May 5, 2025 • 38 mins
Introducing "Creators" - a podcast built specifically for independent content makers looking to break through the noise. Hosted by independent podcaster Claire Waite Brown and TrueFans CEO Sam Sethi, this podcast tackles the three essential challenges every creator faces: discovery, interactivity, and monetisation.
The launch episode establishes the show's format by featuring Claire's own podcast "Creativity Found" as the inaugural "Podcast of the Week." With nearly five years and over 120 episodes under her belt, Claire shares candid insights about her podcasting journey. Her refreshingly honest advice to "don't listen to other people's advice" cuts through the noise of podcasting conventional wisdom, emphasizing that creators should find their own sustainable rhythm rather than following rigid formulas about consistency or metrics.
Beyond showcasing independent podcasts, "Creators" also introduces a "Music of the Week" segment featuring Joe Martin's track "Can't Promise You the World." This highlights TrueFans' commitment to supporting independent musicians alongside podcasters, providing exposure through both the show and the platform's carousel features.
What truly sets this podcast apart is its focus on direct creator monetisation through value-for-value payments. The hosts explain "programmable money" – an innovative approach allowing automatic splitting of micropayments between hosts, guests, and featured creators. This wallet-to-wallet system eliminates the need for traditional advertising models or third-party sponsors, putting power back in the hands of both creators and audiences.
Whether you're a podcaster, musician, or any type of independent creator looking to build meaningful connections with your audience, "Creators" offers both practical advice and potential pathways to discovery and sustainable monetisation. Subscribe now and join a community that believes in the power of direct creator-to-audience relationships.
Find TrueFans here
Music: How It Is from Ketsa Music
Feedback: TrueFans Support
Read: Creators Blog
Recommendations: Creators Podroll
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Claire Waite-Brown (00:04):
Hi, it's Monday, 5th of May, 2025.
I am independent podcaster,Clare Waite-Brown.
Sam Sethi (00:12):
And I'm Sam Sethi, the CEO of True Fans.
So Clare, this podcast, who'sit aimed at?
What's the goal of thispodcast?
Claire Waite-Brown (00:20):
This is my perfect podcast because it is
aimed at the independentcreators out there like myself.
In many ways, Sam, we want tohelp those independent creators
with their discovery, with theirinteractivity, with
monetization.
We also want to help them byshowcasing them on this show.
(00:41):
Also, Sam, I hadn't realizedthis until quite recently, but
True Fans also showcases musicartists.
So again, in Creators, we'regoing to showcase those guys as
well.
Sam Sethi (00:52):
Lovely.
So when people are featured onCreators and on True Fans, where
can they be found?
Claire Waite-Brown (00:59):
Yeah, the beauty of this is obviously we
will talk with those creators.
We'll find out more about theirshows on the audio podcast.
But we will also, because I'veasked you and you said you will,
feature those shows and thoseartists on the homepage
carousel.
So on the podcast's homepage,when you come straight into True
(01:20):
Fans, you're greeted by showsthat we recommend.
And if you are the podcast thatwe feature that week, that's
where you will appear.
And the same goes with musicartists.
Sam Sethi (01:32):
Excellent.
Now, each week, Claire, ourgoal is to have a podcast of the
week, music of the week,possibly a feature of the week.
That's variable.
But we want feedback and we'llbe answering questions as well
about generic podcast questions,but also specific to true fans.
Now, let's start the show.
Oh, look, Claire, you knowwhat?
In this show, we're going tomake you the featured podcaster
(01:55):
of the week.
That is because I want to setout what sort of questions we're
going to ask people in thefuture.
It also gives people anunderstanding of how we want to
promote independent podcasters.
So tell me more.
What is your show and what's itabout?
Claire Waite-Brown (02:09):
Well, I'm very happy to be the guinea pig
and I'm very happy to be able tospeak about Creativity Found,
which is my interview podcastwhere I speak with people who
have found or re-found theircreativity in adulthood.
So we talk about the periods inlife when people are maybe not
(02:30):
encouraged to do creativeactivities.
There are various reasons whypeople decide that their
creative endeavours are notimportant.
So we talk about that We talkabout what happens in the
meantime and we'll talk abouthow they find or return to a
creative activity and how thatmakes their life now all the
better.
When did you start that
Sam Sethi (02:51):
podcast?
Claire Waite-Brown (02:52):
It will be five years old in November 2025.
So it was a cliche.
It's a COVID baby and it wasborn out of my not being able to
do something else that I wasdoing at the time because of
COVID.
And that's how I was encouragedto start podcasting on a whim,
I'm afraid.
Sam Sethi (03:11):
Now, how many episodes have you done?
Claire Waite-Brown (03:13):
I think I'm definitely in the 120s.
I think I might be 124 by now.
I started off weekly because itwas 2021 and I didn't have
anything else to do because Ihad no books to edit.
And then when the real jobstarted getting busy again, I...
took the podcast to fortnightlyit was a revelation for me and
(03:35):
this is what i love aboutindependent podcasting to say to
myself who are you trying tokid claire it's your show if you
can't do it weekly do itfortnightly and that works for
me
Sam Sethi (03:45):
exactly now how did you get over what they call the
seven episode hump because inthe industry there is a number
generally somewhere between fiveand seven when people have done
that number of episodes andthen they
Claire Waite-Brown (03:58):
go oh
Sam Sethi (03:59):
No one's listening.
I don't want to do it anymore.
It's too hard to edit or noone's sponsoring me or whatever
it may be.
There's a massive drop off.
How did you get past thatinitial hump?
Claire Waite-Brown (04:11):
Yeah, I think I was just so very excited
about the project and I wasdeep in the planning of the
project and I was findingguests.
At that point, I needed tosource guests.
Nowadays, guests come to me.
But I was so engrossed in thatkind of research, but also
speaking to some really lovelypeople and hearing some really
(04:32):
great stories and then wantingother people to hear those
stories because those people canbe helped by those stories.
I had a similar kind ofcreativity found experience,
although I didn't realise it atthe time.
And I just wanted more peopleto hear what ordinary people out
there were saying about, Itried it.
(04:53):
I was rubbish or I tried it, Iwas scared or I tried it, I
wanted to be perfect and Iwasn't, but I kept going and I
just wanted those stories to beheard.
I think...
As is my want, I'm very wellorganised.
So I did have quite a lot ofguests in the bag before I
actually started releasing.
And then I'd been researchingmore guests and then guests
(05:14):
started coming to me.
So I couldn't really stop then.
Sam Sethi (05:18):
Now, everyone has the same questions at the
beginning.
You know, what mic should Iuse?
What software should I use?
What are you using?
What did you start with andwhat are you currently using?
Claire Waite-Brown (05:28):
I started in real life, and this is another
example of how the show changesand how your podcast can change,
because I started in real life.
So I've always worked on a Mac.
So I had GarageBand.
I bought the microphone thateverybody moans about.
I bought a Blue Yeti.
Yeah, I was fine with it.
(05:49):
If I used it the right way, itwas absolutely fine.
So I would go to Real Peopleand it was at a time in the
summer when we were allowed tomeet real people at a distance.
So I actually interviewed inreal life then and I did it all
in GarageBand, taught myself howto edit and I still use
GarageBand to edit now.
And then we went back intoanother lockdown.
(06:10):
So I had to explore how torecord remotely, which weirdly
widened my horizons, which gaveme guests all over the world
rather than guests in my localarea of Oxfordshire.
And I did upgrade mymicrophone, although that was
because I won one when I won anaward and I now use Assure MV7
(06:30):
and I was scared to open it fromthe box to begin with.
But eventually I gave myselftime to learn it and it's super
duper.
Sam Sethi (06:37):
It is very super duper indeed.
Now, what's that one word ofadvice you would give to your
old self now that you can lookback five years, now that you've
done over 100 episodes, nowthat you've got your equipment
and microphone all set up?
What's the one word of adviceyou would say that would have
made podcasting easier or betterfor you?
