I think I found a good solution to the dilemma of wanting my posts to reach the maximum number of people while also wanting to make some money from all this labor. I decided to keep the podcast free and to pair each episode with a subscribers-only newsletter that includes notated transcriptions and other musicological extras. So, that’s the plan for now, it feels like the right idea. In the meantime, I’m going to keep posting things here that need to be public-facing and accessible if/when Substack goes out of business or becomes intolerable.
Just wanted to say again how amazing the podcast is. You should have done it 10 years ago! It is flawless in every way. It’s always easy to understand what you’re talking about even though the subjects are pretty complex. Mostly it shows your love of music. Also you’re pretty prolific. I’m a big fan.
I’m glad to hear it! I’ve definitely been enjoying the process. I resisted for so long for a couple of reasons. One, it has been hard to even find a quiet time and place to do the recording; when my kids were little, it was impossible. Now that I can actually shut the door once in a while, it’s easier. But also, it took a while to figure out the format. I didn’t just want to be rambling incoherently into the mic, I can’t stand listening to people who do that. The episodes I’ve been putting out so far are on subjects where I have already done all the research, assembled all the audio examples, done the heavy analytical lifting and presented on them in class multiple times. So I can put together something coherent that flows logically without spending a thousand hours on it. Now I can feel myself getting into a flow with the format and I can start taking on subjects where I don’t already have all the work in the can, but it took a while to get to this place.