Digital Subscription Services and Podcasting Monetization

Sprint honors Steve's Facebook post on our new

network. I have tickets to the show. Anybody

wants them? Message me. I'll take them. I said

to message me, not post it in the comments. I

disregard your request. Come on, man. No! Follow

private message procedures. You went rogue, now

look at us. Having it out in the comment section.

Dude, you've turned into a monster. You made

me this way. You're tuned in to Altered Geek.

Hello and welcome to Altered Geek. I'm your host,

Steve Phillips, and joining me into this adventure

into geekdom is Mike, the Birdman Don. Holy crap,

I'm back. It's been forever, man. He exists.

I do. And because I can, here's the sound of

goats. I just made work for you. That's fine.

I don't mind. And if you're wondering what the

hell we're talking about, if you follow us on

Twitter at SCP 21 at Birdman John and at Altered

Geek, we decided to have a rather involved Twitter

thread tonight. So we do invite conversation

with you of us who join us on the show via our

social media. And we were talking about what

makes podcasting better. We got on the subject

of swearing and emphasis and frequent GCRN host

TFG1 Mike was arguing that swearing makes things

better. And we got, I think it was Michael Powers

was in on it, Kevin Thompson. A lot of us were

like, Yeah, no. It was it was actually hilarious

because I put tonight we ride. Just kidding.

And I says I'm rejoined by Birdman Dodd for Altered

Geek tonight for a conversation that should be

interesting. And then it's his hashtag. It's

no reference, by the way. If you listen regularly,

you know why it's there. Please no goat sounds.

Yeah. And Mike was just going off and I says

stop swearing on the show. And then I did the

office thing. No, don't like that. He's he's

going on about, you know, swearing enhances podcasts

and in what reality? And did you notice, though?

After about three or four threads, he lost it.

And he started swearing to enhance his tweets.

I'm like, oh yes, clearly you are armed with

a superior vocabulary. And it was funny because

Powers is like, he says, I understand and respect

that even though I swear I try not to, I'm just

saying I prefer no limits. And it's like, okay,

I get it, you know? And Powers is like, I agree

with Steve, foul language never accomplished

anything that couldn't be said better with a

broader vocabulary using foul language and a

critique of, well, anything is just poor, lazy,

and sloppy. and then he admits that he's lazy.

Yeah, I'm like, yeah, like, like, and then he's

like, well, then I guess I'm lazy. I'm like,

should you not wish to improve your craft? And

I counter pointed, swearing can be OK if you

use it in use of a punchline, a joke, or even

in service of a reaction. Like, for example,

here's your F -bomb. If I said, that was fucking

awesome, like how Kevin Smith does, that's emphasis.

That's OK. Or if you use it in service. of a

cleverly crafted joke or setup. It works, but

it's really hard to hit the mark consistently.

If you're just dropping it for the sake of dropping

it, then you lose all meaning behind it. Yeah.

And see, I get from that stance, like that I

don't have as much of an issue with. because

I mean granted I still don't prefer it on my

particular content or at least this particular

show like any other show I don't really care

as much but I think it's because this one's hit

over 300 episodes and I'm like it's got a catalog

behind it I'm not to say that I haven't done

that in the past I'm just trying to be cleaner

but not that the slight joke won't come out occasionally

but but yeah I mean it's I don't try to put limits

per se. I still have no problems with controversial

topics and different ways of elaborating the

two cents that we have on it. It was funny because

he just kind of started losing it in Twitter

and everybody was jumping on the bandwagon like,

Mike, you suck. My favorite, and I have to toot

my own horn, I retweeted him, and I used the

Arrested Development thing, or like, Narrative

Voice, it didn't. Meanwhile, Steve Megatron has

to find out what to do with his herd of goats.

And Buster Bluth. What's really funny is there

was another episode, and it was a while back,

I had him on and he... He was just on some kind

of an angry tirade that night. Like it was just

it was it was crazy. And I'm not beating Mike

up because, you know, Mike's awesome, too. But

there are times that it grades on me with with

the random swearing. And. I started putting every

barnyard animal over him. There is like literally

like cow sounds goats sheep It was like a horse

or something and like it was just it was just

random like animal sounds like every because

I was like, okay I can't use the goat sound like

three times in a row. I got to switch it and

So it was just yeah, I was having fun with it

So you have this cacophony of like Farm animals.

Yeah, it was like old McDonald's farm had suddenly

hit my podcast and you know It was just it was

crazy in this case swearing does enhance a podcast

in this one isolated case Mike make our bees

had a farm Anyways, I'm done beating up on Mike.