Claire Waite-Brown (06:55):
I love this piece of advice and I give it a
lot.
And that is don't listen toother people's advice.
What I mean is people will tellyou, you have to be consistent.
You have to do this.
You have to have three episodesand you have to try and get to
the top of the Apple charts.
All of that kind of stuff.
I started this because I likedthe subject matter.
(07:16):
I turned into an absolute avidpodcaster, podcast listener,
podcast enthusiast.
And along the way, as I alreadyexplained with the fortnightly
thing, I learned that I didn'thave to do what other people
were telling me to do.
And that makes it all the morejoyful.
And along the way, the show hasbecome very popular.
I've met all these superpeople.
(07:37):
I've learned such a lot aboutpodcasting.
And yeah, so don't listen tome.
Sam Sethi (07:41):
Given that you're now what I would call a fairly
experienced podcaster, what'sthe one thing you still want to
change or improve with yourpodcasting?
Claire Waite-Brown (07:55):
With my podcasting, I love it, but so
many aspects of it are so timeconsuming.
I love editing and I probablyedit as a book editor.
I probably edit a lot more thanis necessary because I'm really
a perfectionist, but I enjoydoing that.
(08:16):
And also the planning as well.
The meeting of guests, I liketo have a pre-chat because I
like to really know what myguests are going to say before I
speak.
So it does take a lot of time.
I don't know what an answer tothat would be because I would be
loathe to give any of thoseroles to anybody else.
So I can't really help myself.
Sam Sethi (08:36):
Yeah, I can tell you she doesn't like giving that
roll out.
I edited last week's show andinstantly got told that was
rubbish.
And she was right, by the way.
So there you go.
Now, how do you go aboutpromoting your podcast to get
new listeners?
What's, you know, the way thatyou do it?
Claire Waite-Brown (08:53):
That's another time consuming aspect of
it.
And it's not the most excitingone either, unfortunately.
Going on other podcasts.
Now that is good fun.
I do like doing that.
But again, that takes work.
You know, it takes someresearch to find the other kind
of shows that you would like tobe on and then approach.
But that is a good way to doit.
Social media is always there.
(09:13):
I have a little routine whenI'm putting out a new episode.
I put three posts out.
I use a scheduling platforms todo those in advance so I don't
have to think of it day by day.
That saves a lot of time.
And my favourite word of mouth,you know me, Sam, I do like
going out and chatting withpeople and that has really
(09:36):
helped with podcast growth forCreativity Found and some of the
other shows I've started workon as well.
Sam Sethi (09:42):
So given that you've got your discovery, you must
have now had a few people givingyou some feedback.
What was it like when you gotyour first comment and what do
you think people should do toencourage interactivity?
Claire Waite-Brown (09:56):
It's so lovely when you get a comment
because, you know, you can useyour hosting company to see
numbers on a screen so you knowthere are people downloading
your episodes.
And then when somebody actuallysays, oh, I...
Really loved it when you saidthis.
You're like, oh, there's a realperson.
There's a real person thatlistens to my show.
(10:17):
Somebody came up to me atPodfest this year and wanted to
speak to me and say how much sheliked my show.
And it was just, just lovely.
I do understand, however, and Iknow that with True Fans and
the other Podcasting 2.0 apps,we're trying to encourage a bit
more communication betweenlistener and creator.
Listeners, certainly in myexperience, maybe that's just
(10:41):
because of the style of show Ido, are much happier to listen
and then carry on.
I do encourage them to saythere are these easy ways that
you can comment.
I mean, I do have a Facebookgroup and so that kind of
feedback does come through that.
But I do understand that it isdifficult to get that connection
(11:05):
between listener and creator,definitely.
Sam Sethi (11:08):
I think one of the things is asking people.
If you don't ask people toleave you a comment or leave you
feedback, they don't.
I do think sometimes justasking as a creator for people
to do that is confusing.
sort of giving them permissionin some ways.
You're seeking that feedbackand therefore they feel they
have permission to give it toyou.
Claire Waite-Brown (11:29):
You're right, but also they may not
know how to do it.
So telling them how to do it isalso key.
Sam Sethi (11:36):
Now, the other big question most new podcasters ask
is who do you host with andwhy?
Claire Waite-Brown (11:44):
I host with Buzzsprout.
I cannot remember why.
I did do research.
I cannot remember why.
why I went with Buzzsprout, butI'm very, very pleased that I
did.
I find their interface really,really easy to use and their
support is absolutely brilliant.
I've often sent emails on aSunday not expecting a reply,
(12:07):
but the support team there arebrilliant and they're also
really friendly and I get toknow them by name.
But the other thing withBuzzsprout for me is I was
listening to Buzzcast and Ilistened to some of their other
podcasts about podcasting.
And they were talking aboutthings like transcripts and
chapters.
And these are all really easythings to do in Buzzsprout.
So I just assumed that everypodcaster was doing that.
(12:31):
And I was thinking this has gotto be good for discoverability
somehow.
I mean, the process is there todo it.
So it's probably a good thingthat I do it.
And it wasn't till I thenstarted researching for
Podcasting 2.0 in practice, oneof my other shows, that I
realised not Every host doeseverything that Buzzsprout does.
So I'm very happy with them.
I have tried some other hosts.
(12:53):
For example, I do host withCaptivate, who are very, very
good.
And their interface is justslightly more technical, whereas
Buzzsprout's is a bit morehuman.
Just depends what you like.
But they're both very easy touse either way.
Sam Sethi (13:06):
Now, do you make any money from your podcast?
Because that's the one thingthat people ask about.
I've done this podcast.
I've got costs.
I've bought microphones andsoftware and there's the time
cost, but there's also thehosting cost.
So people would like to, ifthey could break even, would be
good.
How do you make money from yourpodcast?
Claire Waite-Brown (13:26):
Well, I have one supporter.
which is lovely.
One monthly supporter.
Thank you very much,Seychelles.
And I do have a Buy Me ACoffee, for which I have also
had one supporter.
Thank you very much, MissEileen.
What I did before I started tounderstand about value for value
payments, micro payments andstuff like that, was I started a
(13:48):
website and a membership basedon what Creativity Found is all
about.
So in the end, I ended upmaking another business based on
the podcast.
So that makes some regularmoney.
And therefore, in a way, thepodcast is like an advert for
that, is like marketing forthat.
So any pre-roll, mid-rollsyou'll hear in the Creativity
(14:09):
Found podcast is me advertisingcreativityfound.co.uk.
And I started to learn a bitmore about value for value
payments a couple of years ago.
And that's why I started toexplore that and for some shows
that's more relevant than othersfor example podcasting 2.0 in
(14:29):
practice that gets more supportthrough the 2.0 apps because of
the nature of its content so Ijust need to be persuading
creativity found audience thatthere are other ways that you
can support me and support thisshow.
So that's some work I need todo.
Sam Sethi (14:47):
Now, what is the one thing in the podcast industry
that frustrates you and the onething that excites you?
God,
Claire Waite-Brown (14:55):
I'm going to say what frustrates me and
people might not like me.
Sam Sethi (14:59):
Okay.
Claire Waite-Brown (15:00):
Celebrities.
That just cannot be doing withcelebrities.
And this is why I'm alwaysbandying on about independent
creators who make it fromscratch and they don't have the
background that other performerswho have built their career in
other spheres.
already have.
So if you're a radio presenteror a TV presenter, lovely, well
(15:22):
done, well done, great.
And then you come intopodcasting, you're instantly got
a head start on anybody that'spodcasting from the word go and
doesn't have that background.
I shouldn't feel like that.
I know I should be very equaland everybody's equal, but they
do get a massive head start.
So that's why I do onlyactually listen to podcasts by
(15:42):
non-celebrities.
Sam Sethi (15:44):
Claire, thank you very much.
Turning on transcripts oradding the person tag to your
(16:10):
podcast may help withdiscoverability.
So that's the format, Claire.
