6 Benefits for Podcasters Who Create NFT-Membership Communities

NFT-based podcast membership will supersede podcast subscription, sponsorship, and ad-based revenue models in the next few years. I fully believe that.?

Here are six no-BS benefits that podcasters will experience if they create a membership community based on NFTs.?

1. Segmenting Your Audience??

With each NFT collection you mint, you’ll be able to create different activities and various levels of access based on the smart contract attached to particular NFTs.??

For simplicity, it can be initially helpful to divide your listenership into two broad groups based on their level of engagement with your podcast:?

• Listeners: people who just want to listen to your show, including those who will probably never be interested in participating in your community.??
• Fans: people who are willing to participate extensively and invest substantially in your show and your community.???

If you can think of your audience in terms of those two groups, then you can start working on creating different collectables and benefits related to your show that your fans (not your listeners) can collect, share, and trade.?

As you gain more experience working with your own NFTs, it can be helpful to rethink the straightforward splitting of your audience into non-paying listeners, and paying fans. NFTs actually offer infinite segmentation possibilities. So, when you think of your fans, it can be financially advantageous to connect with those fans who want to pay much more than, say, just $10 or even $100 per month.?

While keeping in mind that, according to our definitions, non-paying listeners are also non-fans, here are some examples of how you can name and group your paying fans:?

• Casual fans: people who kind of like your podcasts, and they’re sometimes (but not often) open to monetarily investing in your community.??
• Avid fans: people who are curious about your podcasts, and regularly invest small to medium amounts into your community.??
• Super fans: people who are invested in your podcast, and will regularly (but not always) pay generously to be part of it.?
• über fans: people who totally love every episode you make, and are consistently paying top dollar to be an active member of your community.?

Call them whatever you want. But know this—it’s important that you identify those people who love your content so much that it would be inconceivable that they would interact with it or pay for it in normal ways. They want insider access. They want perks. They want more, more, more, essentially. And they’re willing to remunerate you handsomely in order to get it.?

With NFTs, you aren’t limited to the usual system of membership tiers. With NFTs, you can create increasingly more awesome levels of membership that cater to your true fans, thus providing them with the level of attention they deserve.?

2. The Direct-To-Fan Approach?

If you’re currently trying to monetize your fans via any traditional methods, then I’ll bet someone else is taking a percentage of your earnings. Sure, they’re providing you a service (ads, subscriptions, memberships, whatever). But I’m sure they’re also charging you a handsome fee for it.?

With NFTs, you cut out the middleman. That way, with every podcast-related NFT you mint, you’ll avail yourself of a bigger slice of the pie—your pie, your earnings.?

Also, if you’re beholden to a traditional platform, they own your listener data, not you. So watch out—without your involvement, let alone permission, platforms can change their policies at any time for any reason.??

With NFTs, there will be no subscription, advertising, or policy-related changes that could ever undermine you. Additionally, you own your listener data, which empowers you to connect directly with your super fans.

3. You Own Your Monetization Model?

Have you ever been annoyed with how Patreon doesn’t offer the ability to create free tiers, or allow people to join as a patron for a $0 pledge? Patreon does that because their business model is all about riding off the financial coattails of content creators like you. If Patreon doesn’t get a cut of something, they’re not interested in it, which locks you out of offering free gated content or benefits to your fans.?

Have you ever been dismayed with how Anchor decides which sponsors get slotted into your podcasts? How about that Anchor doesn’t split any advertising revenue with you, the one who worked your butt off over creating the podcast in the first place??

With the above two examples, in order to be on their platforms, you have to conform to their business models.?

With NFTs, you don’t have to adapt to another company’s limitations. With NFTs, you can create your own monetization model. This gets to the heart of an ownership economy where you get to design, own, and share whatever you want with your community members.?

4. You Divvy Up Your Profits?

With the customizable smart contracts associated with each NFT you mint, you decide how your profits are shared within your community. Everyone from guests to a production team, from your true fans to your hosts—everyone can get a slice.?

5. You Choose Your “Masters”?

As I alluded to in our Uncut Manifesto, most podcasters are obligated to please advertisers and sponsors. Not so, when it comes to NFTs. When you harness the true energy of a podcast membership community, your “masters” will be your fandom (not corporate interests).?

6. Members Become Owners?

In a traditional subscription model, subscribers own nothing. Essentially they can do only two things: use their subscription, or cancel it.?

With NFTs, members become owners. Along with that, member-owners can do a wide variety of things, including:

• Using the content or benefits associated with their NFT
• Giving or lending their NFT to someone else
• Reselling their NFT to someone else (with royalties going back to the original creator)?
• Burning/destroying their NFT so no-one else can get access to it?

This range of opportunities is just impossible with traditional subscription models tied to traditional platforms.

Are You A Podcaster Excited To Finally Get Into NFTs??

If you're a podcaster and want to collaborate with Uncut.FM, you can learn more about us at https://uncut.fm. Or get in touch.?

— Carlos?

P.S. I wrote this article based on the first part of a much longer piece I wrote for Uncut’s newsletter: “Uncut’s Practical Guide for Podcasters to Create NFT-Membership Communities.” In that guide, I expand upon various practical ways that podcasters can use NFTs to build podcast membership communities.?