Issues with New Cyber Thug Radio

[eddiemurphy 2]

First of all I would like to say I love the podcast, Cyber Thug Radio was my favorite podcast for two short weeks. After hearing a post about how things went down (Jeff requiring they sign a contract etc.) I was soured to Earwolf and really stuck to Comedy Deathray Radio until the Earwolf Challenge, now I enjoy a couple of the Earwolf shows and have in general come around to it as a network. This new Cyber Thug Radio got me excited at first, but thinking about it I become less and less exciting. It is a bad price, especially for me who still has the original episodes on my computer, 8 dollars for one hour seems gouging when a Pardcastathon is 15. The thing is as I heard the promo (which I feel might alienate people who did not originally hear the show, but whatever) I considered donating to Earwolf, then when the money came up I was alienated, I have a hard time donating to businesses that open doors for TV shows when kids in Africa are starving. One of the only successful podcast networks moneywise, the Maxfun Network, which I am a donor of has a better model. It is more of a community then a business, they only bother you once a year and they do their advertising in a fun way. After that long rant their is a chance I will still buy the podcast, because I love Cyberthug, but I would like if these questions could be answered before I do.

 

A. How much of the money goes to Miles and Jerry?

B. If this is successful will this lead to more overpriced paid podcasts, free podcasts or is this a one time thing?

C. Does this podcast have advertising on it?

 

If these questions are answered no matter what the answer is I will probably buy it, I love Cyberthug. In Conclusion, as this promo ran on Comedy Bang Bang I thought "Wow, that's awesome, I think after I listen to this I am going to donate 10 dollars or something to Earwolf for working to bring that back". Now I have qualms about spending 8.

[jeffullrich 652]

Eddie - Thanks for your thoughtful post. I'm not going to try and make you feel better or convince you to agree with me, but I'd like to answer/address some of your questions/comments.

 

As far as the reason Cyberthug stopped doing a show with us a year ago - I sleep well at night regarding how I handled that yet I don't begrudge them for their decision either. It just didn't work for either of us and that happens. It sucks, but it happens. It's hurtful to me personally that the perception could be I'm on the wrong side of this when no one knows the facts.

 

As far as pricing the new package goes, I had a hard decision. If I priced it too low I wasn't sure we'd break-even. We are not in a position to lose money right now. If I priced it too high we'd lessen the risk of losing money but be open to ridicule. I decided the best way to price it was based on the assumption that most people didn't have the old 2 and it was cheaper at 7.99 for a package of three than our normal 2.99 per episode pricing. I knew it would be steep for some people but at the same time no one is obligated to buy it, just like we weren't obligated to spend our money producing it.

 

Let me address your three questions:

 

A. I cannot answer this question specifically. If Jerry and Sean want to disclose the number publicly, that's fine with me. But as far as I'm concerned that is their choice to make, not mine. I can say that they were each paid an identical flat fee to record the new episode and we all agreed it was fair.

 

B. I have no idea if there will ever be another show, if it would be paid or free, or any other detail. It hasn't been discussed and I'm not sure if it ever will be discussed.

 

C. This podcast does not have advertising on it, we do not sell shows and then also sell advertising.

 

Regarding our business model, I'm not sure what you mean about TV shows and starving children. Can you explain? Just Friday I had a nice coffee meeting with Jesse Thorn. He has great shows and a great business. I like him and wish him well. But that model was built over a ten year period and doesn't mean it would work for us now. We've put out almost 1,000 free episodes in less than 2 years, paid comedians to be funny and have done everything we can to provide tremendous value to our listeners, whether you ever support us financially or not. I'm very proud of that.

 

While I really do understand your position, there are many factors at play. I hope that the goodwill we've built up can carry us through some of this, even if at the end of the day this package is considered too expensive for the value being delivered.

 

I hope this reads as genuine as it was written. Thanks.

[jeffullrich 652]

I have no idea why it's black and bold. I'll have to fix it later.

[eddiemurphy 2]

Fair enough, good rebuttal, I will stop being cheap and just go buy the thing.

[McCawley 4]

I was surprised to see Eddie Murphy sweating an $8 purchase, but I also don't know anyone that saw Tower Heist.

[pbnews 93]

I have no idea why it's black and bold. I'll have to fix it later.

 

That's what she said.

[Johnny Unusual 525]

 

That's what she said.

In bed.

[sept11wasablast 0]

B. I have no idea if there will ever be another show, if it would be paid or free, or any other detail. It hasn't been discussed and I'm not sure if it ever will be discussed.

 

[byort 11]

Since I'm typically a month behind in listening to any given podcast (outside of improv4humans), is there any chance that there will be a re-release of the new episode? I'm definitely interested and would have put up the money even though I also have the 2 original episodes still on my computer. Just throwing that out there for consideration. Thanks!

 

Edit - Never mind...when I went to the page, the show was listed as "Sold Out", but I clicked on the "Add to Cart" button anyway, and I was able to purchase it. Sorry for the bother.

[MikeToole 12]

I almost prefer a normal capitalism model of entertainment to the emotionality of public radio style stuff(not that I hold it against Jesse Thorn, and not that we can't see how toxic capitalism is to real journalism). I'd like to see capitalistic disintermediation of entertainment arts succeed. As a new media enterprise, is Earwolf sustaining itself yet?