Please remind everyone againhow they could get featured on
this show.
Claire Waite-Brown (16:18):
Very, very easy, Sam.
You need to head over totruefans.fm, first of all.
So you do need to be listeningin True Fans.
It's really easy.
Once you go to truefans.fm, youcan download that to your home
screen and use it just like anapp.
You can then sign in.
It's very easy to sign in.
(16:39):
We talk about it in an earlyepisode of Fan Zone.
Then all you need to do ischoose any of our Creators
episodes.
You click on either the tabcalled Comments or there's a
lovely little icon of a speechbubble.
You can click on that.
and you can write us a comment.
If you add a micropayment tothat, it's called a super
(17:01):
comment.
So either way, you can write acomment or a super comment
telling us that you'd like to beconsidered and we'll have a
look at your show.
Sam Sethi (17:08):
Excellent.
Now, the other thing we want todo is also feature independent
music artists.
One of the things that I'veloved about Podcasting 2.0 and
the extension of RSS is thatwe've included music artists now
who...
really are not getting a lot ofcoverage or a lot of listeners
on platforms like Spotify orApple, and they actually are
(17:30):
looking for new ways to reachtheir audiences directly.
And RSS has become...
one of those ways of doing it.
And again, there are a numberof places, Wavelake is one, LM
Beats is another, and RSS Blue.
These are web hosting sitesthat will feature artists that
we can then pull into True Fans.
And each week we want tofeature one of those artists.
(17:51):
We will also be inviting anartist onto the show as well.
And very much like the podcast,we will feature them on the
music tab in the header and inthe carousel as well.
So if you're a music artist,and you want to be featured,
please just send us a comment.
Claire and I will look throughit and we will go and say, yeah,
come on the show.
Or like this week where wehaven't got a featured artist,
(18:14):
but we will feature every week asong of the week.
And this week's song is from afriend of mine, actually, Joe
Martin.
Joe is from Manchester.
He's been an independentsongwriter for ages and he has
been involved in the podcasting2.0 scene for probably the best
part of three, four years.
He's been telling his fans,promoting the capability of how
(18:37):
you can pay micropaymentsdirectly to him while listening
to his music.
He's a great, great artist.
And this week's song is calledCan't Promise You The World.
Joe Martin (18:46):
Can't Promise You The World That I could have you
if I only had the nerve Dropeverything, jump on a plane But
that's not how real life worksAnd I think of all the things
(19:09):
I'm gonna say When I finally seeyou in the flesh again Words
won't be enough I just won'tfeel your touch If I could, you
know I would But I can't promiseyou the world But I can't
(19:39):
promise you mine If you'll takeit and be my girl You could deal
with the universe Just to bewith you tonight No, I can't
(19:59):
promise you the world But I canpromise you mine And I forgot
that money ain't an end But ameans to take care of you and
Set us free from the drudgeryMundane tragedy of life And I'm
(20:30):
working hard to make a plan Eventhough God laughs at that kind
of man So I'm just taking eachday Doing the best I can If I
(20:50):
could, you know I would But Ican't promise you the world But
I can't promise you mine Ifyou'll take it and be my girl
And make a deal with theuniverse Just to be with you
(21:15):
tonight I can't promise you theworld But I can promise you mine
And if our paths should nevercross again I hope this song
(21:37):
will find you in the end If Icould, you know I would But I
can't promise you the world Ican promise you mine If you'd
take it and be my girl I'd makea deal with the universe Just to
(22:07):
be with you tonight I canpromise you the world But I can
promise you mine
Claire Waite-Brown (22:30):
Another great choice by you, Sam.
Thanks for sharing that.
Sam Sethi (22:34):
Next week, it's your choice, Claire.
Unless, of course, some musicartist does write into us and
leave us a comment, maybe thenit'll be their choice.
But yeah, looking forward toyour choice next week.
Now, one of the things we wantto do on this show is also eat
our own dog food.
And that means using thefeatures and functions of True
Fans to help promote the show,make it better for
(22:55):
discoverability.
Obviously, we've talked aboutcomments and super comments for
interactivity.
and micropayments to maybesupport this show.
But one of the other things wewant to do is also talk to you
about how you as an independentpodcast creator can include your
guests in your shows.
And if anyone pays you, you cansplit the money with them.
(23:17):
So one of the features ofmicropayments is that it is what
we call programmable money.
And that means that you can putpercentages.
So for example, if somebody waspaying this show, Claire gets
50% of any of the money that wereceive and I get 50%.
And that's what we call splits.
But what we also do is we addthe independent podcaster and
(23:40):
the independent music artists tothe splits as well.
So if you support this show inany way, whether you're
streaming sats or streaming in afiat currency or leaving a
super comment, then some of thatmoney will go to Claire, some
of that money to me.
And some of the money will goto the independent podcaster and
the independent music artist aswell.
(24:01):
So that's how splits work withprogrammable money.
And that's one of the reasonswhy podcasting 2.0 is so
exciting.
It's because we don't have torely on advertising and we don't
have to rely on third partyhost read ads.
We can actually reach out toour fans, the people who listen
to the show and ask them tosupport us directly through And
(24:23):
it's wallet to wallet.
And again, when you set upaccounts in TrueFans, we give
you a wallet.
We give you some funny money,the tokens, the sats, so you
don't have to dip into your ownpocket.
And you can share that backwith your favourite creators.
Awards, news and events.
This is the part of the showwhere we talk about stuff that
we think is relevant forindependent podcast creators.
(24:44):
I think the big thing thismonth, we're into May now, is
the London Podcast Show.
We talked a little bit aboutyour experience last year at it.
But again, why would you wantto go along to it if you're an
independent podcast creator?
Surely it's just for bigcompanies and large podcast
networks, isn't it?
Claire Waite-Brown (25:01):
On the outside, it would appear so.
When you go into the hall,that's what you see.
You see the big companies, yousee big corporate displays, you
see people having meetingslooking really, really
important.
But when I go onto the floor, Ialways end up meeting people
hundreds of other independentpodcasters and i mentioned this
(25:26):
in the last episode the eventsthat surround the actual show
are also very much gearedtowards the independent
podcasters and meeting peoplefinding out about other shows
you might find guests for yourshow you might find shows that
you can guest on and it's also areally good time to just geek
(25:48):
out about podcasty stuff becauseI don't know about you other
independent podcasters outthere, but my family don't enjoy
talking about podcasting asmuch as I do.
But if you go to the LondonPodcast Show, you're always
going to find someone to geekout about podcastings with you.
Sam Sethi (26:03):
Yes, and one of the things I love about the podcast
industry, and I've been it forabout five, six years now, is
how friendly people are.
And I mean that genuinely fromtop to bottom personally.
because I've been in otherindustries in computing.
I've been in it 35 odd years.
And, you know, you can go tothose industry meetings and
(26:24):
people are quite aloof.
Oh, who are you?
Show me your business card.
Is it, say, VP at the front orsenior director?
If it doesn't, I'm notinterested.
Whereas I found in the podcastindustry, whether you're
starting out from new or you'rea seasoned podcaster, I think
people are very, very warm andvery engaging and always there
to Ready to help with questionsthat you might have as well.
Claire Waite-Brown (26:47):
Completely agree.
Now it's time for the inbox,Sam.
Sam Sethi (26:52):
So Claire, did we get any comments from the trailer
or last week's show?
Claire Waite-Brown (26:58):
We absolutely did.
And as we just spoke about, itis so lovely to hear from real
people really listening.
So over at True Fans, commentson the trailer we heard from the
late bloomer actor who said,you know me too well, team.
(27:19):
I'd love to be on the show andtalk about podcasting from my
side of the fence as an indie,yes, unfunded podcaster.
Congrats on the new show.
Cheers.
The late bloomer actor, a.k.a.
David John Clark, Adelaide,Australia.
And David John Clark.
Clark gave us 343 sats.
(27:39):
Thank you so much.
We then heard from LindsayWeston.
