Bitcoin? My listeners are going to tip me Bitcoin directly to my podcast?
You’re kidding me, right?
Nope. And there’s a lot more to it.
Believe me, you’re going to want to stick around.
Hola amigo. I’m Veronica, the co-founder, and marketing girl at Pod Sound School, and I would love it if you would subscribe to my channel, and keep checking in with me.
I always pack my videos full of value for you. And, if you’re brand new to podcasting and want to work with us, just go to podsoundschool.com for more information.
This video is one that is special for me, for many reasons. I’m super grateful that you stopped by to check it out because I think it may really change the way you think about podcasting. You’ll know exactly what I mean in one minute when we set up our shows to accept Bitcoin from fans.
A Lot of People Think You Can’t Make Money Podcasting
But first, I need to get something out of the way. I talk with a lot of podcasters. I mean a lot. Whether it’s in my DMs on Instagram, responding to emails, assisting students inside of our programs, working with clients, or even responding to comments on YouTube.
One very pervasive idea that I find upsetting is what seems to be some kind of money block. It reminds me of the popular misconception of the starving artist. It’s that having a podcast is a labor of love. That you do it because you feel a calling, but that it rarely converts to any real money. This is such a bummer perspective that really couldn’t be further from the truth.
Podcasting Is Valuable!
The truth is that what you do as a podcaster is extremely important, and truly valuable. It’s a real downer that within this new and exciting industry, it seems like indie podcasters collectively sell themselves short, or worse, don’t even consider selling themselves at all.
I constantly hear things like:
- “I’m not doing it for the money.”
- “I don’t have anything to sell.”
- “My listeners will never sign up for a subscription.”
- “I only have three patrons on my crowdfunding site, and one of them is my mom.”
This self-deprecating camaraderie is widespread, and hard not to get caught up in. It’s okay to make money. Money will allow you to hire an editor so you can have more time to create better episodes. To grow your show and reach more people. To grow your community and help a cause.
With that aside, I feel better. Thank you.
I’m not just going to show you how you can easily set up your podcast to accept Bitcoin donations, or what’s called boostagrams, from your listeners. But I’m also going to share with you how you can make a shift for yourself and for your show. And, separate yourself from this powerful delusion of low worth.
Are you with me? Are you ready to make some money for yourself and for your future?
Let’s Make Some Money
Okay, now let’s get to the good stuff. This may be your first time hearing about it, but more and more podcasts are now accepting bitcoin as tips, or boostagrams, to their shows.
In fact, at the time this video was made, there are over 9,000 podcasts currently taking advantage of this. And, many of those who are making a real profit from this source of income alone.
This is possible because of what’s called the Value 4 Value movement or V4V. It’s all part of the Podcasting 2.0 advancements. In addition to tons of podcasters hopping on the train, more and more developers are also pushing the movement forward.
Currently, we’re most excited about the podcast hosting platform RSS.com. You may remember a couple of videos back I created a video showing you how to set up your podcast with RSS.com. If not, you can check out that video right here after you’re done reading this post.
RSS.com now makes it as easy as a few clicks, and a short minute to start accepting bitcoin, and receive boostagrams, from your listeners.
What is a Boostagram?
A boostagram is a really fun feature that helps to incentivize your listeners because they can attach a written message to the Bitcoin tips. So it creates a way that the listener can interact and engage with their favorite podcasts in real-time.
Let me show you how I set it up on my brand-new show PodMacita, and then we can watch in real-time as one of my super fans sends me a real boostagram with Bitcoin.
How to Enable Bitcoin Payments on RSS.com
Okay, so here I am on my RSS.com dashboard or homepage of my PodMacita podcast.
All I have to do is click the monetization tab along the top, and it takes me to this monetization page where I have multiple options to monetize my show. And look at that.
The second one on the list says Value for Value. All I have to do is first click on “Activate,” RSS.com has partnered with Alby, which is where you will quickly create what’s called a lightning wallet that will work with RSS.com, and hold all of your tips or boostagrams.
So I’ll click “Sounds good, let’s go!”
Now, I just have to create an account with Alby which takes less than a minute. And now I can click “Authorize,” and I will be redirected back to RSS.com.
Now you can see that on my monetization page, Value for Value now says “Active,” and I also see the number of boostagrams and my balance of SATs.
What Are SATs?
In case you’re hearing about SATs for the first time, SATs are the smallest increment of Bitcoin. I like to think of them as Bitcoin pennies.
