More and more people are putting their creativity to the test and launching podcasts on everything from video games to news, health and wellness to current social topics impacting the Black community.

There are tons of elements to consider when planning your podcast. And one of the most tricky elements is music.

Does My Podcast Need Music?

The short, and unhelpful answer to this question is: it’s entirely up to you.

Podcasts often have musical elements, whether they are just in the intro and outro, to announce certain segments, or as a reference and background material.

Adding music to your podcast can add depth and excitement to your episodes. But it can also clutter the audio and make it difficult for your listeners to hear your content. It’s a balancing act.

Here are some reasons to incorporate music into your podcast.

Use Music to Start or End Your Episode

Adding opening and closing sounds to your podcast gives you an opportunity to showcase your brand through this audio medium. Having the same sounds start and end each episode can create brand recognition in the minds of your listeners.

You Can Use Music to Tell a Story

Music is emotion. That’s why when you change or remove the music from a movie scene, it changes the emotions you feel as you’re watching it.

The same is true for storytelling in a podcast.

The background or accompanying music that you use throughout your podcast story can help your audience to distinguish the sad moments, scary scenes, and triumphant endings in any story.

For example, the Lore Podcast has a very simple, but ominous, background track that evolves as the host tells each story. Since this is a podcast about true-life scary stories and mysteries, this ethereal music amplifies the “scary story” mood better than any creepy voice could.

But the Snap Judgement Podcast uses music in a different way to tell stories. The podcast “mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic, kick-ass radio.” You can check out their sound here.

See the difference? If you switched the music behind these two podcasts, as a listener, you’d be confused, annoyed, or even turned off to the stories being told. Music is a powerful tool in your podcast arsenal.

Back Up Ads with Music Breaks

Ads are the main form of income that you can make when you start a podcast. But that means you have to fit your ads into your content in a way that makes sense to your listeners.

To help your audience recognize what is content and what is an ad, you can put music before and after the ad, or you can create a track to play in the background of all ad content.

But What about Copyrights?

There are lots of myths and rules around how to use music in podcasts. If you can, it’s always best to own or purchase the rights to any tracks you think you want to include in your episodes, but there are also tons of resources for finding music that is royalty-free or falls under Creative Commons License. Here is a great article with some tips.

Thinking About Starting a Podcast?

HarlemAmerica Digital Network is a network dedicated to amplifying black voices. If you are a black entertainer or entrepreneur, host your podcast with a full production team at your service. Check out our website to learn more about our small business membership packages.