Early access: Retronauts Radio 3 (and important news!)
Added 2017-03-07 02:40:13 +0000 UTCHi everyone, your latest upcoming episode is here! It's fresh out of the podcast oven, too — Bob and I just recorded this yesterday. Since we were both together in the studio this weekend, I thought it might be fun to have him sit in on a Retronauts Radio. If I'm not mistaken, this might be the first time the two of us have ever recorded a full episode with just the two of us sitting in.
Anyway, it's a different take on Retronauts Radio, both in terms of hosting and in terms of coverage. Hope you enjoy it!
Also, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING!
You may have seen today that Retronauts has joined the PodcastOne network. Since I'm hoping to make a long-term living off of creating Retronauts (and eventually to bring Bob in full-time as well), it made sense to join a network and add sponsorships and ads to the show. But this is not meant to replace, supplant, or minimize Patreon. If you subscribe to Patreon, nothing will change for you. Everyone who supports the show at $3/mo. or better will continue enjoying the following perks:
- Early access to episodes (typically a week in advance)
- Ad-free episodes through Patreon
- Full access to the show archives that have been posted to Patreon
- Higher audio quality (PodcastOne's system requires everything to be mono/64kbps MP3, whereas the episode attached here is stereo/192kbps)
- Goodies twice a year (expect news on the next batch of goods as soon as next week)
In other words, we'll continue to support the show through Patreon while hosting ads, and we'll offer incentives to those who do support us to make it worth your while. Hopefully this doesn't come off as our trying to have our cake and eat it too. We want to continue offering a premium service for those of you whose active support has made the show possible for the past few years, while diversifying our income.
Our goal is not to rely on any single large source of income to keep this business running, but rather to have several smaller revenue streams in place so that if one dries up we don't have to close down shop. After more than a decade of working with traditional publishers who relied almost entirely on advertising and whose businesses continued to grow leaner and leaner as the ad market became more cutthroat, I know better than to depend on ads alone. I believe the structure we're putting into place — a mix of Patreon and ad support, with more things to come in time — rewards our most enthusiastic listeners by offering them something special in return for direct support, while also allowing us to benefit from the 98% of the Retronauts audience that prefers to listen for free. Hopefully you'll agree.
Please let us know if you have any concerns or questions! We're always deeply grateful for your support and want to be sure we're doing right by you. Thank you for keeping this show running!
Comments
I don't know about a video, because my setup is pretty much a mess, but I'd like to do something.
Retronauts
2017-03-20 12:33:33 +0000 UTCIs there a feed URL that subscribers can put into something like Pocket Casts? If not, then there should be, because it's inconvenient having to go through Patreon specifically for an ad-free version of an episode.
Kevin Bender
2017-03-18 21:06:20 +0000 UTCWould you ever consider doing a video showcasing some of your hardware? I'd love to see those weird peripherals like the Nintendo Power flash cartridge in action!
Stephen
2017-03-18 15:58:33 +0000 UTCI guess if you're keeping the libsyn feed online for the older episodes that's not a big deal, actually.
Admiral H. Curtiss
2017-03-12 21:31:27 +0000 UTCWould it be possible to add the older episodes that are not on the Patreon feed to that?
Admiral H. Curtiss
2017-03-12 21:27:33 +0000 UTC<a href="http://retronauts.libsyn.com" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://retronauts.libsyn.com</a>
Jeremy Parish
2017-03-12 02:09:16 +0000 UTCKnocked it out of the park again. I'm not sure how, but you guys have finally made a podcast about video game music interesting. Thanks for all the hard work you put into your podcasts.
shea dewar
2017-03-09 16:30:19 +0000 UTCReally love the look into the Nintendo incidental music. The Wii Shop Channel theme is laser engraved onto my brain and I've always enjoyed the extra effort Nintendo put into those tunes. Nice job, guys!
Will Oliver
2017-03-09 13:18:36 +0000 UTCHi, I just became a patron at the $3 tier due to the fact that you pay walled the old episodes but I was very disappointed to find that the patreon rss feed has two years less episodes than the feed that used to be free. Also some of the episode titles on the patreon feed are terrible and don't tell you what the episode is eg, "Here's that podcast, finally!" and "It's the Earliest Retronauts Ever!". Is there any where I can get access to every episode in the same place with proper titles?
2017-03-09 04:35:46 +0000 UTCPro tip: If you want a third source of revenue, try selling drugs. :)
Stephen “Seven” Perteet
2017-03-08 18:48:16 +0000 UTCJust want to say that I'm very supportive of this move, even with the bumps and problems. I'm all in favor of this becoming better for y'all.
Jimmy Wilkinson
2017-03-08 16:58:08 +0000 UTCI'm listening to it here and don't hear this sound. Try downloading it again, maybe?