Lindsay said, I'd love to getinvolved, stroke, have a mention
for Making Stitches podcast andor Gibraltar Stories podcast,
both of which are my podcastbabies.
And then, now, you're going totell me this is ducks in a row.
(28:02):
2,222 from Martin Lindstrom.
Is that 2-2-2-2-2, that's ducksin a row, apparently.
Sam Sethi (28:10):
It is, yes.
One of the things within thepodcasting scene, there are
certain numbers that haveconnotations.
You can get 1701, I don't knowwhy, but that's called the Star
Trek comment.
And so, yes, 2-2-2 is known asa row of ducks and 1-1-1 is
known as a satchel of Richards.
I have no idea.
(28:30):
No idea why, but there you go.
Claire Waite-Brown (28:32):
Right, I'm going to have to start writing
these down for the future.
My bingo sats.
Martin has said, best premise,best premises.
I wonder if he means premise.
Sam Sethi (28:46):
No, no, this is a Swedish thing that Martin does.
I have no idea what it means,but clearly it's a translation
of what they say in Sweden.
It all starts off with bestpremise.
Claire Waite-Brown (28:58):
Oh, OK.
Thank you, Martin.
Best premises with the podcast.
Great initiative.
You have the ducks in a row.
Oh, I should have read ahead,shouldn't I?
Because Martin actuallyexplained the ducks in a row.
And also for our inauguralepisode last week, we've had a
comment from Matt Watts, whosays, Hi, Sam and Claire.
(29:19):
I make what's on your screen.
That's clever enough.
A show about the vastlydifferent ways we all use the
Internet.
So far, It's includedinterviews with an autism
influencer, a tech-savvy vicar,and a 77-year-old GIF
enthusiast.
I'd love to be considered for afuture episode.
(29:39):
Thanks.
I actually met Matt inBirmingham at Unipodfest.
So thanks so much for thosecomments and for giving a very
good example of how to submityour show to be a possible
future feature for GIF.
creators.
What Sam and I will be doing iswe are gathering that
(30:00):
information.
We'll be listening to yourshows and we will be in contact
about featuring you One thing Iwas hoping for with this, Sam,
is that we'll be able to featuredifferent types of shows and
different genres to give us abit of variety.
So, for example, I spoke todayabout an interview show.
(30:21):
Maybe next week we'd like to doan audio fiction or, you know,
the week after we might do somecomedy or we might do some
language learning or some techor some science.
So while we're looking at theshows that are submitted, I
think our like to have a littlelook about getting variety in
there and moving things aroundso we get a good mix.
(30:43):
What do you think?
Sam Sethi (30:44):
Variety is the spice of life, Claire.
Now, you can also support thisshow if you want.
You go to the creator's podcastpage and you see a little hand
with a heart on it.
You can click on that and youcan choose if you want to
support the show with a smallmicropayment or a small
(31:06):
donation, be it Brilliant.
Sam, we have
Claire Waite-Brown (31:25):
had a few questions, which is not
surprising because this is allpretty new for lots of people.
So do you mind if I ask yousome questions from our
listeners?
Sam Sethi (31:36):
Yeah, go for it.
I'm nervous as hell now, but gofor it.
Yes.
Claire Waite-Brown (31:40):
Don't worry.
I know you know the answers.
I've checked them.
So first up, someone has asked,is True Fans an app as I can't
find it in the app store?
How do we get True Fans if it'snot in an app store, Sam?
Sam Sethi (31:58):
Okay.
So first of all, no, we are notan app yet.
And the heavy leaning on theword yet, we are bringing out
the apps very soon.
for ios and android we arewhat's called a pwa or a
progressive web app or a uwa auniversal web app you can get us
on any platform via yourbrowser so that's mobile desktop
(32:19):
even on your tv but we are notyet a native app but we will be
very soon now if you have goneto your browser and typed out
truefans.fm one of the thingsyou can do is add it to your
desktop or to your home screenso There is an option in your
phone.
If you click on add to homescreen, then it will place an
(32:42):
icon just as you would with anative app.
And then you can click on thatevery time you want to use
TrueFans and it's just one clickaway.
Equally, you can do the same onyour desktop as well.
You can create a app that youcan place on your desktop or in
your system tray at the bottom.
So it works exactly the sameway as a native app.
(33:03):
But of course, we aren't in theApp Store just yet.
Claire Waite-Brown (33:08):
Okay, brilliant.
And we will let you know whenwe are.
Another question.
By chance, you touched on thisearlier, but I'm going to give
you a chance to elaborate on itnow.
When we were talking about themusic artists, so somebody has
asked, how can music artists...
get their music listed in TrueFans?
(33:30):
Now, this is a good questionfor me because I have two music
artists I want to tell theanswer of this question to that
I know.
A
Sam Sethi (33:37):
couple of years ago, a company called Wavelake,
w-a-v-lake.com, out ofNashville, started to allow
music artists to upload theirmusic like they would a podcast
and an episode into Wavelake.
And then they listed them outwith cover art so that was the
album art and then you'd haveeach track listed and so yes it
(34:01):
looked like a podcast it actedlike a podcast with rss and then
podcasting apps like true fanscould then ingest that into our
platform and feature it in factif you go to the music tab in
true fans and you click on amusic track we change some of
the ui user interface so itwon't say episodes it'll say
(34:21):
tracks or singles or albumdepending on how many tracks
there are And again, we've triedto make it a little bit more
customised so that it feels likeyou're listening to music
rather than just a podcast.
Now, there are other places youcan do that.
LM Beats is one.
RSS Blue is a host that allowsyou to upload your music and do
the same thing.
And excitingly, in, again, acouple of weeks' time, I'm going
(34:45):
to be announcing...
Well, I can say it here, butwe'll officially announce it.
We will be allowing musicartists...
to upload their tracks to TrueFans directly, and we will host
and distribute those on yourbehalf as well.
Claire Waite-Brown (34:59):
Oh, brilliant.
Super.
Right, the last question isactually one from me, Sam.
We talked a bit about wallets.
Last week, and I started doingsome streaming because I've got
some money in my wallet now.
So I did actually start...
Sam Sethi (35:13):
Ooh, look at you.
I
Claire Waite-Brown (35:14):
know.
I did start to stream.
For anyone who doesn't know,that means I'm paying a small
micropayment per minute of theshow that I listen to.
Now, what occurred to me was,if that show that I'm streaming
money to, if that creator hasnot claimed their show on True
Fans...
So therefore they haven't beengiven a True Fans wallet.
(35:37):
Am I wasting my money bystreaming to them?
Sam Sethi (35:41):
No, is the immediate answer to that first question.
So we made a decision when westarted True Fans.
We have two options.
One, you could go to streamsats to a favourite podcaster
and suddenly find they haven'tclaimed it.
And we would then place amessage, something along the
lines of, this podcaster hasn'tclaimed their podcast.
(36:01):
Please ask them to do it beforeyou can stream sats to them.
And there are other apps thatsay that, but we thought that
that was a bad user experiencebecause you're in the moment,
you're enjoying the content andyou've reached into your wallet
and you've made that decision togive them some micropayment,
some money.
So what we do is we store thaton behalf of the podcast
(36:24):
creator.
We create a virtual wallet forthem and we keep that money
available for them for when theydo claim their podcast.
So once they claim theirpodcast, they will then have a
TrueFans wallet and we will doan immediate transfer of any
monies from any users, yourselfand anyone else, that they are
(36:44):
owed by us into their TrueFanswallet.
The other thing that we thoughtwould be really interesting is
also to email the creator.
So that's what we also do.
So when we get to 1,000 sats or5,000 sats and 10,000 sats,
We'll send reminder emails tothe creator to say, hey, by the
way, several of your fans orlots of your fans have left you
(37:08):
some money.
It's free to claim.
Create a true fans account,claim your podcast and get your
money.
So yes, you sending money toyour favourite creators, Claire,
is not a waste of time.
The money is safe.
