June 1, 2026 • 21 mins
Celebrating the intersection of independent filmmaking and podcasting.
Claire chats with Phoebe Cawley from the Aesthetica Short Film Festival, which for the second year includes The Podcasting Lounge, a showcase for independent audio productions.
The Festival
Phoebe explains how a 20-year-old arts magazine evolved into a world-class film festival in York that now celebrates all forms of independent media.
Submit your podcast if it displays originality and strong perspectives across fiction, documentary, investigative, or experimental genres. Selected podcasters get access to the festival, networking opportunities, and masterclasses from industry giants.
Deadline: Submissions close on June 30th
The festival runs from November 4th–8th
TrueFans Platform: Awards and Playlists
Award-winning and shortlisted podcasts (including those from Aesthetica 2025) have a dedicated space to be discovered on TrueFans. Winners are also highlighted with a trophy icon on their cover art, and users can listen to a curated playlist of all winning podcasts.
Securing the Future: Premium RSS
Sam introduces Premium RSS (formerly Secure RSS), a solution to the security flaws found in traditional private feeds like those on Patreon or Substack, which are easily shared, allowing non-paying listeners to access premium content. TrueFans is beta testing a standard that verifies user credentials upon login, ensuring only paying fans can access the feed.
Independent Podcasters Day
We touch on Liam Heffernan’s campaign to establish July 4th as Independent Podcasters Day (or 'Independents Day') to celebrate the unique voices in the industry.
Follow @TrueFans.fm on Instagram and/or Threads.
You can support the show by streaming payments from your TrueFans wallet while you listen.
Leave a super comment via the speech bubble icon in the TrueFans app.
Learn more about TrueFans features by listening to our sister show, Fanzone.
Listen to From My Yard to Your Yard
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Music: How It Is from Ketsa Music
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Phoebe Cawley (00:06):
Wanting to showcase the very best independent storytellers, whether that is through film, or it's through a game or it's through a podcast. One of the things that makes the festival so special is we have over 60 countries represented and people come from across the industry as well. You know, it's not just filmmakers. All of these people interlink and they're meeting and they're networking and they're connecting. So it just made sense to have this. This platform for these podcasts.
Sam Sethi (00:34):
What will happen when apps like Apple or Spotify or Pocketcast see that? They will get a trailer saying, this is a premium feed. If you want to access it, you have to go to TrueFans. Right. The reason is, like anything, when you're trying to create a new standard, you have to get it out there first before others adopt it. We wanted to show it working and how it works, and then other apps can then adopt the standard.
Claire Waite Brown (01:04):
Welcome to Creators from TrueFans. I'm Claire Waite Brown, Head of Community at TrueFans.
Sam Sethi (01:10):
And I'm Sam Sethi, the CEO of TrueFans.
Claire Waite Brown (01:13):
Download the TrueFans app to not only listen to podcasts from around the world, but interact with their creators and start paying the shows you value.
Sam Sethi (01:21):
Click on the big purple Become a Fan button to be notified or emailed when new episodes of this
Claire Waite Brown (01:27):
podcast are released, and follow @TrueFans.fm on Instagram or threads to be kept up to date on all the latest TrueFans's features designed to improve discovery, interactivity, and monetization opportunities for podcasts and their creators. Hi, Sam.
Sam Sethi (01:47):
Hi, Claire.
Claire Waite Brown (01:48):
How you doing?
Sam Sethi (01:49):
Recovering, recovering like you from the London podcast show. It was great.
Claire Waite Brown (01:54):
It was.
Sam Sethi (01:55):
Claire, who are we featuring on this episode?
Claire Waite Brown (01:58):
I chatted with Phoebe from Aesthetica about the Aesthetica Film Festival.
Sam Sethi (02:05):
Easy for you to say.
Claire Waite Brown (02:06):
Exactly. It really isn't. I have to think so. It's about the Aesthetica Film Festival, which might sound odd, but it is relevant to independent podcasters. I'm here with Phoebe Cawley. Hello, Phoebe. How are you?
Phoebe Cawley (02:24):
Hi. I'm good, thank you.
Claire Waite Brown (02:26):
Brilliant. We are here to talk about the Aesthetica Film Festival, and we are going to talk about its relevance to podcasting. But first of all, please tell me about your role with Aesthetica and also what the Aesthetica. Sorry, my Lisp Esthetica Short Film Festival is its origins and what it's all about. Please.