Retronauts
2017-03-08 14:39:56 +0000 UTCWe were told the paywall was optional, and it didn't even occur to us that audio fidelity would be limited. Live and learn. If this doesn't work out for us, we will move along to another service.
Retronauts
2017-03-08 14:37:59 +0000 UTCI'm really glad Retronauts found someone to work with and you will have an additional revenue stream. Would you be willing to talk about why you decided on PodcastOne as a host? The low fidelity mono audio and pay-walled back catalog are, to my mind, strange. Audio quality is so important for a podcast and your episodes are evergreen. I frequently find myself re-listening to your old work. Are there some other benefits to you from this arrangement versus other podcast networks?
Abrahm Simons
2017-03-08 01:38:01 +0000 UTCmono/64kbps?? Yikes
hibikase
2017-03-07 22:48:22 +0000 UTCPlease share with the rest of us! Is it a Retronauts-specific Patreon RSS feed? Or are you just pulling in RSS from all of your backed creators?
Jeremy Rutz
2017-03-07 19:46:17 +0000 UTCGet yourself paid first. As long as we can still access archives and new episodes via Patreon, it's all good.
Max Smith
2017-03-07 19:40:28 +0000 UTCSeconding this. Having "good enough" quality audio is very important in a Podcast and low-bitrate mono doesn't meet that in my opinion. I think it's analogous to having an appropriate typeface for a piece of text. I'm certainly willing to continue to pay for it as a perk. Please continue to do the extra work to post high-quality files here in the advance RSS. Keep up the great work. I'm proud to support it and listening to these podcasts are always a highlight of my day.
2017-03-07 19:13:09 +0000 UTCDo what ever you have to do to keep the retronauts going. You guys deserve to get paid for all the hard work you put into the show.
2017-03-07 16:38:10 +0000 UTCReally don't mind ads, but requiring the episodes to be in mono seems insanely archaic, especially for episodes with music. I guess it's to keep down hosting costs though. Glad I'll still be able to get the better quality ones through Patreon.
Stephen
2017-03-07 15:25:58 +0000 UTCWhile I'm not a fan of locking past episodes behind a paywall, I fully support the idea of multiple revenue streams. I became very nervous for you at the thought of you quitting your job (sympathy panic, the purview of a true neurotic) so I like this idea. My thoughts are pretty simple on the matter. If you can't make enough money to do this alone, we get less content when you have to get another job. I do worry about you burning out a bit though. How long can a man do podcasts before the man becomes the podcast?
Ironjoe99
2017-03-07 14:43:16 +0000 UTCI'm listening through the Patreon app and after around the 29:30 mark there's an ungodly noise for the rest of the show. Hopefully it's just the app.
Eric Plunk
2017-03-07 13:12:32 +0000 UTCI just discovered the Patreon RSS feed. I didn't bother to get the episodes in advance until now, but the ads and bitrate made me investigate. :D
2017-03-07 10:46:09 +0000 UTCPodcastOne sounds like a sensible move, people really shouldnt knock you for trying to make a living...
Simon Paynton
2017-03-07 08:53:58 +0000 UTCI second this.
Normallyretro
2017-03-07 07:37:34 +0000 UTCWe took suggestions as part of the Kickstarter campaign and found those episodes never turned out as satisfactorily as the ones whose topics we arrived at organically!
Jeremy Parish
2017-03-07 06:30:41 +0000 UTCAnyone know where that Nintendo power track is online? Great episode guys congrats on getting ads and stuff I hope this makes things more easy for you. Maybe a good way to incentive would be taking more ideas for what to do from patrons. Vote on topics or something. The dude from no clip really makes me feel like my contribution is making a difference. Sorry to ramble hope some of that was useful
Grant Glibert
2017-03-07 06:15:20 +0000 UTCI don't actually know how that works, but I have to assume it will remain in place as it currently is now.
Jeremy Parish
2017-03-07 04:41:58 +0000 UTCI will gladly hear the latest offer from Blue Apron or MeUndies (Patron feed or not) if it means a tenable living for you and Bob to keep doing what you do.
mordak
2017-03-07 04:10:44 +0000 UTCWill the iTunes advance Patreon Backer feed still exist and be ad free or will Patreon stuff only exist through Patreon?
El Pescado
2017-03-07 02:57:04 +0000 UTCAnything to keep the show going, my support isn't going anywhere
2017-03-07 02:46:10 +0000 UTCSounds good, so long as there is an option to pay for a no ads version I'm happy. More income = more certainty for the future of the show = more good.
Gareth
2017-03-07 02:45:59 +0000 UTCNo worries here. I think it's a great idea.
Elliot Long
2017-03-07 02:44:47 +0000 UTC