It's securely stored by us andwe will do the work in the
background to connect with thecreator and so they can claim
(37:29):
their podcast and get theirwallet and get the money that
you've sent them.
Claire Waite-Brown (37:33):
Brilliant.
So, creators, you better getclaiming your show.
You might have a littlesurprise when you do so.
If you have any questions, thenif you've been listening to the
whole show, you may know thedrill by now.
Send us a comment or a supercomment and we will answer your
question in the next episode.
Sam Sethi (37:51):
And that's it for this week.
Our audio is recorded andedited using Descript and we're
hosted by our good friends atBuzzsprout.
Claire Waite-Brown (37:59):
You can support this show by streaming
sats from your true fans walletor leave us a super comment or
better still, become a monthlysupporter of this show.
Sam Sethi (38:10):
And if you'd like to advertise or sponsor on this
show, please email me, sam attruefans.fm for further details.
True Fans, monetising fandom.
Hi, it's Monday, 5th of May, 2025.
I am independent podcaster,Clare Waite-Brown.
Sam Sethi (00:12):
And I'm Sam Sethi, the CEO of True Fans.
So Clare, this podcast, who'sit aimed at?
What's the goal of thispodcast?
Claire Waite-Brown (00:20):
This is my perfect podcast because it is
aimed at the independentcreators out there like myself.
In many ways, Sam, we want tohelp those independent creators
with their discovery, with theirinteractivity, with
monetization.
We also want to help them byshowcasing them on this show.
(00:41):
Also, Sam, I hadn't realizedthis until quite recently, but
True Fans also showcases musicartists.
So again, in Creators, we'regoing to showcase those guys as
well.
Sam Sethi (00:52):
Lovely.
So when people are featured onCreators and on True Fans, where
can they be found?
Claire Waite-Brown (00:59):
Yeah, the beauty of this is obviously we
will talk with those creators.
We'll find out more about theirshows on the audio podcast.
But we will also, because I'veasked you and you said you will,
feature those shows and thoseartists on the homepage
carousel.
So on the podcast's homepage,when you come straight into True
(01:20):
Fans, you're greeted by showsthat we recommend.
And if you are the podcast thatwe feature that week, that's
where you will appear.
And the same goes with musicartists.
Sam Sethi (01:32):
Excellent.
Now, each week, Claire, ourgoal is to have a podcast of the
week, music of the week,possibly a feature of the week.
That's variable.
But we want feedback and we'llbe answering questions as well
about generic podcast questions,but also specific to true fans.
Now, let's start the show.
Oh, look, Claire, you knowwhat?
In this show, we're going tomake you the featured podcaster
(01:55):
of the week.
That is because I want to setout what sort of questions we're
going to ask people in thefuture.
It also gives people anunderstanding of how we want to
promote independent podcasters.
So tell me more.
What is your show and what's itabout?
Claire Waite-Brown (02:09):
Well, I'm very happy to be the guinea pig
and I'm very happy to be able tospeak about Creativity Found,
which is my interview podcastwhere I speak with people who
have found or re-found theircreativity in adulthood.
So we talk about the periods inlife when people are maybe not
(02:30):
encouraged to do creativeactivities.
There are various reasons whypeople decide that their
creative endeavours are notimportant.
So we talk about that We talkabout what happens in the
meantime and we'll talk abouthow they find or return to a
creative activity and how thatmakes their life now all the
better.
When did you start that
Sam Sethi (02:51):
podcast?
Claire Waite-Brown (02:52):
It will be five years old in November 2025.
So it was a cliche.
It's a COVID baby and it wasborn out of my not being able to
do something else that I wasdoing at the time because of
COVID.
And that's how I was encouragedto start podcasting on a whim,
I'm afraid.
Sam Sethi (03:11):
Now, how many episodes have you done?
Claire Waite-Brown (03:13):
I think I'm definitely in the 120s.
I think I might be 124 by now.
I started off weekly because itwas 2021 and I didn't have
anything else to do because Ihad no books to edit.
And then when the real jobstarted getting busy again, I...
took the podcast to fortnightlyit was a revelation for me and
(03:35):
this is what i love aboutindependent podcasting to say to
myself who are you trying tokid claire it's your show if you
can't do it weekly do itfortnightly and that works for
me
Sam Sethi (03:45):
exactly now how did you get over what they call the
seven episode hump because inthe industry there is a number
generally somewhere between fiveand seven when people have done
that number of episodes andthen they
Claire Waite-Brown (03:58):
go oh
Sam Sethi (03:59):
No one's listening.
I don't want to do it anymore.
It's too hard to edit or noone's sponsoring me or whatever
it may be.
There's a massive drop off.
How did you get past thatinitial hump?
Claire Waite-Brown (04:11):
Yeah, I think I was just so very excited
about the project and I wasdeep in the planning of the
project and I was findingguests.
At that point, I needed tosource guests.
Nowadays, guests come to me.
But I was so engrossed in thatkind of research, but also
speaking to some really lovelypeople and hearing some really
(04:32):
great stories and then wantingother people to hear those
stories because those people canbe helped by those stories.
I had a similar kind ofcreativity found experience,
although I didn't realise it atthe time.
And I just wanted more peopleto hear what ordinary people out
there were saying about, Itried it.
(04:53):
I was rubbish or I tried it, Iwas scared or I tried it, I
wanted to be perfect and Iwasn't, but I kept going and I
just wanted those stories to beheard.
I think...
As is my want, I'm very wellorganised.
So I did have quite a lot ofguests in the bag before I
actually started releasing.
And then I'd been researchingmore guests and then guests
(05:14):
started coming to me.
So I couldn't really stop then.
Sam Sethi (05:18):
Now, everyone has the same questions at the
beginning.
You know, what mic should Iuse?
What software should I use?
What are you using?
What did you start with andwhat are you currently using?
Claire Waite-Brown (05:28):
I started in real life, and this is another
example of how the show changesand how your podcast can change,
because I started in real life.
So I've always worked on a Mac.
So I had GarageBand.
I bought the microphone thateverybody moans about.
I bought a Blue Yeti.
Yeah, I was fine with it.
(05:49):
If I used it the right way, itwas absolutely fine.
So I would go to Real Peopleand it was at a time in the
summer when we were allowed tomeet real people at a distance.
So I actually interviewed inreal life then and I did it all
in GarageBand, taught myself howto edit and I still use
GarageBand to edit now.
And then we went back intoanother lockdown.
(06:10):
So I had to explore how torecord remotely, which weirdly
widened my horizons, which gaveme guests all over the world
rather than guests in my localarea of Oxfordshire.
And I did upgrade mymicrophone, although that was
because I won one when I won anaward and I now use Assure MV7
(06:30):
and I was scared to open it fromthe box to begin with.
But eventually I gave myselftime to learn it and it's super
duper.
Sam Sethi (06:37):
It is very super duper indeed.
Now, what's that one word ofadvice you would give to your
old self now that you can lookback five years, now that you've
done over 100 episodes, nowthat you've got your equipment
and microphone all set up?
What's the one word of adviceyou would say that would have
made podcasting easier or betterfor you?
Claire Waite-Brown (06:55):
I love this piece of advice and I give it a
lot.
And that is don't listen toother people's advice.
What I mean is people will tellyou, you have to be consistent.
You have to do this.
You have to have three episodesand you have to try and get to
the top of the Apple charts.
All of that kind of stuff.
I started this because I likedthe subject matter.
(07:16):
I turned into an absolute avidpodcaster, podcast listener,
podcast enthusiast.
And along the way, as I alreadyexplained with the fortnightly
thing, I learned that I didn'thave to do what other people
were telling me to do.
And that makes it all the morejoyful.
And along the way, the show hasbecome very popular.
I've met all these superpeople.
(07:37):
I've learned such a lot aboutpodcasting.
And yeah, so don't listen tome.
Sam Sethi (07:41):
Given that you're now what I would call a fairly
experienced podcaster, what'sthe one thing you still want to
change or improve with yourpodcasting?