Phoebe Cawley (02:50):
Yeah, I am Aesthetica's marketing and communications person. So, yeah, we're a small but mighty team based in. In York. Esthetica is a whole host of things We've been around for over 20 years. And it started off as an art and photography, art and culture magazine, which is still going, and that's every month. It's kind of evolved from there. So we run an annual film festival again based in York, and it's our 16th year this year. It evolved from the magazine because the directors of the company were approached by filmmakers who wanted to have their films reviewed in the magazine. There was. There was so many, essentially. So they put a call out and said, would any independent short film filmmakers be interested in submitting films? And they were going to put together a DVD way back then, and they were just inundated with entries and really, really high quality entries as well. And there was just a real appetite for, for a platform basically for people to showcase their short films. So the film festival kind of came from that idea. They sort of went, you know, we're like, well, let's give them a platform, let's create one. And 16 years later, we're still, we're still going. And yeah, it takes place in York, across the city. I think we've got about 15 venues now. So it's a really massive celebration of kind of independent screen and independent media as well. Yeah, so it's kind of evolved from an idea to being this kind of big celebration that takes over the city for five days.
Claire Waite Brown (04:28):
You get to explore the lovely York as well, seeing all the films. That's brilliant. Okay, so this is not a surprise to anyone who's heard this podcast before. I am always very excited about independence getting showcased. And obviously Assetica offers that for independent short filmmakers. Filmmakers who make short films. But what does this have to do with independent podcasting that would be of interest to listeners of this podcast?
Phoebe Cawley (04:59):
Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, we've evolved. We started off with short films. We then incorporated games, VR and XR and music. And new to last year's festival was our podcasting lounge. It's something that Sheree, one of our directors, has been pushing to include in the festival for a little while now. And we managed to make it happen last year, which is fantastic. It sort of comes from this, I guess, this place of wanting to showcase the very best stories, independent storytellers, whether that is through film or it's for a game or it's for a podcast. And I think one of the things that makes the festival so special is we have over 60 countries represented across the program and people come from across the industry as well. You know, it's not just filmmakers. All of these people interlink and they're meeting and they're networking and they're connecting. So it just made sense to have this platform for these podcasts.
Claire Waite Brown (05:55):
That is really exciting. So what kind of things are you looking for? Because obviously podcasts cover a huge wealth of subject matter, theme, content, style, genre. What is it that the festival is looking for? What kind of podcasts should be thinking of entering, would you say?
Phoebe Cawley (06:17):
The breadth is huge. And we found that, you know, last year, around 20 podcasts sort of selected based from the entries that we received. And, I mean, they were really varied. And the thing that links everything together is this idea of storytelling and new or original stories or perspectives. That seems to be a thread that kind of, I guess, connects our program and makes it feel really curated and joined together, even though, like I say, it's vast. Yeah. Last year's entries and selected covered huge range. So we had audio fiction, we had documentary, we had some that were kind of more investigative. We had crime, we had some that were sort of more experimental as well in terms of playing with the form. So it was really varied. We are really open to kind of our films. Anything that kind of, yeah, is driving this idea of storytelling and I guess giving. Giving space to new ideas, new perspectives, whatever the topic or whatever the genre. So I guess it's not just what it's about, but also kind of the way that the story is being told.
Claire Waite Brown (07:21):
Brilliant. That's something I love about podcasting, is that anybody can do it and they can do it in their style. So when we're seeing new styles, new ways of telling stories, I always find that brilliant. And more people should be able to hear those. I want to ask about the festival itself. So how do you then showcase the podcasts on the dates up in York,
Phoebe Cawley (07:44):
when it's the festival, we call it our podcasting lounge. So it's essentially like a dedicated space. So it's the same with our games and our VR. People can go along and listen to the podcasts. The idea being, is kind of this comfortable space where people can kind of really immerse themselves, I suppose, in what they're listening to. It works really nicely. Like I said, we've been doing it for the games and the VR now for a number of years. And having. Yeah, having it in this sort of separate space really gives the selected titles an opportunity to kind of really be showcased and for people to really kind of enjoy them and take the time. Because, like I said, it's a really busy festival and there's lots going on. It's nice to have this sort of. Yeah, this like dedicated space for it.
Claire Waite Brown (08:26):
Yeah. Now you can come and sit down and listen to some podcasts. Perfect.
Phoebe Cawley (08:30):
What could be better?
Claire Waite Brown (08:33):
So tell me then when, how. Why should podcasts enter?
