Sometimes I think I enjoy starting new podcasts more than I actually like podcasting. Podcasting always wins out… but the result of my dual passions is that I have a lot of podcasts, some in an archived state, that are individually listed in iTunes. I’ve always worked to share each show’s audience with my other shows. That’s why I started the NLCast Podcast Network and even added a little toolbar to the top of each website in the network with links to the other shows. But the truth is, 9o% of my audience has never been to my site. They found me in iTunes or through their iPhone and their entire experience with my content has been via iTunes and on an individual show basis. Naturally I cross-promote within the shows themselves… but what I was trying accomplish could have been done a lot better, easier… and a long time ago if I’d known about this little trick. Here it is:
You can request that iTunes group your shows on an “Artist Page”
I first saw this with my friend Mark Malkoff’s podcast listing for The Carson Podcast. It was not only listed in it’s category, but also under his name. I figured it must be a perk of being famous… but I emailed another friend, Rob Walsh who works at Libsyn…
And he gave me the scoop.
So I went into PowerPress – Settings/iTunes then down to iTunes Talent Name and iTunes Email for each site and made sure they all contained my name and email address. Then I emailed iTunes from the address I entered.
The response:
So it’s called an Artist Page…
So now you know what to ask for when you send in that email. Here are the steps again bulleted out.
- Ensure that your iTunes Talent Name and iTunes Email for each site is exactly the same for each podcast site (or feed).
- Send and email to podcasts@apple.com and request an Artist Page to connect your podcasts.
- Wait for reply and wait 1-2 business days for iTunes to reflect this.
I checked just this morning and all but one of my shows are grouped under my name.
What are the benefits?
Firstly, my shows are connected in iTunes which improves the chances of my shows being discovered by each show’s listeners. Secondly (and this is the best perk yet) when visit my show in iTunes and click on “Related” right at the top it lists “More by James Kennison” before it lists “Listeners Also Subscribed To” and “Top Podcasts in [Genre]” To me that’s worth it’s weight in gold… and beats my little toolbar by a longshot.
I hope this has helped you!
I’m not claiming to be the first man on the moon with this thing… but it was pretty exciting to me and I wanted to share it. It’s a neat perk that’s not only available to the “big” guys… we hobby podcasters can have at it too. If you benefitted from this post hit the comments and let me know… then share it on Facebook and Twitter. It’s simple with the sidebar to the left there. Thanks!
*UPDATE*
The preferred method for requesting shows be added to an artist page just came to me from the Podcast dept at Apple:
To add more podcasts to the artist page:
- Sign in to the iTunes Store using your Apple ID
- Find and select your podcast
- Click Report a Concern
- Choose Remove a Podcast from the Choose a Reason menu
- Provide a note to add the podcast to your artist along with the artist name and the iTunes URL of the artist. To get the iTunes Store URL, right click or option click on the title in iTunes Store.