Your favorite DJs all have them, and you’ve probably considered starting one on your own; the podcast is an essential part of the music industry. There is way more to a good podcast than just throwing a bunch of songs together into a mix, and calling it a day. It requires a lot of focus, and certainly takes more time than one would assume. There’s no one more qualified to speak on the subject of podcasts than Charlie Hedges. She has her own ‘Charlie Hedges Presents’ podcast on British Airways in-flight entertainment which is obviously a huge marker, and she’s just been named as the face and driving force behind Skiddle’s new ‘Weekends Matter’ podcast. She picks the music, interviews the guests and puts it all together. We asked what was necessary for a good podcast, and she delivered the perfect guide. Enjoy!

Content

When it comes to podcasts, it sounds obvious but you’ve got to think carefully about the music you play; music should make up at least 90% of the podcast and it’s a fine balance between choosing the tunes that represent you but also tunes that cater for the audience you’re broadcasting to. There’s no harm in throwing a few curveball tracks in there that your audience might like and you wouldn’t necessarily play out, but I always think it is important to think of it as the listeners’ podcast as much as it is ‘yours’ as the DJ.

If you’re just starting out you might find it hard to get on label promo lists, so it’s probably not going to make for a very interesting tune selection if you just play the entire Beatport chart back to back. Be creative. Hunt down some tunes that nobody else has and put an hour or two aside each week to really get to know the music on your scene.

Liners

If you do record any links for the podcast then keep them quite short and sweet, no long chats and just enough to let people know that you know what you’re talking about. Make sure that when you do speak it’s adding something to the show: announce the track that’s currently playing, maybe give some background info on it and the artist, and I always like to throw forward to what tunes are coming up and then announce what the next track is.

Whether you’re a confident presenter or not, try not to deliver the links so that they sound scripted; by all means write a script, but try and get to a point where you’re ad-libbing rather than actually reading from a script so it sounds conversational and not rigid, your personality will also shine through then.

Get your personality across, talk to your audience like you’d talk to a friend. Be it on radio or in podcasts, I always picture a load of friends in the room with me and I speak how I’d probably be speaking with them – warm, friendly and inviting.

Interviews

If you’re wanting this to really feel like a radio show or a podcast and not just a promo mix, it can be cool to feature short interviews with other DJs or producers who you think would fit your sound. You’ve got to consider whether your guest will add value to the show though – there is a big difference between interviewing someone who has an established audience and will attract new listeners, and someone who has got no audience at all just to fill content. You also need to make sure that it is not overly long and impacting on the flow of the show; if you do decide to go with this feature, as a general rule of thumb try to stick to no more than two-minute interview.

Consistency

If you’re going to start a project like this, you need to stick at it. Starting something and then running out of steam or losing interest a couple of weeks later doesn’t do any good for your brand image. Your podcast needs to be regular – whether it’s a weekly or monthly one, make sure you always bring the new podcast out the same time and day with every episode. It’ll stick in people’s heads when they see you announcing it on social media each week and there’s so much choice for people to listen to now that you want to make sure that you make it as easy as possible for people to remember when your show is out.

Selecting tunes, hunting down features, producing and uploading a show takes a LOT of time – before you start make sure you figure out if it’s something you can put time aside for each week. If you can’t, maybe your time might be best spent focused on another project?

Guest Mixes

Some people like to include guest mixes in their podcast which is all well and good, but it can be really hard to get hold of one every month, and it’s even harder to get a new one each week (yep, even for big established podcasts!). So, if you’re putting together your own podcast and want to feature a mix, try to build up a bank of mixes for the next three months so that you’re never going to be caught short when someone lets you down at the last minute. If you think that’s too risky still, then don’t make the guest mixes a regular fixture, just throw one in every few months when you can turn it into a special feature to shout about.

Distribution

Once you’ve recorded the podcast you’re going to need people to hear it! What next then? There are looooads of different options for you to get yourself heard these days, with more appearing almost every day. It all depends how much time and money you’re planning to invest in the project. Mixcloud is a great platform to upload mixes to as it is built with this format in mind, there’s Soundcloud (if you can avoid three strikes), YouTube (although you’ll need to convert it into a video file) and obviously iTunes using a service like Podomatic. Once the podcast is live, you can then push your podcast online using social media channels like Twitter, Facebook etc and try and get as much heat around it as possible.

Just remember that you’re a small fish in a big sea – if you want to stand out, you’ll need to think outside the box. Shouting about it on your own Facebook page to your mates is only going to do so much, think about how you’re going to reach new listeners each week…

Most Importantly

Enjoy every minute of it! Podcasts are a great platform for you to showcase what you love and what you’re about as an artist, so make the most of it. And this might sound weird, but smile when you’re speaking – although it’s your voice people are listening to and they can’t see your face, I always think you can tell if a presenter is bored or isn’t enjoying what they’re doing, so make sure you’re having fun doing it.

Catch Charlie Hedges each month presenting the Skiddle.com ‘Weekends Matter’ Podcast here!

About Thursday Thoughts:

At Dance Rebels, we strive to bring our readers as close to their favorite artists as possible. One of the best ways to make that connection is to discuss a wide range of topics with the biggest names in the dance music scene. If there is an artist that you think we need to talk to, reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter!