This is a very common question asked to me many times, How much money does someone need to start a comedy podcast? so In this article I am going to answer that only.
I have seen many who are ambitious about starting their own podcast soon but they fall prey to one thing that rules this world, ‘MONEY’
I can relate to this as I have been in a similar situation many times. If you are looking to invest in your podcast you need to know the cost, whether it’s equipment or whether it is for getting your show edited and published, so that you can have an idea if that investment is worthed or not.
“A podcast is a way to develop relationships with hard to reach people.”
What is your short-term goal from this podcast?
A simple question that you need to answer before I go ahead is that are you starting your podcast as a hobby or business?
If podcasting is your hobby then you just need an idea of how much it will cost you so that you have an idea of its affordability.
I’ll make you wait for a while but all your queries will be answered really soon.
Others are the ones who are looking to earn through podcasting, that is they want to build a career in podcasting. If you fall in this category then you need to know about the expenditure as well as the money that you’ll earn.
Let us now quickly list down the requirements for starting a podcast:
1. Equipment – microphones and recorders
2. Software – from media hosting to host packages
3. Cover art – designing to represent your show
4. Music – sound effect to incorporate in your show
The minimum that you require to podcast is a microphone to record audio, a hosting account for you to deliver your content to the world, and basic cover art to represent your show.
I recommend everyone to start off with this minimum set of requirements. The reason behind this is that firstly you’ll be able to push content regularly as there is lower level of complications and secondly you will be able to identify if podcasting is the end of your world.
Although if you are a recognized podcaster and you have already decided that podcasting is what makes you delighted then you could jump in at a higher level.
At this level you can invest in a set of microphones and digital recorder. Also you can now outsource for your cover art and music. You can hire someone who has an expertise in this field.
Another basic investment that each one of you should make whether you are a beginner or a professional is you should take up some course on How to start your podcast and How to make it big. This will help you all a long way ahead. It will help you reduce the mistakes that you would make and also save some precious time for you. There are many free courses available online but some really good courses are quite pricey.
A suggestion that I’ll like to give here is that if you have sufficient money to invest and that you are good with your content but don’t have relevant editing skills, I will tell you that don’t mess it up. Go for a Podcast Production Service.
You may use a web app called ALITU. This app will help you with editing, processing, and publishing.
How Much Podcasting Cost
I hope that at this position you have understood the requirements for podcasting. Some start off with the bare minimum requirement while some directly jump onto high quality stuff for their show. No matter where you start from I’ll give you a rough idea for both categories.
Minimum Cost
Your laptop may be having an in-built microphone but be prepared to invest a decent amount here. You can get a good quality microphone as cheap as $50. I advice you to have hold over one microphone that will help you podcast.
Next comes the hosting site. Yo will find many free hosting sites but I am strongly against their usage. Consider that you are investing your time and delivering some good content then a trusted hosting site is highly recommended. You may have to invest nearly $15 here.
At a beginner level you just don’t need to add music to your show. Let it be simple and even if you think you need to add it you can easily incorporate some free music available on the internet.
For cover art my most trusted approach is a tool called Canva. It has many free designed templates. You can cut your cost here in the beginning. Later on you may go for other advanced tools as well.
- Microphone – $50
- Hosting site – $15
- Music – $0
- Cover art – $0
Summing them together you can start your show at a minimum cost of $65- $70.
The Best Podcast Setup Cost
If you want to have the best setup for your podcast then be aware you need to have a big pocket. It will be a hefty amount but then the quality will indeed turn out to be at the top.
After a thorough research for the best setup I found that you should invest in the following equipment. 2 Shure SM58s, Zoom H5 recorder and XLR cables. Also buy a decent set of headphones.
This is a professional setup that your ideal podcaster may also be using. The software that you can put to use is an online call recording software or Garageband on Mac. You can keep the cost of this software as low as free to $15.
For cover art you can hire an expert graphic designer who may charge you nearly $200.
For music, you can work with someone like the Music Radio Creative. An estimated cost would lie somewhere in the range of $1100 – $1200.
You can just opt for the right setup keeping various parameters in mind. Know yourself first and then decide where you want to start. A podcast can be as technical or as simple as you make it. As you progress and gain a listenership you will want to produce a higher quality product with every episode. Invest little by little and you will eventually build a quality podcast but the first step to having a successful podcast is consistency.