We love you buddy. Yes He's gonna yeah, you know,

that's gonna come out later But and and if you

want to join the conversation at altered geek

and at SCB 21 at birdman .join and have the fun

Yes, because you know he's gonna attack us next

week or after he listens so So yeah So if you're

looking to interact with the show as we suggested

There's obviously many ways to do this through

social media or you know geekcastradio .com or

or the other feeds but you can always hit us

up on on altered at altered geek and at scp21

and at birdmandod and and if you want to use

the hashtag of altered geek you can let us know

what you're geeking out to this week so so anyways

without further ado i have a question that i'm

going to ask for next week for the listeners

and it's what do you look forward to in geek

news now with all the latest going on, because

obviously we have the news of Conroy becoming

Bruce Wayne officially on video and the Sony

Disney debacle with Spider -Man and a new He

-Man revival and a plethora of other news going

on, like Microsoft finally restoring Skype back

to its original design before they destroyed

it. yeah and then all the awesome things going

on in podcasting so basically what strikes your

geeky chords i like turtles i like turtles i

knew there was something coming i was just waiting

to hear what it was yep it was going to be something

random and i knew it um so anyways uh as i mentioned

off air and as i mentioned to the listeners last

week i built a new computer and It's quite nice.

And I was thinking of what am I going to do with

the old machine? Because I'm going to use it

for the kids. And it's got, I mean, it's still

got like 12 gigs of RAM in it. And it's an old

core i3 dual core processor. And it's got the

built in graphics. So I don't need a dedicated

graphics card in it, which is nice. But I've

also got to take one of the... SSD hard drives

out of my current machine and put it in there

so it'll have a hard drive but being that Windows

is locked to a specific machine I was thinking

I would try because I wrote this article a ways

back on commando .com about the Zorin OS which

is basically a Linux version that's as close

to Windows as you can get So I was thinking about

trying that out on my old PC just to see how

well it works. Uh, cause I, I've dabbled in Lennox

before, but not really had any reason to switch.

So I think that it's like the perfect time to

actually try it. Yeah. Because if it blows up,

who cares? Yeah, exactly. Cause it's, it's not

being used for anything right now. Anyway, it's

basically a shell sitting under my desk. It's

a kickstand. Um, And then I was I was scouring

because like I don't know if you're familiar

with the new iTunes categories thing Kind of

but refresh me. So anyways Apple recently decided

to as a part of their Apple podcast thing and

because you know, let's face it Spotify stealing

ground left and right from them between companies

they're buying up and Just innovating the podcast

space and Apple's been floundering on it for

the last 10 years They finally created new categories

and rearrange things and So that sent everybody

into kind of a tizzy on on everything on iTunes

and Kind of deciding how things are gonna kind

of play out so anyways, they created all these

new categories and You still kind of have to

put them in in the categories that you want them

in and it doesn't some of them Make more sense

some of them don't So like under the TV and film

category, how there was nothing under it before.

Now they have like after shows, they have TV

review shows, they have film reviews, they have

film history, they have like all these like different

delineations underneath these different categories.

Although the only thing that kind of stinks is

they kind of took out the area where comic books

could be. And it's like manga and animation.

So like if you've got a comic book related show

and it's not on manga, it kind of doesn't really

make sense to be there, but there's nowhere else

that can go. So like that's where the pull bag

resides, and that's why it's like in the top

20 in there, because it's not really, but it

is in that category. So it just doesn't make

sense on some of the things. But yeah, we've

had a couple of our shows show up in different

categories, like pretty high up within the top

20 of those delineations just because they're

very specific and niche. Like all things transformers

shown up to cast some of the other ones So yeah,

it's pretty neat but anyways I saw I was looking

because the place that I work I was just checking

to see if our podcast there had registered in

the top anything on the lists and Under the the

religion and spirituality longest running shows

category, you know, it's all basically like Christian

podcasts and everything else. And then I see

Smodcast and Fat Man on Batman in there. And

I'm like, and I'm like, as far as I know, like

Kevin Smith shows in the Christian category doesn't

seem right. So like somebody is like, I'm just

going to put it somewhere randomly so that it

shows up when you're not looking for it. You

know what? I think to take advantage of the algorithm,

you should rebrand this show as a pastafarian

themed podcast so we can be the only religious

podcast dedicated to the flying spaghetti monster.

