As I sit here contemplating PlaneMadness Episode #10, the fact that I only released two podcasts for the entire month of July starts to hit me. Granted, the first half of the month was a vacation of sorts (aside from my illness) and the last half had me working a 4 gone and 2 home schedule. But, I ’signed on to this deal’ so to speak in an effort to get 3 shows out a month- one every ten days. In June I was able to to a lot more- I think five without looking.

Well that brings me to my dilemma. One of podcasting’s greatest initial attractions was the freedom it presented- Make up your own schedule and publish your show at will. But audiences like order to things. They get their hopes up, and expect something. That’s natural, I do it all the time. In fact that’s how I was able to write about it and when this schedule isn’t followed the podcast suffers because of it. The more it’s not followed in fact, the more things suffer.

Now, as you might expect, many of us out there publishing podcasts do it completely in our own time. They are an audio journal of sorts concerning our passions and so (in most cases) we do it for free as well. Other parts of our lives can occasionally become overwhelming and then everything, including the podcast, suffers for it.

I guess if I was able to produce a livable income from this podcast I could dedicate much more of my time to it, but the fact is that right now the airline gets 50% of my time. Of the other 50%, 33% goes to sleeping and the remaining 17% of time is divided up between everything else in my life.

17%….! That’s it! Holly cow. And I suspect that lack of time is a big reason for podfade.

So here’s what I propose: Let’s see if we can figure out a universally accepted way to monetize podcasting for the entry level podcaster once and for all- A graduated system of reward for work done, like everything else in life where a product is produced. And, the quality of the product, determined through it’s success, would dictate the quality of the paycheck. This would promote additional excellence in this emerging medium while at the same time propelling it as a viable media source at a faster rate then is currently happening.

And now the million dollar question: HOW?

~Capt’n Chris

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