Now from this box, I can also click on “Visit Alby’s website,” and that will take me to my Alby account where I can see my wallet and any transactions that I want to make with Alby.
Alby is yet another developer that is backing the Value for Value movement for podcasters, and creators, and their partnership with RSS.com is so exciting.
How Does Value for Value Work From a Listener’s Perspective?
So now that I’m ready to receive tips, you might be curious about how this all works from the listener’s perspective. And, here to explain it to you as this guy who claims that he’s my number one super fan Studio, Steve.
Well, hey! I’m Veronica’s biggest fan. And, I was so excited to hear that she’s now accepting bitcoin or SATs for her podcast, PodMacita, because I am a big-time Fountain fan.
If you haven’t heard of the Fountain app, it’s a really cool app for listening to podcasts. Actually, you can get paid in SATs to listen to podcasts. So if you don’t have any bitcoin yet, or you don’t have a lightning wallet yet set up anywhere, one way on the Fountain app that you can already start earning SATs, or really small increments of Bitcoin, is by listening to podcasts.
How cool is that?
And then after you listen to a bunch of podcasts, you can have some SATs that you can start donating to your favorite podcasters.
So let me show you in the Fountain app, how I can tip Veronica by basically just pressing one button.
1. So first, I’ll go to the search screen and I’ll search for PodMacita, and here I find her show.
2. I can click on her show and I can also listen to the trailer.
3. And then from here now I can just click on “Boost,” and I can choose the amount of SATs.
4. I will send her 1000 SATs for this boost. And here I can add my boostagram or my message.
5. Now I can just say boost 1000 SATs and Veronica gets it immediately.
Click and Receive Bitcoin as a Podcaster Easily
Oh look. Looks like I just got a boostagram from Studio Steve, of course.
It says, “Hola Veronica it is Studio Steve. Tu podcast me encanto!”
He needs to work on his Spanish.
I can also log into Fountain myself, and reply to Studio Steve there to build an even better relationship with him.
This is so cool!
RSS.com is at the cutting edge of what podcasting really is. And that is for you to have control of your content and be able to use it to take you places.
These cool new features are only the beginning of what we can expect to see as web three and the creator economy continue to flourish. And it’s a really exciting thing to jump in on, and be a pioneer of.
While 9,000 podcasts may seem like a lot, or maybe it doesn’t seem like that much, one thing is for certain. These technologies are what is pushing the new internet forward. A new way of sharing and owning ideas, content, your communication, and currency.
If you think about it, most of us are already trading and sharing from digital wallets that we own.
When was the last time we used cash? Eww, FIAT currency. Ugh!
It’s not a bad idea to be an early adopter of this new way of sharing your value with your listeners and getting value in return.
You can try it out with a click of a mouse. Login into your RSS.com account, or create one with them in less than three minutes. And, then you will want to work your own value proposition into your podcast script and show.
Encourage your listeners to take part in these new technologies. Find ways to incentivize them. Create milestones and celebrations.
And if you don’t know what to say, pause the Bitcoin video and take a screenshot at minute 09:10 where it says:
Our podcast is supported by you the listener. If you find value in what we do show us by sending a boost from a Value for Value enabled app like Fountain. There are no middlemen, and I’ll get any messages you attach to what you sent.
Did you like my podcaster voice?
Make it part of your culture, and help other podcasters to do the same.
And make sure you share this with a fellow podcaster, and together let’s raise the bar of our industry.
Start Asking for What We’re Worth
Let’s start asking for what we’re worth. And although your listeners don’t owe you anything, per se, with the right perspective and motivation from you, you’ll be the one providing them with the opportunity to be a contributor – to be behind a cause. This is perhaps the real takeaway of this. And it’s to ask, how can you make what your show is all about a cause – something that people can get behind?
What destination do you have in mind for your show?
Can you think about some really big ones? Some really exciting ones?
Allow yourself to think beyond what you may feel as possible.
Tell your listeners where you plan on taking them and where you need their help to get to. Then you can set up all sorts of monetization funnels, and this particular one is such a cool one to take part in and encourage.
Be at the cutting edge and future-proof your podcast.
And if you want a complete walkthrough of how to set up your podcast using RSS.com as a reminder, you can click on this video here. In it, I put on a stopwatch and show you in real-time how it only takes me two minutes and 25 seconds to set up my podcast with RSScom. RSS.com also has automatic distribution to all of the podcast players, take the tour there.