And then we can be number one on Spotify. Let's

take advantage of it. As sad as that is. Like,

I was like, OK, you know, like, how do you even

get in in all of you know these in these random

categories and kind of pick them like per se

like it's just I don't know it was kind of weird

just seeing some of that some some of the shows

that probably shouldn't have been in certain

categories and other ones that clearly have you

know like been pushed to the top it's I don't

know. And that's the other thing that kind of

bothers me about Apple podcasts, like is the

majority of the podcasts that show up are not

like the podcasters that have been around for

10, 15 years. It's all these celebrity conglomerates

or people that are on television already. And,

you know, they got money to push it. Yeah. And

it's and that's the thing is like because you

can buy placement in there. And I'm not saying

that like shows can't show up in certain categories,

you know just based on on their merit alone,

but Predominantly, it's all celebrity Hosted

shows that are showing up or people or companies

that have big dollars behind them. And so it's

it's kind of I see it as more of a rigged system

With Apple podcast and I've kind of always seen

it that way It's kind of that necessary evil

that they're like 60 70 percent of your podcast

downloads But so you can't like bear to be without

them, but you don't really want to be friends

with them either I Don't know what your thoughts

are on it, but that's that's kind of my mentality

I figure money solves everything which is unfortunate

But I'm hoping eventually it'll sort itself out.

Although if somebody's really clever, they could

take advantage of it. Someone will figure out

how it all gets sorted. And you'll see like Joe

Rogan at the top of the religious podcast. In

fact, please make that happen because that would

make me really happy. But I'm telling you, Steve,

we see a vulnerability here. We see an opportunity.

We got to become the flying spaghetti monster

for like two weeks. See what happens. I have

no problem moving it around just to see what

happens because like it's I'm just curious to

see if the show would make a blip on the radar

just because the category went like so far left

field that nobody's like or everybody's like

what is this doing here? We start off each show

with a prayer to the to the flying spaghetti

monster just to see how many people tune in.

Tell me man, there's a marketing opportunity

here. Or you start doing random ads that are

not even for real companies. Oh My god, I was

watching a Kevin Smith podcast this one when

this was like very early on and he was talking

about this grill and for some reason he starts

babbling on about anal sex and he worked it into

an advertisement with his co -host Ralph Garman

and he's like this is the man grill sold on that

anal show and I got to thinking all the stupid

products you could advertise on a podcast because

usually it's like audible .com express vpn door

dash by the way to hell with those guys. They

steal your tips. Um, but I got the thinking just

like stranger companies you could approach because

in my, in my particular field, I get approached

with ads for, do you want to review this product?

Do you want to be sponsored? And one of the strangest

ones that I've talked about this on twig, and

I may have mentioned it on altered geek too.

I got an email about two years ago. and it was

around PAX time, which is the Penny Arcade Expo.

And it was an ad saying, hey, are you a gamer?

Are you playing games for so many hours a day?

Yes, yes. Would you like to have your prostate

massaged? And I'm like, wait. What? And I read

the article and it was the sex toy company tried

to pitch gamers on a prostate massager. So like.

No. And I was laughing so hard. It's like, yes,

when I'm playing Halo, I want my butt massage.

Give me the butt plug, please. And I was just

laughing so hard. And everybody in the industry

was sharing this email on Twitter. And I'm like,

and the Penny Arcade guy's like, oh my God, you

got it too? I'm like, yeah, isn't this weird?

So yeah, you'd be surprised companies that'll

advertise on podcasts and other things. You get

some weird ones. Like, it's just, I have nothing

to say. Like, I don't even know. Like, that would

just be the most absurd, like, strangest thing

in the world. I didn't believe it until I went

back and read the email because I told Alex about

it. He's like, you're full of crap. Show me.

