How podcast theme music helps define your brand

May 21

Theme music is a fun topic for me because I LOVE music.

For a long time, I was a songwriter, composer, singer, musician and did lots of fun stuff all to do with music.

I have a degree in music production and have lived and breathed music for a long time.

In this episode, I talk about podcast theme music and how it can be used, or not used, to emphasise your brand. I go through some examples of top episodes on Apple Podcasts and discuss how they have used their music to reinforce their brand in an effective way.

Whether your podcast is silly or serious, short and snappy or long drawn out conversations, it’s important to think about your brand as a whole and what kind of music, if any, would make sense for you.

Transcript:

00:00
Welcome to pump up your pod how important is the music for your podcast? This is a fun topic for me because I grew up with music. I was a songwriter and composer for a very long time and a singer and I toured and I did lots of stuff with music, and I love it. I love it. I did a degree in music production, it was my first love. It's still just the love of my life. So when I listen to podcasts, and they have used music in a cool way that really lights me up. What I'm talking about here, though, is branding, and how you can use podcast the music to enforce your brand. And I'm going to just go through a few examples of some podcasts and how they use music or don't use music to show you a little bit about their brand.

So what I've done is I've gone to top episodes for this week on Apple podcasts in Australia to have a bit of a listen to the way people do it. First one I'm going to show is Hamish and Andy 2021 Episode 125 I'm going to show you there or get you to listen to their intro. From the get-go. You'll hear apart from the ad that comes at the top it's a little bit silly. The theme music the theme the intro, it's a bit silly. And that makes sense if you know Hamish and Andy, you know that they're quite ridiculous, and it matches kind of their flavour. So have a little listen…

01:40
to our listener production your internet because the Hamish and the podcast starts in three sorry, buffering.

Ahoy to you. And it's when this drops will be the first of the month. So no dare doubt your Dad,

are we texting you? Can you let me let me do does it still does.

You can hear there, you've got listener, which is the like platform listeners like that the host I guess the network that they on, I suppose what I'm trying to say there, and then it goes into their intro bit where they've got that voiceover dude, he sounds pretty ridiculous. The music is you know, like, just a bit silly. And then it comes into more like video game music. And then that music continues on and actually stays in that episode for quite a while just kind of in the background faded out. So the whole thing is not taking itself too seriously.

And these guys don't take themselves very seriously either. So it makes sense for their brand. It appeals to a wide audience and it's also quick. So you get to the point pretty quick. What are we 36 seconds into that. And they've already done a little bit of a intro. They're all the way the talking episodes already going. So that works really well. Another podcast that's very popular is shameless. So I'm gonna give you a bit of a look this episode slip on your Satan sneakers. And we're just going to have a little listen…

03:21
This episode of shameless is brought to you by bed threads high quality affordable linen bedding to give you the sleep of your dreams. Take 10% off the entire round bed threads.com.au with the code shameless 10 That is shameless one oh at checkout now.

04:02
Hello, and welcome to shameless the celebrity and pop culture podcast with smart people who love dumb stuff. You're joined as always by Melbourne Writers Michelle Andrews, that would be me. Zara McDonald, that would be you. Hello. Hello, producer Annabel Lee. Coming up on today's show.

04:19
This one is a decent ad at the front before anything else happens. So these podcasts, they're very well known. The podcast has been running for a while they have sponsorship, they have an agency, you know, they have marketing all sorts of stuff. So they have ads. So they have an ad at the front that's been paid to be there. Then they have the intro music, which is actually quite long with them not saying anything. It's just the music and it's clapping and there's a woman singing, you know, kind of stuff in there. clapping and upbeat is proven to engage millennials, which I find interesting, although I'm very over it, like I've listened to all lot of stuff, any song that has like clapping in it now I just don't want to use it because I'm so sick of hearing things with clapping in them.

But you can see that this music enforces their brand, okay? Their two young girls, it's it's upbeat, there's got a good beat behind it. There's some clapping in it appealing to the millennials. And there's nothing much going on. He's just listening to the music getting ready. And then it fades out and they fade in and they actually just start the episode. So it enforces their brand, their message that they're talking about things that are mostly upbeat, that are fun, that kind of stuff. So that's a really good example of a way that is enforcing the brand.