Phoebe Cawley (08:39):
Yeah, sure. So, yeah, we are currently open for entries to our second edition of the podcasting round. The deadline for entries is 30 June. And the opportunity to be part of the festival, I suppose, is really about connecting with, not just with new listeners, of course, that, you know, it's a really good opportunity to. To have your. Your podcast, I guess, heard by new people, but also it's the sorts of people as well, so that people who are working perhaps in film or games or VR, people who are really passionate about what they're doing, and incredibly creative people who are all there to connect and to explore new things and new ideas. I think that's what's always made Aesthetica a really special event is actually like the sorts of conversations that are happening. If you submit your podcast and your podcast is selected, then you get tickets to come to the festival. And we really encourage people to come along and make use of those. And within that as well, we have masterclasses, networking and workshops. Across the five days, we have over 50 masterclasses and the sorts of people that are coming and speaking, they're so interesting and have really invaluable insights. Last year, for instance, some examples we had Ridley Scott Associates, New York Times, Aardman, the Guardian, Goal Hanger as well, came and did a session specifically about podcasting. That's another really valuable aspect of being part of the podcast lounge is actually coming to the festival and hearing from those people. There's also opportunities to talk on panels as well about your work. And also there's a Best Podcast award. Yeah, lots of fantastic kind of things going on that are hugely valuable and. And exciting.
Claire Waite Brown (10:22):
Yeah, exciting. That was exactly what I was going to say. It sounds really super for people who want to enter and for people like myself who want to come along and attend the festival. Give me the dates again, please. And where do people need to go? To take this further, the dates of
Phoebe Cawley (10:39):
this year's festival are the 4th to the 8th of November, so it's five days and submissions are open for the podcast lounge. Now all the information is on our website, asff.co.uk and there are links to our podcast submissions on there. There's more information as well about criteria. The key criteria really is we ask for submissions to be around or just under 40 minutes and they can be less than that. Just for our for our programmers to try and squeeze them into the program as well. The tickets are on sale now as well. You can attend for a day, two days, or the full five days. They're available on our website. And then the full masterclass program will be released a little bit later this year, so keep an eye out for that as well.
Claire Waite Brown (11:23):
Fabulous work. Thank you so much. I have been very much inspired by finding out more about the whole festival, so thank you very much. Phoebe.
Phoebe Cawley (11:33):
Thank you so much for having me.
Claire Waite Brown (11:36):
Friend of the show Clayton M. Koch was shortlisted last year for his limited series called From My Yard to youo Yard, which is the story of his father moving to the UK from Jamaica in the 1960s and is particularly influenced by the music his father would have listened to at the different stages of life that are covered in the series. So Clayton was shortlisted last year.
Sam Sethi (12:01):
That sounds really cool, actually. That makes such a great title, My Yard to your yard. I love that.
Claire Waite Brown (12:08):
If you'd like to chat with us about your independent podcast or your music, send a comment or super comment in TrueFans to any creator's episode by clicking on the Speech bubble icon or on the comments tab.
Sam Sethi (12:22):
Claire let's move on to questions. Any questions for me this week?
Claire Waite Brown (12:26):
Claire well, yes, after I edited that interview with Phoebe, I added the 2025 Aesthetica shortlisted podcasts. Well, the ones that have an RSS feed because some of the entries do not. But I added them to the Awards page on TrueFans. Click on your avatar in the app, then click on Awards and then you'll be able to find Esthetica as a page. And all of the shows that I could get on there are there. Sam why did we create this section of the app and the desktop version of TrueFans?
Sam Sethi (13:02):
So we created the awards section because I think it's right and proper that they have a place to be promoted and sometimes they can be lost in the middle of, you know, 4 million apps and, you know, you've worked really hard. So I think it's a good place where we can promote them. I also think it's nice because if they become winners, we put a cup icon on their cover art on their podcast page, which shows what they've won. I don't know if they win two awards, what I'm gonna do. I haven't thought that one through. We had two cups. I haven't thought that one through. I just had that thought then. But other than that, I think it's a great thing to do. The other thing we've done of course is we turn the whole of the winners awards into a playlist. So if you want to listen to all of the winners in one playlist, you can either listen to it on the awards page or save it to your playlists themselves and listen back later. So, yeah, I think it's a great thing that we promote them.
Claire Waite Brown (13:53):
Yeah. One of our. One of our discovery options, isn't it?
Sam Sethi (13:57):
Indeed, yes. Have we had any messages, Claire, this week?