Claire Waite-Brown (07:55):
With my podcasting, I love it, but so
many aspects of it are so timeconsuming.
I love editing and I probablyedit as a book editor.
I probably edit a lot more thanis necessary because I'm really
a perfectionist, but I enjoydoing that.
(08:16):
And also the planning as well.
The meeting of guests, I liketo have a pre-chat because I
like to really know what myguests are going to say before I
speak.
So it does take a lot of time.
I don't know what an answer tothat would be because I would be
loathe to give any of thoseroles to anybody else.
So I can't really help myself.
Sam Sethi (08:36):
Yeah, I can tell you she doesn't like giving that
roll out.
I edited last week's show andinstantly got told that was
rubbish.
And she was right, by the way.
So there you go.
Now, how do you go aboutpromoting your podcast to get
new listeners?
What's, you know, the way thatyou do it?
Claire Waite-Brown (08:53):
That's another time consuming aspect of
it.
And it's not the most excitingone either, unfortunately.
Going on other podcasts.
Now that is good fun.
I do like doing that.
But again, that takes work.
You know, it takes someresearch to find the other kind
of shows that you would like tobe on and then approach.
But that is a good way to doit.
Social media is always there.
(09:13):
I have a little routine whenI'm putting out a new episode.
I put three posts out.
I use a scheduling platforms todo those in advance so I don't
have to think of it day by day.
That saves a lot of time.
And my favourite word of mouth,you know me, Sam, I do like
going out and chatting withpeople and that has really
(09:36):
helped with podcast growth forCreativity Found and some of the
other shows I've started workon as well.
Sam Sethi (09:42):
So given that you've got your discovery, you must
have now had a few people givingyou some feedback.
What was it like when you gotyour first comment and what do
you think people should do toencourage interactivity?
Claire Waite-Brown (09:56):
It's so lovely when you get a comment
because, you know, you can useyour hosting company to see
numbers on a screen so you knowthere are people downloading
your episodes.
And then when somebody actuallysays, oh, I...
Really loved it when you saidthis.
You're like, oh, there's a realperson.
There's a real person thatlistens to my show.
(10:17):
Somebody came up to me atPodfest this year and wanted to
speak to me and say how much sheliked my show.
And it was just, just lovely.
I do understand, however, and Iknow that with True Fans and
the other Podcasting 2.0 apps,we're trying to encourage a bit
more communication betweenlistener and creator.
Listeners, certainly in myexperience, maybe that's just
(10:41):
because of the style of show Ido, are much happier to listen
and then carry on.
I do encourage them to saythere are these easy ways that
you can comment.
I mean, I do have a Facebookgroup and so that kind of
feedback does come through that.
But I do understand that it isdifficult to get that connection
(11:05):
between listener and creator,definitely.
Sam Sethi (11:08):
I think one of the things is asking people.
If you don't ask people toleave you a comment or leave you
feedback, they don't.
I do think sometimes justasking as a creator for people
to do that is confusing.
sort of giving them permissionin some ways.
You're seeking that feedbackand therefore they feel they
have permission to give it toyou.
Claire Waite-Brown (11:29):
You're right, but also they may not
know how to do it.
So telling them how to do it isalso key.
Sam Sethi (11:36):
Now, the other big question most new podcasters ask
is who do you host with andwhy?
Claire Waite-Brown (11:44):
I host with Buzzsprout.
I cannot remember why.
I did do research.
I cannot remember why.
why I went with Buzzsprout, butI'm very, very pleased that I
did.
I find their interface really,really easy to use and their
support is absolutely brilliant.
I've often sent emails on aSunday not expecting a reply,
(12:07):
but the support team there arebrilliant and they're also
really friendly and I get toknow them by name.
But the other thing withBuzzsprout for me is I was
listening to Buzzcast and Ilistened to some of their other
podcasts about podcasting.
And they were talking aboutthings like transcripts and
chapters.
And these are all really easythings to do in Buzzsprout.
So I just assumed that everypodcaster was doing that.
(12:31):
And I was thinking this has gotto be good for discoverability
somehow.
I mean, the process is there todo it.
So it's probably a good thingthat I do it.
And it wasn't till I thenstarted researching for
Podcasting 2.0 in practice, oneof my other shows, that I
realised not Every host doeseverything that Buzzsprout does.
So I'm very happy with them.
I have tried some other hosts.
(12:53):
For example, I do host withCaptivate, who are very, very
good.
And their interface is justslightly more technical, whereas
Buzzsprout's is a bit morehuman.
Just depends what you like.
But they're both very easy touse either way.
Sam Sethi (13:06):
Now, do you make any money from your podcast?
Because that's the one thingthat people ask about.
I've done this podcast.
I've got costs.
I've bought microphones andsoftware and there's the time
cost, but there's also thehosting cost.
So people would like to, ifthey could break even, would be
good.
How do you make money from yourpodcast?
Claire Waite-Brown (13:26):
Well, I have one supporter.
which is lovely.
One monthly supporter.
Thank you very much,Seychelles.
And I do have a Buy Me ACoffee, for which I have also
had one supporter.
Thank you very much, MissEileen.
What I did before I started tounderstand about value for value
payments, micro payments andstuff like that, was I started a
(13:48):
website and a membership basedon what Creativity Found is all
about.
So in the end, I ended upmaking another business based on
the podcast.
So that makes some regularmoney.
And therefore, in a way, thepodcast is like an advert for
that, is like marketing forthat.
So any pre-roll, mid-rollsyou'll hear in the Creativity
(14:09):
Found podcast is me advertisingcreativityfound.co.uk.
And I started to learn a bitmore about value for value
payments a couple of years ago.
And that's why I started toexplore that and for some shows
that's more relevant than othersfor example podcasting 2.0 in
(14:29):
practice that gets more supportthrough the 2.0 apps because of
the nature of its content so Ijust need to be persuading
creativity found audience thatthere are other ways that you
can support me and support thisshow.
So that's some work I need todo.
Sam Sethi (14:47):
Now, what is the one thing in the podcast industry
that frustrates you and the onething that excites you?
God,
Claire Waite-Brown (14:55):
I'm going to say what frustrates me and
people might not like me.
Sam Sethi (14:59):
Okay.
Claire Waite-Brown (15:00):
Celebrities.
That just cannot be doing withcelebrities.
And this is why I'm alwaysbandying on about independent
creators who make it fromscratch and they don't have the
background that other performerswho have built their career in
other spheres.
already have.
So if you're a radio presenteror a TV presenter, lovely, well
(15:22):
done, well done, great.
And then you come intopodcasting, you're instantly got
a head start on anybody that'spodcasting from the word go and
doesn't have that background.
I shouldn't feel like that.
I know I should be very equaland everybody's equal, but they
do get a massive head start.
So that's why I do onlyactually listen to podcasts by
(15:42):
non-celebrities.
Sam Sethi (15:44):
Claire, thank you very much.
Turning on transcripts oradding the person tag to your
(16:10):
podcast may help withdiscoverability.
So that's the format, Claire.
Please remind everyone againhow they could get featured on
this show.
Claire Waite-Brown (16:18):
Very, very easy, Sam.
You need to head over totruefans.fm, first of all.
So you do need to be listeningin True Fans.
It's really easy.
Once you go to truefans.fm, youcan download that to your home
screen and use it just like anapp.
You can then sign in.
It's very easy to sign in.
(16:39):
We talk about it in an earlyepisode of Fan Zone.
Then all you need to do ischoose any of our Creators
episodes.
You click on either the tabcalled Comments or there's a
lovely little icon of a speechbubble.
You can click on that.
and you can write us a comment.
If you add a micropayment tothat, it's called a super
(17:01):
comment.
So either way, you can write acomment or a super comment
telling us that you'd like to beconsidered and we'll have a
look at your show.
Sam Sethi (17:08):
Excellent.
Now, the other thing we want todo is also feature independent
music artists.
