Dane Cardiel

Dane Cardiel got his start at Simplecast as a founding member. Now he’s at Gumball, where his conversations revolve around solutions for podcast monetization. He’s just launched Good Tape, a print magazine that captures the conversations happening in the audio industry.

Why do we need Good Tape? Was there an aha moment?
I know the podcast news cycle in the last 12+ months has taken its toll on many. It can be hard to feel optimistic about the trajectory our industry is heading and the institutions we currently have in place. Beyond that, there are so many diverse and marginalized communities under attack facing real political dangers — who are singularly unsafe and targeted in public life — and that has a compounding effect on feelings of pain and isolation. How as an industry are we responding to this moment? And if so many podcasts serve as a bridge to help people escape the doldrums of their life circumstances, what exists for those who make podcasts? Really the concept of a magazine felt like the perfect vehicle for address a need I sense in so many in our community — to help realign our industry’s priorities and form a new locus for engaging with each other, especially for those who don’t feel particularly welcomed, supported, or safe in our existing industry spaces. 

Tell us about the team.
I’m so lucky to be working with Alana Hope Levinson and Sami Wittwer on this magazine. I’ve known Alana for over 8 years from my prior work in digital media and have followed her incredible career over the years as she’s developed media products for Vox, Wondery, Substack, and MEL. Her involvement will uniquely elevate Good Tape into a must-read cultural touchstone. And as she has said to me before, people don’t purchase magazines for the writing alone  — design is critical. So what Sami Wittwer has been able to accomplish in less than a few months to develop the Good Tape brand is incredible. Her design thinking and execution will ground the magazine into something beyond an industry publication for a few hundred people to appreciate. As our industry grows and new listeners develop a deep appreciation for this medium, Good Tape is poised to reach far beyond our inner circles and the design quality is what will set us up for this broader reach.

Are you taking pitches? What do you need from us?
Although we are accepting pitches on our website and would love to consider any contributions from writers and podcasters who’d like to be involved, much of our content will be sourced with journalists and writers within our network for this first issue. We understand it’s also hard to pitch us without knowing our editorial mandate, but after this first issue I imagine it will be easier for folks to put together compelling pitches that fit our magazine’s tone.

Were there any other names for it? How did you come up with it?
Expanding on the answer above. I was attending On Air Fest in LA last year, and in conversation with Julie Shapiro we were talking about our backgrounds in print media making zines, magazines, and chapbooks. I was thinking about what a magazine could be named for the podcast industry, and thinking of this audience of long-time radio and audio makers, I couldn’t escape something involving tape — good tape is something to capture, experience, and mold. There really were no other titles to consider. It had to be Good Tape.

What table did you sit at in the high school cafeteria? (which clique were you in?)
I was all over the place in high school. I would honestly sit at every table. This turned into not having very many deep friendships, but I really loved connecting with all sorts of cliques and being friends with everyone — the athletes, the preppy kids, the theater kids, the nerds… but I was closest with my soccer and golf team buddies.

Will there ever be any audio elements to Good Tape or do you hope to keep it strictly print?
We’re not particularly interested in moving outside of our print scope for now. There’s always room to evolve into something else, but in some ways the project risks becoming less interesting in a digital audio context. Staying focused on print is an important differentiator for now.

What’s your favorite thing about the audio industry?
The overwhelming kindness of our industry. There’s absolutely much more to do to bring kindness to all our collective spaces, but by and large, as an industry, we’re unique in this way. There’s a true sense of community, belongingness, and responsibility that animates our work, which I doubt many other industries can say exists for them. I mean, even our media buyers are engaged and generative with their time and energy. This isn’t common and we shouldn’t take it for granted. 

What’s something it could be better about?
Improving how we treat workers in terms of pay equity and following through on the commitments we made through the Equality in Audio Pact many signed after George Floyd’s murder. Imriel Morgan, Laura Blake, and Steph Colbourn are reviving this pact today and urging its signees to reaffirm their commitments with action. Laura, head of  the UK Audio Network, recently shared data on the pay gap for UK audio professionals based on race and gender. The key takeaway: “If you’re not white, or a man, you’re earning less than you were three years ago.” As an industry we need to “say less and do more” to address these issues head on.

Are there too many podcasts?
Of course not! There are around 200-250K podcasts publishing weekly episodes and despite a well-documented increase in listener demand, there are actually significantly fewer new podcasts being launched in 2023. Yes, we’re in the midst of a market correction and the ad market is soft, but it might be the perfect time to either launch a new podcast or double-down on your marketing efforts on an existing podcast to capture the new listeners adopting the medium for the first time. 

Thanks, Dane!