Claire Waite Brown (14:01):
Well, disappointingly, no, and I will explain why. Disappointingly, no more disappointingly than normal. Even though we put out a call to action last time we spoke and we were asking people whether they have a preference for seeing show art or episode art on the home page at TrueFans, and it seems that nobody has an opinion on the matter. What I actually wanted to say, though, is we're often told by podcast experts, people talking about interactivity in podcasting, that we should give our listeners a question that they can come to and answer, which we did, but nobody interacted. What are your thoughts on that?
Sam Sethi (14:44):
Well, it's either no one's listening, hello, where are you all? Or people don't have an opinion Because I think we struggled. That was the point. We struggled with the idea of, you know, on one hand it's a good thing to show the COVID art for the podcast, and on another it's a good thing to show the COVID art for the episode and there isn't a right or wrong answer. So I think what we'll do is we'll let it sit out there as it currently is, which is episodic art, and then if we get people come back to us strongly one way or the other, we can always make that decision.
Claire Waite Brown (15:16):
Yeah. I still suggest that if you can, not you Sam podcasters, that when they are doing episode art, that they include some kind of visual reference to the podcast as a whole. I just think that's much more useful that I know it's such and such a podcast if I just see a photo of someone nice, but I don't know what the actual show is. Anyway, moving on, I heard some lovely news and that is that Liam Heffernan, who is the founder of the Mercury network, which is four independent podcast, he announced his campaign to make July 4th Independent Podcasters Day or Independence Day. Get it?
Sam Sethi (16:04):
Got it. Nice.
Claire Waite Brown (16:07):
You can find out more by clicking on the link in our show notes. I'll also put a link in the chapter independent podcastersday.com and I'll be chatting with Liam about the day and about Mercury on the next episode. Of creators with true friends.
Sam Sethi (16:23):
Nice. Liam's a lovely lad. Right, Claire, I want to ask you a question now. Do you know anything about private feeds?
Claire Waite Brown (16:32):
Yes. You can set something up and somebody pays for it, and then they get extra material that somebody who. Who hasn't paid for it doesn't get, Something I've never done because I do not have the energy to make extra stuff.
Sam Sethi (16:46):
Right. So do you know that those private feeds are totally insecure, they're totally open. So if you went to a site like Patreon or Substack and you paid, you could then share that with me and I could then use that for free. Are you aware of that?
Claire Waite Brown (17:04):
I was not aware of that. That rather surprises me that that would be the case and it would have gone unrecognized, unnoticed.
Sam Sethi (17:16):
So, because of ease of use, what sites like Substack and Patreon do is they say, look, once you've paid your $5 or whatever the cost the creators asked for, we will let you have this thing. And they do a bit of tracking. They look at your IP address occasionally. They try and see if it's being, you know, spoofed onto other sites or used in three or four different countries very quickly. But generally there's secure method. So one of the things that we've been working on here at TrueFans is something called Premium rss. It used to be called Secure rss, which is where it came from, the idea that you could come onto TrueFans as a creator and you could say, this episode is 299 or 599 or whatever the amount you want, and then when the person pays for it, they then get access to that episode. But what you don't do is you make it so that the private feedback then is transferable onto anywhere else. So if you then want to get access to that premium content again, when you log in, we check who you are, whether you've paid all of your credentials, so only you, the person who paid, can access that private feed, not anyone else. And I think that is the way forward for the industry. Because if you imagine some poor creator who spent a lot of time putting premium content together, an extra show, let's say you did all the hard work and then somebody, one person pays for it, and then they let it go to everyone else. I think you might be a little bit miffed. I think.
Claire Waite Brown (18:47):
Yeah, I would be. Exactly. Okay, well, that's really cool. And when are we going to see such things, do you think?
Sam Sethi (18:53):
So we're in beta testing of it now, and we will be releasing it very shortly. Version 1 will allow you to buy or as a creator, enable premium feeds on your RSS feed. So you can take any episode and you can say, this is going to be a premium feed. And then when we basically publish your RSS feed, we will contain within it freemium and premium. So what will happen when apps like Apple or Spotify or Pocketcast see that? They will get a trailer in the primary enclosure. So the main feed area saying, this is a premium feed. If you want to access it, you have to go to TrueFans. Right. The reason is, like anything, when you're trying to create a new standard, you have to get it out there first before others adopt it. We wanted to show it working and how it works, and then other apps can then adopt the standard. And then hopefully in the future, you'll be able to go onto another app and with the RSS feed being pulled through, that app will then have the premium content as well as the freemium in it. So you'll be able to use any app in the future, but the creator will be able to lock down that private feed so it's not shareable. That's the thing we're trying to do.