One of the things that I'veloved about Podcasting 2.0 and
the extension of RSS is thatwe've included music artists now
who...
really are not getting a lot ofcoverage or a lot of listeners
on platforms like Spotify orApple, and they actually are
(17:30):
looking for new ways to reachtheir audiences directly.
And RSS has become...
one of those ways of doing it.
And again, there are a numberof places, Wavelake is one, LM
Beats is another, and RSS Blue.
These are web hosting sitesthat will feature artists that
we can then pull into True Fans.
And each week we want tofeature one of those artists.
(17:51):
We will also be inviting anartist onto the show as well.
And very much like the podcast,we will feature them on the
music tab in the header and inthe carousel as well.
So if you're a music artist,and you want to be featured,
please just send us a comment.
Claire and I will look throughit and we will go and say, yeah,
come on the show.
Or like this week where wehaven't got a featured artist,
(18:14):
but we will feature every week asong of the week.
And this week's song is from afriend of mine, actually, Joe
Martin.
Joe is from Manchester.
He's been an independentsongwriter for ages and he has
been involved in the podcasting2.0 scene for probably the best
part of three, four years.
He's been telling his fans,promoting the capability of how
(18:37):
you can pay micropaymentsdirectly to him while listening
to his music.
He's a great, great artist.
And this week's song is calledCan't Promise You The World.
Joe Martin (18:46):
Can't Promise You The World That I could have you
if I only had the nerve Dropeverything, jump on a plane But
that's not how real life worksAnd I think of all the things
(19:09):
I'm gonna say When I finally seeyou in the flesh again Words
won't be enough I just won'tfeel your touch If I could, you
know I would But I can't promiseyou the world But I can't
(19:39):
promise you mine If you'll takeit and be my girl You could deal
with the universe Just to bewith you tonight No, I can't
(19:59):
promise you the world But I canpromise you mine And I forgot
that money ain't an end But ameans to take care of you and
Set us free from the drudgeryMundane tragedy of life And I'm
(20:30):
working hard to make a plan Eventhough God laughs at that kind
of man So I'm just taking eachday Doing the best I can If I
(20:50):
could, you know I would But Ican't promise you the world But
I can't promise you mine Ifyou'll take it and be my girl
And make a deal with theuniverse Just to be with you
(21:15):
tonight I can't promise you theworld But I can promise you mine
And if our paths should nevercross again I hope this song
(21:37):
will find you in the end If Icould, you know I would But I
can't promise you the world Ican promise you mine If you'd
take it and be my girl I'd makea deal with the universe Just to
(22:07):
be with you tonight I canpromise you the world But I can
promise you mine
Claire Waite-Brown (22:30):
Another great choice by you, Sam.
Thanks for sharing that.
Sam Sethi (22:34):
Next week, it's your choice, Claire.
Unless, of course, some musicartist does write into us and
leave us a comment, maybe thenit'll be their choice.
But yeah, looking forward toyour choice next week.
Now, one of the things we wantto do on this show is also eat
our own dog food.
And that means using thefeatures and functions of True
Fans to help promote the show,make it better for
(22:55):
discoverability.
Obviously, we've talked aboutcomments and super comments for
interactivity.
and micropayments to maybesupport this show.
But one of the other things wewant to do is also talk to you
about how you as an independentpodcast creator can include your
guests in your shows.
And if anyone pays you, you cansplit the money with them.
(23:17):
So one of the features ofmicropayments is that it is what
we call programmable money.
And that means that you can putpercentages.
So for example, if somebody waspaying this show, Claire gets
50% of any of the money that wereceive and I get 50%.
And that's what we call splits.
But what we also do is we addthe independent podcaster and
(23:40):
the independent music artists tothe splits as well.
So if you support this show inany way, whether you're
streaming sats or streaming in afiat currency or leaving a
super comment, then some of thatmoney will go to Claire, some
of that money to me.
And some of the money will goto the independent podcaster and
the independent music artist aswell.
(24:01):
So that's how splits work withprogrammable money.
And that's one of the reasonswhy podcasting 2.0 is so
exciting.
It's because we don't have torely on advertising and we don't
have to rely on third partyhost read ads.
We can actually reach out toour fans, the people who listen
to the show and ask them tosupport us directly through And
(24:23):
it's wallet to wallet.
And again, when you set upaccounts in TrueFans, we give
you a wallet.
We give you some funny money,the tokens, the sats, so you
don't have to dip into your ownpocket.
And you can share that backwith your favourite creators.
Awards, news and events.
This is the part of the showwhere we talk about stuff that
we think is relevant forindependent podcast creators.
(24:44):
I think the big thing thismonth, we're into May now, is
the London Podcast Show.
We talked a little bit aboutyour experience last year at it.
But again, why would you wantto go along to it if you're an
independent podcast creator?
Surely it's just for bigcompanies and large podcast
networks, isn't it?
Claire Waite-Brown (25:01):
On the outside, it would appear so.
When you go into the hall,that's what you see.
You see the big companies, yousee big corporate displays, you
see people having meetingslooking really, really
important.
But when I go onto the floor, Ialways end up meeting people
hundreds of other independentpodcasters and i mentioned this
(25:26):
in the last episode the eventsthat surround the actual show
are also very much gearedtowards the independent
podcasters and meeting peoplefinding out about other shows
you might find guests for yourshow you might find shows that
you can guest on and it's also areally good time to just geek
(25:48):
out about podcasty stuff becauseI don't know about you other
independent podcasters outthere, but my family don't enjoy
talking about podcasting asmuch as I do.
But if you go to the LondonPodcast Show, you're always
going to find someone to geekout about podcastings with you.
Sam Sethi (26:03):
Yes, and one of the things I love about the podcast
industry, and I've been it forabout five, six years now, is
how friendly people are.
And I mean that genuinely fromtop to bottom personally.
because I've been in otherindustries in computing.
I've been in it 35 odd years.
And, you know, you can go tothose industry meetings and
(26:24):
people are quite aloof.
Oh, who are you?
Show me your business card.
Is it, say, VP at the front orsenior director?
If it doesn't, I'm notinterested.
Whereas I found in the podcastindustry, whether you're
starting out from new or you'rea seasoned podcaster, I think
people are very, very warm andvery engaging and always there
to Ready to help with questionsthat you might have as well.
Claire Waite-Brown (26:47):
Completely agree.
Now it's time for the inbox,Sam.
Sam Sethi (26:52):
So Claire, did we get any comments from the trailer
or last week's show?
Claire Waite-Brown (26:58):
We absolutely did.
And as we just spoke about, itis so lovely to hear from real
people really listening.
So over at True Fans, commentson the trailer we heard from the
late bloomer actor who said,you know me too well, team.
(27:19):
I'd love to be on the show andtalk about podcasting from my
side of the fence as an indie,yes, unfunded podcaster.
Congrats on the new show.
Cheers.
The late bloomer actor, a.k.a.
David John Clark, Adelaide,Australia.
And David John Clark.
Clark gave us 343 sats.
(27:39):
Thank you so much.
We then heard from LindsayWeston.
Lindsay said, I'd love to getinvolved, stroke, have a mention
for Making Stitches podcast andor Gibraltar Stories podcast,
both of which are my podcastbabies.
And then, now, you're going totell me this is ducks in a row.
(28:02):
2,222 from Martin Lindstrom.
Is that 2-2-2-2-2, that's ducksin a row, apparently.
Sam Sethi (28:10):
It is, yes.
One of the things within thepodcasting scene, there are
certain numbers that haveconnotations.
You can get 1701, I don't knowwhy, but that's called the Star
Trek comment.
And so, yes, 2-2-2 is known asa row of ducks and 1-1-1 is
known as a satchel of Richards.
I have no idea.
(28:30):
No idea why, but there you go.
Claire Waite-Brown (28:32):
Right, I'm going to have to start writing
these down for the future.
My bingo sats.
Martin has said, best premise,best premises.
I wonder if he means premise.
