Introducing Future Proof
First things first, nothing is changing here on Medium. I will still post all my regular podcast thoughts here, and it’ll still all be free to access. But — as I pointed out in my audit of the year 2021 — times have been a little bit tougher of late, and I can’t continue to make £0.00 from industry analysis. I enjoy doing it, and hopefully you enjoy reading it, so I need to make it pay.
So, here comes Future Proof.
Future Proof is an opportunity for me to talk, not just about podcasts, but about all the new frontiers of digital media. It will be a weekly email only for paid subscribers (and maybe occasional free emails for non-subscribers, to give them a taste of what they’re missing out on…) in which I include real stats and data from my own projects, something I won’t post anywhere else. And it will include all the usually cynicism, griping and infrequent optimism for the way our industry is heading. If you enjoy these blogs here on Medium and just want to support this content, consider a subscription to Future Proof, cos that’s how I’m going to try and make the money to support this project.
I’ve priced it at £3.50 a month (which is the lowest that Substack permits) or £30 a year. I hope it will present reasonable value and maybe you can write it off as a business expense (that’s between you, your accountant and God). As I say, this newsletter will support the writing I do here on Medium and the podcasts that I make (like The Town That Knew Too Much and The Town That Didn’t Stare) so please consider a contribution even if you need another newsletter like you need a shovel to the face. Down the line, I’ll try and collate the new writings into a publication here on Medium.
I’ll also be doing a YouTube channel, not least because I want to explore digital video in greater detail. One of the things I’m going to be doing is dissecting and analysing various different podcast charts, apps and interfaces. The first episode of what I’m calling The Podcast Box Office Show is below, looking at the UK Apple store for the start of 2022. Do subscribe (for free, cheapskates) to that YouTube channel to get a look at further content, and tell me what sort of analysis you’d like to see.
I hope that some of you will sign up and make this a worthwhile enterprise. I’m committing to do this for 3 months, and then I’ll take a look and see whether it’s worth my time and energy. Fingers crossed! If you’re a current client either for production work or consultancy, you can have free access to the newsletter — just sign up for a free version and I’ll manually upgrade you.
If you have any thoughts about this undertaking or ideas for what I can/should do, you can always email me to nick@podotpods.com and let me know. And do follow on Twitter for more rumblings and ramblings.
