Into the Aether Joins Pickaxe!
Hey everyone!
We have some big news for Into the Aether. We were recently contacted by the Pickaxe Podcast Network about the possibility of Into the Aether joining. And as of March 27th, we will be! Without getting too in the weeds about contract specifics, they’re essentially staying as hands-off as possible while handling advertising and promotion on their ends. As a three-person team, having another party handle those elements of the show is a huge boon and will allow us to invest even more time into ITA and other creative endeavors!
We’ve spent the last few weeks going through all of the details of this contract and making sure it’s something we’re all comfortable with. Additionally, we want to continue having full transparency with everyone in the community, so we wanted to address what we imagine are the biggest questions:
Advertisements
The biggest change will be the inclusion of advertisements. These will be pre-recorded ads (not read by us) like you hear on most other shows. These ads will appear on all episodes (including the backlog) starting on March 27th.
We have a decent amount of control over what kind of ads appear on the show and how frequently they will run. By default, the ads will be pre and post-roll (so basically, before and after the show begins and ends) and you may see mid-roll in some episodes as well. To properly set expectations: Mid-roll ads might also be the norm for new episodes going forward, but with the way the show is segmented we already have natural places to drop those in.
We will also have the ability to say “no” to certain categories of advertisements. If you ever hear an ad for something you’re uncomfortable with, let us know and we’ll talk to our reps at Pickaxe about filtering that stuff out. Pickaxe already handles most of the advertisement filtering on their end, but we’re able to make specific requests to block certain ad categories. This will be an evolving process and we don’t expect it to be perfect out of the gate, so let us know if you hear anything weird.
This also means that we will no longer be accepting commercial ad reads through our merch store. We want to give a HUGE thanks to everyone who purchased one of those over the past year — your support as been extremely helpful. That being said, Personal Messages (Tidings) will continue to be available to all who want to send a shoutout, birthday message, or what-have you.
Additionally, patrons on the $10 tier will still have access to the ad-free feed.
Patreon
We will continue to own the show completely, and the Patreon is fully our space. This means that there will be no ads on Any Percent, Patron Bonus Episodes, and obviously not on the ad-free feed for top tier patrons.
While we’re talking about it, we just want to give a huge thanks to everyone who has supported us here. While joining Pickaxe will definitely help increase the budget of the show, the vast majority of our income right now is and will continue to come from our Patreon. It has not only helped the show but also us as people. So just a huge, huge thanks for all of your generosity.
The Discord and TWG
We’re not going anywhere with regards to The Worst Garbage or the TWG Discord. The community there means the world to us and we’d like to continue being part of it. Since TWG is not commercial in any way, ITA can effectively be part of both networks without any conflict of interest. Things could possibly change down the road, but that would be a decision made by us and the other TWG hosts. For now, none of us see any reason why ITA should leave. So you’re stuck with us ; )
And that’s basically it! Ultimately, nothing is really changing about the show or the way we make it other than the inclusion of ads. All of this to say, we want to make sure this works for everyone, including you and our entire audience. Please let us know if you have any questions, we're happy to address anything.
And thank you once again for listening to us.
We wouldn’t have been able to get here without you!