that model is usually not viable for "indies."

Some of the best independent podcasts that need listener funding -- and deserve listener financial support -- include The Life Shift, Multispective, Salad With A Side Of Fries, Surfing Corporate, Leverage Your Podcast, Murder Sheet, Impostrix, Verbal Diorama, Seraphina Speaks, Bippity Boppity Business, and Watching The Covers Flow.

 These are all superb indie podcasts that need listener support to survive and grow.

Recently, an Australian company -- Nealry Media pty Ltd -- better known as Lenny.fm has proposed a new podcast monetization strategy that helps podcasters and listeners.

Here's their marketing pitch: "Your podcasts walk with you, talk with you, shown up for you in the podcast app — they do the show for you."

"Lenny.fm is a new way to support the people you spend so much time with. And to help them spend more time with you," says Courtney Carthy of Lenny.fm.

"It’s built for the podcast ecosystem, for podcast fans and podcast creators," Courtney continues. "For listeners, you can support the great work of the podcasts you enjoy listening to. A little makes a lot of difference."

"For podcast creators." Courtney adds. "If you want to monetize, Lenny.fm is one of many great options. Why not have more than one?"

Courtney Carthy, part of the founding team, says the concept came from his experience running a podcast production company and working in the music industry.

"We want to get creators to get rewarded for their work by people who value it, and help drive an overall increase in listeners supporting podcast creators, no matter which platform they choose to use. Lenny.fm works for almost any podcast, and works best for podcasts that are ongoing that have a constant presence with their audience. It’s incredibly meaningful as a creator when you find out someone has financially contributed to your work."

“Working in the music industry, I saw artists immediately turn on revenue streams — merch, touring, sales, licensing — because it works. Many podcasts might have one revenue stream or live in hope that something will come along," Courtney explains.

Courtney adds: “Lenny.fm can be a rising tide that lifts all podcasts.”

How Lenny.fm works

• Listeners choose 4 or more podcasts to support in order of preference
• Listeners contribute US$4 a month, which is split between the top 4 podcasts they chose.
• If a podcast in their top 4 doesn’t publish an episode that month, the preferences reorder to 4 that have.
• The podcast can choose how best to reward listeners supporting them via Lenny.fm, if they choose to.

Courtney Carthy explains and answers questions. A lot of the feedback has assumed Lenny.fm wants to be the only way podcasts monetize. We want it to be an effective part of several revenue streams, or we want it to be effective for podcasts that find it to be the best one for them. Lenny is just another one that works pretty well for listeners and creators. We think Lenny is going to best work with independent or network podcasts, or those that don't have advertising. Which is a few. And maybe 1% of listeners who listen to more than 6 podcasts a week (about 23% according to an Edison report). So, less than 1% of global listeners is our early goal. How podcast creators can get their audience involved. This is covered in the creator onboarding, which at the moment is fairly manual other than medium articles and an email sequence we're updating constantly with feedback. The short answer is, let your audience know they can support your podcast and others they appreciate via Lenny.fm.  Whether that's a link or a mention on the podcast, up to the creator. Ideally, Lenny is mentioned like a social account "Follow us on [social media channel] and support our work via Lenny.fm" What happens when listeners want to support a podcast that isn’t signed up. Where does that money go? The money is held while we track down the creators to let them know. The creators can then request it or let it accumulate (which minimizes the share of the support spent in transaction fees) or opt for a routine transaction. This has already been a long term project for me. Something I started properly thinking about in 2018, a year after I started Nearly Media. It crystallized in 2020 and through covid, work, and having three children it's taken some time to get where we are now. I've committed myself to building Lenny for at least five years so it becomes a recognized and trusted brand that offers one or more ways for creators to get paid. It's never going to be for everyone, but there's a niche there where this current product can work well for both creators and listeners. Lenny is designed to not get in the way of other revenue streams podcast creators want to use, and offer an easy option to as many as are interested. Why $4 a month $4 was chosen after doing some basic modeling to find a number that would be approximately equal to or more than CPM rates for podcasts, an audience conversion rate between 1 and 5%.  This was done in USD as that's where the largest market is. Why can’t I share $40 a month? Having fixed contribution is only for version1.0. I'm keen to open it up to any amount when we can do that work. Halt to subscription revenue if not publishing and series-driven and audio-fiction podcasts. I get this, having produced numerous podcast series and been responsible for recouping the production costs. For these formats and publishing schedules, I'd recommend creators find a revenue stream that's most effective. Lenny.fm might not be it. But it doesn't hurt to have a few ways going on in parallel. What works with Lenny is that when the series starts publishing again, the support starts again. Supporters are likely to have not changed their preferences for who to support in what order, so the production can expect to get an amount of money based on previous support. Happy to go into how the preferences work and how they move around - pick 1 to 4 or more, Lenny remembers those preferences and allocates money according to a simple formula based on preference and publishing. Creators can get around this by publishing anything on the RSS feed over the month to continue receiving revenue.

 Yes. You probably don’t have only one social media account, so why not have more than one way to get contributions for your work? Musicians are a great example. They make money from touring, streaming (sort of), album sales, merch, royalties, sync deals and more. Podcast creators shouldn’t be limited!

How do I get paid supporters?

Let them know on any of your channels — podcast, socials, newsletter, website. Add the Lenny.fm URL or your share link URL everywhere and make a habit of mentioning that people can support your show on Lenny.fm.

Do you have to start an account as a creator?

No, but do create an account. You’re much more likely to get supporters if you tell your audience. But we’ll notify the email address on your show’s RSS feed when a listener has started contributing to that podcast.

How do pay-outs work?

Start a Stripe or PayPal account, and we’ll get it to you when you request it. Check your balance anytime in your Lenny account page.

Who’s behind all this?

Audio producer Courtney Carthy and three business partners who know how to build software, play music and listen to podcasts.

 Lenny.fm can help your favorite indie podcast continue to provide the type of content listeners like you enjoy.