Claire Waite Brown (20:12):
Yep. Got it. Very good.
Sam Sethi (20:15):
And that's it for this week. Claire. Our audio is recorded on Riverside, edited by you, the wonderful Claire, and we're hosted by TrueFans.
Claire Waite Brown (20:24):
You can support this show by streaming sats from your TrueFans wallet or leave us a super comment. Or better still, become a monthly supporter of the show.
Sam Sethi (20:33):
If you'd like to promote your podcast in the feed for this show, go to your creator's dashboard, click on the pencil icon next to your podcast and locate the Podcast Promotions tab. Search for creators from TrueFans, which is this show, and you can make a request to us and we would love to feature you in our feed.
Claire Waite Brown (20:51):
You can find out more about how to use the many features of the TrueFans platform by listening to our sister podcast, Fanzone and follow us on Instagram or Threads @TrueFans.FM.
Wanting to showcase the very best independent storytellers, whether that is through film, or it's through a game or it's through a podcast. One of the things that makes the festival so special is we have over 60 countries represented and people come from across the industry as well. You know, it's not just filmmakers. All of these people interlink and they're meeting and they're networking and they're connecting. So it just made sense to have this. This platform for these podcasts.
Sam Sethi (00:34):
What will happen when apps like Apple or Spotify or Pocketcast see that? They will get a trailer saying, this is a premium feed. If you want to access it, you have to go to TrueFans. Right. The reason is, like anything, when you're trying to create a new standard, you have to get it out there first before others adopt it. We wanted to show it working and how it works, and then other apps can then adopt the standard.
Claire Waite Brown (01:04):
Welcome to Creators from TrueFans. I'm Claire Waite Brown, Head of Community at TrueFans.
Sam Sethi (01:10):
And I'm Sam Sethi, the CEO of TrueFans.
Claire Waite Brown (01:13):
Download the TrueFans app to not only listen to podcasts from around the world, but interact with their creators and start paying the shows you value.
Sam Sethi (01:21):
Click on the big purple Become a Fan button to be notified or emailed when new episodes of this
Claire Waite Brown (01:27):
podcast are released, and follow @TrueFans.fm on Instagram or threads to be kept up to date on all the latest TrueFans's features designed to improve discovery, interactivity, and monetization opportunities for podcasts and their creators. Hi, Sam.
Sam Sethi (01:47):
Hi, Claire.
Claire Waite Brown (01:48):
How you doing?
Sam Sethi (01:49):
Recovering, recovering like you from the London podcast show. It was great.
Claire Waite Brown (01:54):
It was.
Sam Sethi (01:55):
Claire, who are we featuring on this episode?
Claire Waite Brown (01:58):
I chatted with Phoebe from Aesthetica about the Aesthetica Film Festival.
Sam Sethi (02:05):
Easy for you to say.
Claire Waite Brown (02:06):
Exactly. It really isn't. I have to think so. It's about the Aesthetica Film Festival, which might sound odd, but it is relevant to independent podcasters. I'm here with Phoebe Cawley. Hello, Phoebe. How are you?
Phoebe Cawley (02:24):
Hi. I'm good, thank you.
Claire Waite Brown (02:26):
Brilliant. We are here to talk about the Aesthetica Film Festival, and we are going to talk about its relevance to podcasting. But first of all, please tell me about your role with Aesthetica and also what the Aesthetica. Sorry, my Lisp Esthetica Short Film Festival is its origins and what it's all about. Please.
Phoebe Cawley (02:50):
Yeah, I am Aesthetica's marketing and communications person. So, yeah, we're a small but mighty team based in. In York. Esthetica is a whole host of things We've been around for over 20 years. And it started off as an art and photography, art and culture magazine, which is still going, and that's every month. It's kind of evolved from there. So we run an annual film festival again based in York, and it's our 16th year this year. It evolved from the magazine because the directors of the company were approached by filmmakers who wanted to have their films reviewed in the magazine. There was. There was so many, essentially. So they put a call out and said, would any independent short film filmmakers be interested in submitting films? And they were going to put together a DVD way back then, and they were just inundated with entries and really, really high quality entries as well. And there was just a real appetite for, for a platform basically for people to showcase their short films. So the film festival kind of came from that idea. They sort of went, you know, we're like, well, let's give them a platform, let's create one. And 16 years later, we're still, we're still going. And yeah, it takes place in York, across the city. I think we've got about 15 venues now. So it's a really massive celebration of kind of independent screen and independent media as well. Yeah, so it's kind of evolved from an idea to being this kind of big celebration that takes over the city for five days.