And I pull up the email. He's like, oh, my God,

dude. I'm like, I know. It was so good that guy

must have gotten so many replies to his email

is like what is wrong with you Like seriously,

how do you pitch like game informer? Do you want

a prostate massager? That's so weird Yeah, I

don't even know Controversy I'll bring you controversy

It's never a dull moment, man. Anyways, changing

series and scenes with like a 180 degree twist

here. Voice over star Eric Bauza was talking

on a video recently about replicating and paying

homage to the legendary voices of the Banana

Splits. I don't know if you've ever seen that

original show. I have. Although the only banana

splits thing recently I've seen is the new horror

movie Yeah, and they they basically do like a

Five Nights at Freddy's with it. Yeah, I'm gonna

say cool idea Weird way to go with it. But why

not? Yeah, I was like interested to begin with

and then I saw that it was like a horror movie

and I'm like, no No, that's why it's going. That's

why you should be interested. That's a cool genre

twist It yeah, I don't know but it says now available

on digital coming to blue -grain DVD like it's

it's it's a directive, you know DVD series which

you know, whatever, you know, they're trying

to refresh the Warner Brothers Hanna -Barbera

library with new versions of things because you

know why not I mean it's a cool idea it's just

you have to have the right person behind the

camera because direct -to -video horror or horror

is a wonderful genre unto itself And if you get

the right people writing it, directing it and

producing it, you can have some really cool movies

there, like fantastic B movie level stuff. I

mean, it doesn't have to be like Wes Craven or

Toby Hooper levels of masterpiece whore, but

it can be. B level Charles band full moon entertainment

levels of goofiness. And I think the banana switch

movie had the potential to do that. It's got

some cool kills in it, but that's pretty much

about it. The Five Nights at Freddy's, if they

screw that up, there will be blood. See, I've

never cared for that whole like genre like, and

then the people that are like doing the the,

you know, like, oh, man, I'm scared. See, I don't

get how they screwed up Slender Man so bad It

had such a cool potential and backstory and lore

behind it, but the movie sucks I've reviewed

it. I guess a couple of years ago now or last

year anyway and it was just so paint by the numbers

that it was just it was boring and you look at

the rise of horror movies being more popular

now especially with the Conjuring universe with

like Conjuring 1, 2, Annabelle and all those

though there's been diminishing returns on that

franchise the last movie that came out Annabelle

Comes Home was okay but the one previous to that

The Curse of Il Llorona which is about the Mexican

weeping lady was jump scare the movie. And it

sucks because horror, I always mispronounce it.

It's supposed to be horror. Horror movies can

be really like right now, there's that crawl

movie, which is underappreciated. It's about

the the like alligator. Yeah. Which is weird.

And then there's that 47 meters down, which is

like an underwater shark movie. So, OK. And then

next month, it comes out and it chapter one was

fantastic. So there's a lot of Legs left in the

genre but taking an old IP like the banana splits

and doing it into a horror movie Like I said

right team has to be behind it can't it can't

be half -assed Yeah, and it's yeah, I I just

I haven't been able to get into that whole like

horror genre stuff like in a good amount of time.

I think like, let me ask you this. Is it because

it's scary? Is it because it's bloody or because

you don't like the, is there some other reason?

It's kind of all of the above. Cause I never,

I never was a big fan of it that like, I just,

I really don't watch any of it now. Cause I think

the conjuring movies, both of them are really

good for fans that are not uh genre people because

they're scary on their own merits they don't

need blood there's no blood in these movies well

in conjuring two but it's a vision so it doesn't

count um you're scary because ghosts as opposed

to like freddy krueger or jason which is you're

going to see blood that's why you're going um

but i i i really do recommend you give The conjuring

movies a world especially if you can immerse

yourself in the mindset and The right environment

to watch it and if you can watch it late at night

by yourself or with someone Who is willing to

share that experience with you? It's magical

Apocalypse pony So anyways We had some feedback

before we get to the main event We had some feedback

on the last episode Personally on well the last

two but Brad mentions that you know on the episode

Mike and I talked about not watching certain

shows Mostly just because like I don't get into

newer shows as much anymore and Mike's just a

curmudgeon He says, yeah, mostly because of Access,

I've missed a lot of the relevant shows everyone's

talking about. I gave Stranger Things three episodes

in season one, but it didn't grab me. I hate

being told something's the best thing since Slice

of Grind. Oh, that's so unfortunate. And I have

to watch it. I'll decide what I like and want

to watch. Go ahead. Make your comment. I was

going to say that's so unfortunate. Stranger

Things was something I marathoned through. I

did all three seasons in a week. And it's probably

one of the best things I've seen in the last

five years. It's the biggest love letter to the

80s I've seen since the Goldbergs. It's done

right. The score is fantastic. The way it's shot

is beautiful. What exactly is the premise and

the draw to it? Because I've not... Okay, so

I don't typically pick up new shows. I'm just

asking out of curiosity what everybody's okay

So the pitch is this kid goes missing in this

little town in Indiana and nobody can figure

out why there's also a government energy facility

nearby doing experiments they They have an experiment

one day something comes through They don't know

what it is. So these kids are looking for their

missing friend and they cross paths with this

government experiment At one point a little girl

escapes from the government facility Who's been

held in there all her life doesn't know how really

to talk to people is really strange She has psych

psychic powers and they start to find out that

her and their missing friend are connected And

it's these friends coming together over the course

of a summer to find their missing friend to help

this this this little girl and uncover this conspiracy,

which has been buried under the town for so long.