Sam Sethi (28:46):
No, no, this is a Swedish thing that Martin does.
I have no idea what it means,but clearly it's a translation
of what they say in Sweden.
It all starts off with bestpremise.
Claire Waite-Brown (28:58):
Oh, OK.
Thank you, Martin.
Best premises with the podcast.
Great initiative.
You have the ducks in a row.
Oh, I should have read ahead,shouldn't I?
Because Martin actuallyexplained the ducks in a row.
And also for our inauguralepisode last week, we've had a
comment from Matt Watts, whosays, Hi, Sam and Claire.
(29:19):
I make what's on your screen.
That's clever enough.
A show about the vastlydifferent ways we all use the
Internet.
So far, It's includedinterviews with an autism
influencer, a tech-savvy vicar,and a 77-year-old GIF
enthusiast.
I'd love to be considered for afuture episode.
(29:39):
Thanks.
I actually met Matt inBirmingham at Unipodfest.
So thanks so much for thosecomments and for giving a very
good example of how to submityour show to be a possible
future feature for GIF.
creators.
What Sam and I will be doing iswe are gathering that
(30:00):
information.
We'll be listening to yourshows and we will be in contact
about featuring you One thing Iwas hoping for with this, Sam,
is that we'll be able to featuredifferent types of shows and
different genres to give us abit of variety.
So, for example, I spoke todayabout an interview show.
(30:21):
Maybe next week we'd like to doan audio fiction or, you know,
the week after we might do somecomedy or we might do some
language learning or some techor some science.
So while we're looking at theshows that are submitted, I
think our like to have a littlelook about getting variety in
there and moving things aroundso we get a good mix.
(30:43):
What do you think?
Sam Sethi (30:44):
Variety is the spice of life, Claire.
Now, you can also support thisshow if you want.
You go to the creator's podcastpage and you see a little hand
with a heart on it.
You can click on that and youcan choose if you want to
support the show with a smallmicropayment or a small
(31:06):
donation, be it Brilliant.
Sam, we have
Claire Waite-Brown (31:25):
had a few questions, which is not
surprising because this is allpretty new for lots of people.
So do you mind if I ask yousome questions from our
listeners?
Sam Sethi (31:36):
Yeah, go for it.
I'm nervous as hell now, but gofor it.
Yes.
Claire Waite-Brown (31:40):
Don't worry.
I know you know the answers.
I've checked them.
So first up, someone has asked,is True Fans an app as I can't
find it in the app store?
How do we get True Fans if it'snot in an app store, Sam?
Sam Sethi (31:58):
Okay.
So first of all, no, we are notan app yet.
And the heavy leaning on theword yet, we are bringing out
the apps very soon.
for ios and android we arewhat's called a pwa or a
progressive web app or a uwa auniversal web app you can get us
on any platform via yourbrowser so that's mobile desktop
(32:19):
even on your tv but we are notyet a native app but we will be
very soon now if you have goneto your browser and typed out
truefans.fm one of the thingsyou can do is add it to your
desktop or to your home screenso There is an option in your
phone.
If you click on add to homescreen, then it will place an
(32:42):
icon just as you would with anative app.
And then you can click on thatevery time you want to use
TrueFans and it's just one clickaway.
Equally, you can do the same onyour desktop as well.
You can create a app that youcan place on your desktop or in
your system tray at the bottom.
So it works exactly the sameway as a native app.
(33:03):
But of course, we aren't in theApp Store just yet.
Claire Waite-Brown (33:08):
Okay, brilliant.
And we will let you know whenwe are.
Another question.
By chance, you touched on thisearlier, but I'm going to give
you a chance to elaborate on itnow.
When we were talking about themusic artists, so somebody has
asked, how can music artists...
get their music listed in TrueFans?
(33:30):
Now, this is a good questionfor me because I have two music
artists I want to tell theanswer of this question to that
I know.
A
Sam Sethi (33:37):
couple of years ago, a company called Wavelake,
w-a-v-lake.com, out ofNashville, started to allow
music artists to upload theirmusic like they would a podcast
and an episode into Wavelake.
And then they listed them outwith cover art so that was the
album art and then you'd haveeach track listed and so yes it
(34:01):
looked like a podcast it actedlike a podcast with rss and then
podcasting apps like true fanscould then ingest that into our
platform and feature it in factif you go to the music tab in
true fans and you click on amusic track we change some of
the ui user interface so itwon't say episodes it'll say
(34:21):
tracks or singles or albumdepending on how many tracks
there are And again, we've triedto make it a little bit more
customised so that it feels likeyou're listening to music
rather than just a podcast.
Now, there are other places youcan do that.
LM Beats is one.
RSS Blue is a host that allowsyou to upload your music and do
the same thing.
And excitingly, in, again, acouple of weeks' time, I'm going
(34:45):
to be announcing...
Well, I can say it here, butwe'll officially announce it.
We will be allowing musicartists...
to upload their tracks to TrueFans directly, and we will host
and distribute those on yourbehalf as well.
Claire Waite-Brown (34:59):
Oh, brilliant.
Super.
Right, the last question isactually one from me, Sam.
We talked a bit about wallets.
Last week, and I started doingsome streaming because I've got
some money in my wallet now.
So I did actually start...
Sam Sethi (35:13):
Ooh, look at you.
I
Claire Waite-Brown (35:14):
know.
I did start to stream.
For anyone who doesn't know,that means I'm paying a small
micropayment per minute of theshow that I listen to.
Now, what occurred to me was,if that show that I'm streaming
money to, if that creator hasnot claimed their show on True
Fans...
So therefore they haven't beengiven a True Fans wallet.
(35:37):
Am I wasting my money bystreaming to them?
Sam Sethi (35:41):
No, is the immediate answer to that first question.
So we made a decision when westarted True Fans.
We have two options.
One, you could go to streamsats to a favourite podcaster
and suddenly find they haven'tclaimed it.
And we would then place amessage, something along the
lines of, this podcaster hasn'tclaimed their podcast.
(36:01):
Please ask them to do it beforeyou can stream sats to them.
And there are other apps thatsay that, but we thought that
that was a bad user experiencebecause you're in the moment,
you're enjoying the content andyou've reached into your wallet
and you've made that decision togive them some micropayment,
some money.
So what we do is we store thaton behalf of the podcast
(36:24):
creator.
We create a virtual wallet forthem and we keep that money
available for them for when theydo claim their podcast.
So once they claim theirpodcast, they will then have a
TrueFans wallet and we will doan immediate transfer of any
monies from any users, yourselfand anyone else, that they are
(36:44):
owed by us into their TrueFanswallet.
The other thing that we thoughtwould be really interesting is
also to email the creator.
So that's what we also do.
So when we get to 1,000 sats or5,000 sats and 10,000 sats,
We'll send reminder emails tothe creator to say, hey, by the
way, several of your fans orlots of your fans have left you
(37:08):
some money.
It's free to claim.
Create a true fans account,claim your podcast and get your
money.
So yes, you sending money toyour favourite creators, Claire,
is not a waste of time.
The money is safe.
It's securely stored by us andwe will do the work in the
background to connect with thecreator and so they can claim
(37:29):
their podcast and get theirwallet and get the money that
you've sent them.
Claire Waite-Brown (37:33):
Brilliant.
So, creators, you better getclaiming your show.
You might have a littlesurprise when you do so.
If you have any questions, thenif you've been listening to the
whole show, you may know thedrill by now.
Send us a comment or a supercomment and we will answer your
question in the next episode.
Sam Sethi (37:51):
And that's it for this week.
Our audio is recorded andedited using Descript and we're
hosted by our good friends atBuzzsprout.
Claire Waite-Brown (37:59):
You can support this show by streaming
sats from your true fans walletor leave us a super comment or
better still, become a monthlysupporter of this show.
Sam Sethi (38:10):
And if you'd like to advertise or sponsor on this
show, please email me, sam attruefans.fm for further details.
True Fans, monetising fandom.
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