Claire Waite Brown (04:28):
You get to explore the lovely York as well, seeing all the films. That's brilliant. Okay, so this is not a surprise to anyone who's heard this podcast before. I am always very excited about independence getting showcased. And obviously Assetica offers that for independent short filmmakers. Filmmakers who make short films. But what does this have to do with independent podcasting that would be of interest to listeners of this podcast?
Phoebe Cawley (04:59):
Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, we've evolved. We started off with short films. We then incorporated games, VR and XR and music. And new to last year's festival was our podcasting lounge. It's something that Sheree, one of our directors, has been pushing to include in the festival for a little while now. And we managed to make it happen last year, which is fantastic. It sort of comes from this, I guess, this place of wanting to showcase the very best stories, independent storytellers, whether that is through film or it's for a game or it's for a podcast. And I think one of the things that makes the festival so special is we have over 60 countries represented across the program and people come from across the industry as well. You know, it's not just filmmakers. All of these people interlink and they're meeting and they're networking and they're connecting. So it just made sense to have this platform for these podcasts.
Claire Waite Brown (05:55):
That is really exciting. So what kind of things are you looking for? Because obviously podcasts cover a huge wealth of subject matter, theme, content, style, genre. What is it that the festival is looking for? What kind of podcasts should be thinking of entering, would you say?
Phoebe Cawley (06:17):
The breadth is huge. And we found that, you know, last year, around 20 podcasts sort of selected based from the entries that we received. And, I mean, they were really varied. And the thing that links everything together is this idea of storytelling and new or original stories or perspectives. That seems to be a thread that kind of, I guess, connects our program and makes it feel really curated and joined together, even though, like I say, it's vast. Yeah. Last year's entries and selected covered huge range. So we had audio fiction, we had documentary, we had some that were kind of more investigative. We had crime, we had some that were sort of more experimental as well in terms of playing with the form. So it was really varied. We are really open to kind of our films. Anything that kind of, yeah, is driving this idea of storytelling and I guess giving. Giving space to new ideas, new perspectives, whatever the topic or whatever the genre. So I guess it's not just what it's about, but also kind of the way that the story is being told.
Claire Waite Brown (07:21):
Brilliant. That's something I love about podcasting, is that anybody can do it and they can do it in their style. So when we're seeing new styles, new ways of telling stories, I always find that brilliant. And more people should be able to hear those. I want to ask about the festival itself. So how do you then showcase the podcasts on the dates up in York,
Phoebe Cawley (07:44):
when it's the festival, we call it our podcasting lounge. So it's essentially like a dedicated space. So it's the same with our games and our VR. People can go along and listen to the podcasts. The idea being, is kind of this comfortable space where people can kind of really immerse themselves, I suppose, in what they're listening to. It works really nicely. Like I said, we've been doing it for the games and the VR now for a number of years. And having. Yeah, having it in this sort of separate space really gives the selected titles an opportunity to kind of really be showcased and for people to really kind of enjoy them and take the time. Because, like I said, it's a really busy festival and there's lots going on. It's nice to have this sort of. Yeah, this like dedicated space for it.
Claire Waite Brown (08:26):
Yeah. Now you can come and sit down and listen to some podcasts. Perfect.
Phoebe Cawley (08:30):
What could be better?
Claire Waite Brown (08:33):
So tell me then when, how. Why should podcasts enter?
Phoebe Cawley (08:39):
Yeah, sure. So, yeah, we are currently open for entries to our second edition of the podcasting round. The deadline for entries is 30 June. And the opportunity to be part of the festival, I suppose, is really about connecting with, not just with new listeners, of course, that, you know, it's a really good opportunity to. To have your. Your podcast, I guess, heard by new people, but also it's the sorts of people as well, so that people who are working perhaps in film or games or VR, people who are really passionate about what they're doing, and incredibly creative people who are all there to connect and to explore new things and new ideas. I think that's what's always made Aesthetica a really special event is actually like the sorts of conversations that are happening. If you submit your podcast and your podcast is selected, then you get tickets to come to the festival. And we really encourage people to come along and make use of those. And within that as well, we have masterclasses, networking and workshops. Across the five days, we have over 50 masterclasses and the sorts of people that are coming and speaking, they're so interesting and have really invaluable insights. Last year, for instance, some examples we had Ridley Scott Associates, New York Times, Aardman, the Guardian, Goal Hanger as well, came and did a session specifically about podcasting. That's another really valuable aspect of being part of the podcast lounge is actually coming to the festival and hearing from those people. There's also opportunities to talk on panels as well about your work. And also there's a Best Podcast award. Yeah, lots of fantastic kind of things going on that are hugely valuable and. And exciting.
