Freemium

🔑 The Unlock

3 Smart Ways to Get Paid in a Culture of Free:

1. The Souvenir Edition
   What you’re selling: Status, belonging, scarcity.
   People don’t just want your content—they want to own a piece of your world. Think limited, tangible, or signed versions that create emotional connection.

   👉 These work best when they feel earned, rare, or like a badge of belief.

2. The Specific Edition
   What you’re selling: Tailored value, personalization, access to your brain.
   Your public work builds credibility. But your private, custom work? That’s what solves real problems.

   👉 Think of this as the “you”-sized version of your free work.

3. The ‘Now’ Edition
   What you’re selling: Immediacy, access, experience.
   Some people won’t pay for the content—but they will pay for the moment. Live is a premium. First is a premium. Community is a premium.

   👉 This works when there’s urgency, community energy, or an “I was there” feeling.

📌 Take Action: Ask yourself—what part of my work becomes more valuable when it’s rare, personalized, or urgent? You don’t have to charge for everything.
But if you want to keep going, you have to charge for something.

💡 Creative Edge

Free Builds Reach. Paid Builds the Business.

If you’re giving away value (and you should), make sure there’s a structure behind it. The key to getting paid without limiting your audience reach is strategic generosity.

Here's a simple way to think about your creative ecosystem:

🧱 Free = Trust
Your public work—newsletter, podcast, templates—builds reputation and reach.
Goal: Awareness + relationship.

💰 Paid = Support
Offer clear, distinct value: live workshops, exclusive content, coaching, or small group sessions. Help your audience clearly understand what’s free and what costs money.
Goal: Revenue that sustains your work.

🎯 Premium = Growth
Think consulting retainers, partnerships, or high-leverage service. Your job is to clearly be able to articulate why the premium version is worth paying for in the first place.
Goal: Fewer clients, bigger returns.

How to Apply This Week:

• Map your ladder: Free → Paid → Premium

• Ask: Where do people go after they get value from my free work?

• If there’s no next step—build one.

Your work deserves reach. But it also deserves a model that keeps it going.

📡 Industry Pulse

• Google Launches Veo 2, Its Answer to Sora
  Google unveils Veo 2, its new AI text-to-video generation model. Expect cinematic-quality AI video tools to enter creator workflows faster than we imagined.
  Read more

• UMG Fires Back at Drake Over Super Bowl Footage
  Universal Music Group warns Drake over the use of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance in his latest diss-track visuals. A reminder: the IP battles aren’t slowing down—they’re getting personal.
  Read more

• Eric Schmidt Predicts AI Will Match Artists Within 5 Years
  The former Google CEO says AI will be as smart as “the smartest artist” by 2030. Whether you agree or not, the takeaway is clear: designing your voice and vision matters more than ever.
  Read more

• Dorsey and Musk Want to Kill IP Law
  In a chaotic twist, Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk both publicly called for the end of intellectual property law. It's unclear how serious they are—but the ripple effects for creators could be massive.
  Read more

• Podcasting’s Swiss Army Knife Moment
  New research from Sounds Profitable shows podcasting’s versatility is its biggest strength: brand-building, storytelling, performance media—it does it all. But most marketers still treat it like radio.
  Read more

• Reality TV’s Podcasting Powerhouses
  Shows like Giggly Squad and The Toast are proving that reality TV fandom translates into podcasting scale—and advertisers are taking notice. The crossover between entertainment and community continues to blur.
  Read more

• Creators Reworking Their Revenue Mix
  With economic uncertainty looming, many creators are shifting from brand deals to direct monetization strategies like subscriptions, live events, and owned products. The smartest are designing resilience, not chasing reach.
  Read more

📈 By The Numbers

What it says: Listeners of New Heights, the popular podcast hosted by Jason and Travis Kelce, split nearly evenly across formats:

• 33% mostly audio

• 38% mostly video

• 29% consume both equally

What it means: Podcasting is now a hybrid format—and successful shows are both heard and seen. This duality isn’t a niche trend, it’s audience behavior.

For creators: It’s time to design your show for both platforms, not as a tradeoff—but as a multiplier.

For advertisers: One buy. Multiple touchpoints. A single message traveling seamlessly across contexts—commutes, couches, and lunch breaks.

Modern podcast consumption is multi-format by default. Strategy should be too.

🛠️ Trending AI Tools

• EaseUS AI Stem Splitter – Quickly isolate vocals, drums, or instruments from audio tracks with this free tool for musicians and producers.

• Lingolette – Real-time AI language tutor that helps you speak and understand 14 languages through conversation, not flashcards.

• YouNet – Automate daily tasks like emails, posts, and data entry with AI agents so you can focus on high-impact work.

• AskSteve – Your 1-click AI assistant that scrapes and summarizes any webpage in seconds so you don’t have to.

• LinkedBase – Find, engage, and convert your ideal LinkedIn prospects automatically with AI while saving 35+ hours a week.

• Rembrand – AI-powered virtual product placement that seamlessly inserts branded items into creator videos, unlocking new monetization without interrupting the content.

💼 Open Opportunities 

In Podcasting:

• Account Director - Podcasting at Sony Music Entertainment

• Account Executive, Creators and Media at Opus Clip

• Writer/Reporter (Freelance) at Pushkin Industries

• Podcast Marketer at work x work

• Growth Marketing Manager, Podcast at Right Side Up

In Music:

• Chief Technology Officer / Digital Transformation Officer – Prisma Music Group (Remote)

• Senior Youth Music Industry Programme Manager – Roundhouse (UK)

• People & Culture Manager – Involved Group (UK)

• Music Marketing Manager – Manifest (UK)

• Executive Assistant to Vice President – Avex Music Group (US)

📌 Know someone looking? Forward this to them!

⚡ Final Note

Want more Red Threads in your life?

You can find daily blog posts here and connect on LinkedIn here.

You’ve got an idea. A message. A story worth telling. The only thing standing between you and your own podcast? Getting started.

That’s why I put together The 7-Day Podcast Challenge—a simple, step-by-step guide to getting your podcast live in a week. No fluff, no wasted motion. Just a clear path from idea to launch.

📥 Grab your free copy here.

And thank you for spending time with Red Threads this week. I’m glad you’re here.

~ Jaime

P.S. Could you use some help with a project you’re working on? Let’s talk! 

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