Now, you don't have to use the music. And you'll know from my podcast, pump up your pod, I have a very quick, so I just say, you know, welcome to pump up your pod. And then it's allowed here, daddy data, which is just me singing and then into the episode because I don't like to take too long. Because these episodes are short, they're to the point. It's informative, mostly. And then you're out. So I don't want to waste anybody's time with long intros and things like that. Because I like to just hit them in the face with some knowledge, and then get the flip out. Let's have a look at something where they don't use the music at all. And I'm going to use Dax Shepard as the example if I can find him. There is armchair expert.

06:29
Welcome, welcome. Welcome to armchair expert. I'm Dan Shepherd. I'm joined by Monica monsoon, what's on the horizon forecast wise? Oh, sunny skies, sunny skies, smooth sailing.

06:43
That's it, I just get straight into it. And it works for them because Dax Shepard is very well known. Right? He is a celebrity. He doesn't need theme music to enforce his brand, because his brand is everywhere. So that doesn't need anything. And he wants to just get into the conversation. It's called armchair expert. He's got someone sitting there, and he just wants to start and have the conversation. So you can have a really cool podcast interview type thing and have nothing going on. If it's more of a conversational piece, and just have no music and it comes in I really like that. Because is no stuffing around and you just get straight into it. But you have to have a bit of a sense of who that brand is first, before you can have a podcast that launches like that with like, very little or nothing.

If you're already a well known brand, if you are very clear on your messaging everywhere else, and you feel like you don't want music, you just want to start the thing, then go for it. Give that a try and see how it goes. So you don't have to use theme music. And here are a few examples that I've shown you of not using it at all really enforcing the brand upbeat type stuff. And then the Hamish and Andy one, which was just silly, because they're silly, and not taking themselves too seriously. And that kind of thing. If you have to have ads at the beginning of your show, then it's a good idea to have some sort of music in there too. So that doesn't feel so naked. And really play with it. Like if you're just starting your show, and you're like, oh, you know, should I have theme music, really take some time to play with it and think about your brand as a whole. And whether it makes sense to have music and what kind of makes sense for your brand as well.

The other example which I won't play you but is an example for you to look at is case file as well. So anything that's like a true crime II type thing, they have very small amounts of of music going on for an actual theme, because again, they just kind of get into it. And it's quite hard hitting. Now if you're looking for theme music, the best place to go that we use is art list.io. So, and I will give a referral code for this I love at least it is a subscription model. So it might not make sense if you just need one track. But if you're using music a lot in your videos and that sort of thing, then I would say definitely get a subscription to our list because there's new music coming on this all the time. If you're interested in using artless then definitely click on the link in the description. And then that will take you there and you can sign up I think it's 299 or God 199 or 299, maybe 199. I can't remember the price, but I'll put all the details in there so that you can have a look.

And then if you're just looking for one track like just a track by itself, then my recommendation would be to go to Audio Jungle and I will provide you with links to all of this stuff. Audio Jungle is great. You can search for anything and you can just buy the licence for that one track and they start as little as like 20 US dollars. And you can have a big search through all that sort of stuff and then you have the rights to use that song on your podcast.

So that's my options there but definitely take your time to really think about your brand, and what your brand is trying to say in the form of music. If you need help picking your music, if you're like, oh my god, this is super overwhelming, I don't want to do this myself, then come through us. And you can actually purchase the option to package of ours for theme music, which is the option where we will source six tracks for you send them back to you with the voiceover that you provide. And then you can pick your favourite and then we will give it to you as a like, with all the fades, and everything's, you actually can just slot it into the front and the ends of your episode.

So go to our website and contact us with that. And you can just say you want option two, which is for us to pick your music, it's a great one, if you really don't want to stick around and you don't know what you want. But you know, you want music, that is a good way to do it. If you have any other questions, Bambi media.com is a great place to go and have a look around at all the stuff. If you want to join in on any of our courses or know anything more about our courses, go to creative branding lab.com. And I'll put links to everything that I've discussed in these show notes description here today, so that you can have a look around and see what takes your fancy.

If you're listening to this podcast before June 7 2021, I'm giving you a special little thing for being a part of this pump up the pod community. And that is pump up your pod the course is coming. It's coming on June 7, that's when it's launching. That's the date when it's launching. And you're getting $200 off because you listen to this podcast because you are here from the very beginning. So if that is something that interests you, and you want to learn how to grow your show, how to monetize it really well and do it with me coaching calls, there's eight of them. It's a group coaching call situation, you get access to this thing for four months. It's kick ass, I'm really proud of it and I would love to see you on the inside of it. Do the thing, click on the link in the show description and go and check it out. Sign up. We start on June 8. It's going to be great and I would love to have you in there. Okay, bye