Claire Waite Brown (10:22):
Yeah, exciting. That was exactly what I was going to say. It sounds really super for people who want to enter and for people like myself who want to come along and attend the festival. Give me the dates again, please. And where do people need to go? To take this further, the dates of
Phoebe Cawley (10:39):
this year's festival are the 4th to the 8th of November, so it's five days and submissions are open for the podcast lounge. Now all the information is on our website, asff.co.uk and there are links to our podcast submissions on there. There's more information as well about criteria. The key criteria really is we ask for submissions to be around or just under 40 minutes and they can be less than that. Just for our for our programmers to try and squeeze them into the program as well. The tickets are on sale now as well. You can attend for a day, two days, or the full five days. They're available on our website. And then the full masterclass program will be released a little bit later this year, so keep an eye out for that as well.
Claire Waite Brown (11:23):
Fabulous work. Thank you so much. I have been very much inspired by finding out more about the whole festival, so thank you very much. Phoebe.
Phoebe Cawley (11:33):
Thank you so much for having me.
Claire Waite Brown (11:36):
Friend of the show Clayton M. Koch was shortlisted last year for his limited series called From My Yard to youo Yard, which is the story of his father moving to the UK from Jamaica in the 1960s and is particularly influenced by the music his father would have listened to at the different stages of life that are covered in the series. So Clayton was shortlisted last year.
Sam Sethi (12:01):
That sounds really cool, actually. That makes such a great title, My Yard to your yard. I love that.
Claire Waite Brown (12:08):
If you'd like to chat with us about your independent podcast or your music, send a comment or super comment in TrueFans to any creator's episode by clicking on the Speech bubble icon or on the comments tab.
Sam Sethi (12:22):
Claire let's move on to questions. Any questions for me this week?
Claire Waite Brown (12:26):
Claire well, yes, after I edited that interview with Phoebe, I added the 2025 Aesthetica shortlisted podcasts. Well, the ones that have an RSS feed because some of the entries do not. But I added them to the Awards page on TrueFans. Click on your avatar in the app, then click on Awards and then you'll be able to find Esthetica as a page. And all of the shows that I could get on there are there. Sam why did we create this section of the app and the desktop version of TrueFans?
Sam Sethi (13:02):
So we created the awards section because I think it's right and proper that they have a place to be promoted and sometimes they can be lost in the middle of, you know, 4 million apps and, you know, you've worked really hard. So I think it's a good place where we can promote them. I also think it's nice because if they become winners, we put a cup icon on their cover art on their podcast page, which shows what they've won. I don't know if they win two awards, what I'm gonna do. I haven't thought that one through. We had two cups. I haven't thought that one through. I just had that thought then. But other than that, I think it's a great thing to do. The other thing we've done of course is we turn the whole of the winners awards into a playlist. So if you want to listen to all of the winners in one playlist, you can either listen to it on the awards page or save it to your playlists themselves and listen back later. So, yeah, I think it's a great thing that we promote them.
Claire Waite Brown (13:53):
Yeah. One of our. One of our discovery options, isn't it?
Sam Sethi (13:57):
Indeed, yes. Have we had any messages, Claire, this week?
Claire Waite Brown (14:01):
Well, disappointingly, no, and I will explain why. Disappointingly, no more disappointingly than normal. Even though we put out a call to action last time we spoke and we were asking people whether they have a preference for seeing show art or episode art on the home page at TrueFans, and it seems that nobody has an opinion on the matter. What I actually wanted to say, though, is we're often told by podcast experts, people talking about interactivity in podcasting, that we should give our listeners a question that they can come to and answer, which we did, but nobody interacted. What are your thoughts on that?
Sam Sethi (14:44):
Well, it's either no one's listening, hello, where are you all? Or people don't have an opinion Because I think we struggled. That was the point. We struggled with the idea of, you know, on one hand it's a good thing to show the COVID art for the podcast, and on another it's a good thing to show the COVID art for the episode and there isn't a right or wrong answer. So I think what we'll do is we'll let it sit out there as it currently is, which is episodic art, and then if we get people come back to us strongly one way or the other, we can always make that decision.
Claire Waite Brown (15:16):
Yeah. I still suggest that if you can, not you Sam podcasters, that when they are doing episode art, that they include some kind of visual reference to the podcast as a whole. I just think that's much more useful that I know it's such and such a podcast if I just see a photo of someone nice, but I don't know what the actual show is. Anyway, moving on, I heard some lovely news and that is that Liam Heffernan, who is the founder of the Mercury network, which is four independent podcast, he announced his campaign to make July 4th Independent Podcasters Day or Independence Day. Get it?
Sam Sethi (16:04):
Got it. Nice.
Claire Waite Brown (16:07):
You can find out more by clicking on the link in our show notes. I'll also put a link in the chapter independent podcastersday.com and I'll be chatting with Liam about the day and about Mercury on the next episode. Of creators with true friends.
Sam Sethi (16:23):
Nice. Liam's a lovely lad. Right, Claire, I want to ask you a question now. Do you know anything about private feeds?
Claire Waite Brown (16:32):
Yes. You can set something up and somebody pays for it, and then they get extra material that somebody who. Who hasn't paid for it doesn't get, Something I've never done because I do not have the energy to make extra stuff.
Sam Sethi (16:46):
Right. So do you know that those private feeds are totally insecure, they're totally open. So if you went to a site like Patreon or Substack and you paid, you could then share that with me and I could then use that for free. Are you aware of that?
Claire Waite Brown (17:04):
I was not aware of that. That rather surprises me that that would be the case and it would have gone unrecognized, unnoticed.
Sam Sethi (17:16):
So, because of ease of use, what sites like Substack and Patreon do is they say, look, once you've paid your $5 or whatever the cost the creators asked for, we will let you have this thing. And they do a bit of tracking. They look at your IP address occasionally. They try and see if it's being, you know, spoofed onto other sites or used in three or four different countries very quickly. But generally there's secure method. So one of the things that we've been working on here at TrueFans is something called Premium rss. It used to be called Secure rss, which is where it came from, the idea that you could come onto TrueFans as a creator and you could say, this episode is 299 or 599 or whatever the amount you want, and then when the person pays for it, they then get access to that episode. But what you don't do is you make it so that the private feedback then is transferable onto anywhere else. So if you then want to get access to that premium content again, when you log in, we check who you are, whether you've paid all of your credentials, so only you, the person who paid, can access that private feed, not anyone else. And I think that is the way forward for the industry. Because if you imagine some poor creator who spent a lot of time putting premium content together, an extra show, let's say you did all the hard work and then somebody, one person pays for it, and then they let it go to everyone else. I think you might be a little bit miffed. I think.
Claire Waite Brown (18:47):
Yeah, I would be. Exactly. Okay, well, that's really cool. And when are we going to see such things, do you think?
Sam Sethi (18:53):
So we're in beta testing of it now, and we will be releasing it very shortly. Version 1 will allow you to buy or as a creator, enable premium feeds on your RSS feed. So you can take any episode and you can say, this is going to be a premium feed. And then when we basically publish your RSS feed, we will contain within it freemium and premium. So what will happen when apps like Apple or Spotify or Pocketcast see that? They will get a trailer in the primary enclosure. So the main feed area saying, this is a premium feed. If you want to access it, you have to go to TrueFans. Right. The reason is, like anything, when you're trying to create a new standard, you have to get it out there first before others adopt it. We wanted to show it working and how it works, and then other apps can then adopt the standard. And then hopefully in the future, you'll be able to go onto another app and with the RSS feed being pulled through, that app will then have the premium content as well as the freemium in it. So you'll be able to use any app in the future, but the creator will be able to lock down that private feed so it's not shareable. That's the thing we're trying to do.
Claire Waite Brown (20:12):
Yep. Got it. Very good.
Sam Sethi (20:15):
And that's it for this week. Claire. Our audio is recorded on Riverside, edited by you, the wonderful Claire, and we're hosted by TrueFans.
Claire Waite Brown (20:24):
You can support this show by streaming sats from your TrueFans wallet or leave us a super comment. Or better still, become a monthly supporter of the show.
Sam Sethi (20:33):
If you'd like to promote your podcast in the feed for this show, go to your creator's dashboard, click on the pencil icon next to your podcast and locate the Podcast Promotions tab. Search for creators from TrueFans, which is this show, and you can make a request to us and we would love to feature you in our feed.
Claire Waite Brown (20:51):
You can find out more about how to use the many features of the TrueFans platform by listening to our sister podcast, Fanzone and follow us on Instagram or Threads @TrueFans.FM.
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