And the first season is fantastic. The second

season is a little weaker in places. The third

season is fantastic. The soundtrack is phenomenal,

not just the score, but the actual soundtrack.

And you get a. A career -defining performance

by Winona Ryder, David Harbour plays the town

sheriff. Finn Wolfhard, I think that's his name,

is the lead kid. And Glenn Mazzaro, I want to

say that's his name, he plays another one of

the kids. Like, the kids are the heart of this

show, and... you believe them, like you cry.

Like there's a moment at the end of the third

season, one of the characters is reading a note

from another character and I cried because that's

how powerful it was. And I haven't had, I haven't

connected with a show on an emotional level like

that in years. So my recommendation to you is

watch the entirety of the first season. It's

only eight episodes and Make up your mind then

because three episodes is just set up and Then

it really gets going and and be sincere child

of the 80s Watch how things are shot listen for

music cues. Look in the background. You'll see

things you'll recognize from like Goonies and

Ghostbusters and all that stuff like the people

who made the show. I can't remember. It's a pair

of brothers. Um They genuinely cared for their

craft and It's probably some of the best event

television. I've seen in like I said last five

years easy That's probably why Microsoft had

that whole Windows 1 .0 thing. Mm -hmm Which

is funny enough that they used it as kind of

part of the promo But Yeah, so then then he has

more feedback Saying that while the scream effect

to cover Mike's mouth scares the crap out of

me at work in an industrial area wearing Bluetooth

earmuffs He says I agree with Mike and I'm not

a big fan of ad reads because we were talking

about advertising and podcasts He was like the

the show host live reads in podcasts, especially

when The host trying to put across that they've

been friends with the sponsor for some time and

regularly use their products One podcast I listened

to has a stop halfway through with a voiceover

Not a word from our sponsors only to have three

seconds of silence before continuing the show

Then he says I see some patreon is a similar

thing When I started podcasting it was a hobby

something for me and some friends to do on a

weekend now nearly 500 produced shows released

It's still a hobby Yearly hosting fees are one

of the costs as well as a microphone Tried my

patreon for a few months and didn't get a single

sign up. So I canned it. I really need to get

my Then he started talking about his 2013 gaming

PC updated which mine was About that old it was

mine was a 2012 But he said he's got a bunch

of hard drives to back everything out because

the two terabyte was completely full And then

we were talking about podcasts and he says, as

for old episodes, I have to say my favorite series

is still The Beast Unleashed. I'm not going to

say why. If you haven't listened to it, go and

download it now. But yeah, I have to agree with

the the Patreon thing. Like I tried it and I

was not very impressed with the whole. Methodology

and you pretty much have to have a following

just to get anybody to actually do it Well, yeah,

like patreon is one of those platforms where

you have to have a substantial following you

have to provide value Content and you can't just

be like I'm a podcaster support support the show.

Okay, that's cool But why am I giving you five

dollars? Why am I giving you? $10 like some people

I know started their patreon because they thought

they had a following They got two bucks and yay,

that's two bucks. You didn't have before but

you're not offering anything, especially if your

contents not as consistent and Other people have

a patreon because they have a substantial following

and they do nothing So it sits there as a constant

money generator, but it doesn't but they don't

offer anything, which is really, really unfortunate.

Other people have been able to take their Patreons

and actually turn their podcast into legitimate

games because they treat it like a job. One of

the best examples I think, um, is a podcasting

wrestling show called going in raw by Stephen

Larson, formerly of machinima and ETC. And those

guys do really well. Um, Any other any other

patreon's for artists or people who are cosplayers

they provide photo sets they provide Polaroids

postcards Calendars phone calls they get interact

they interact with their fans, but they have

those they have fans they have People who know

what their content is going in it's very hard

to start a patreon from the ground up I mean

people have asked me why don't I do a patreon

for twig? And I've often said, Twig will always

be free because I believe the news and information

should always be free, be available to the people.

It's a journalistic ethic that I've held onto

since college. And I've got a following. I know

I do. Because I've had several successful go

fund me's for medical expenses or other things

sure say doctor widely have happened so You don't

also want to go to that well too often because

maintaining a patreon you're also expected to

maintain a certain level of quality consistency

and Transparency with what you're spending it

on another patron another patreon guy this guy

started to have a Patreon and he was asking for

them to support his show this guy made more money

than he knew what to do with and I was wondering

why you need a patreon if you're making like

60 ,000 a year Like you don't need that That's

not fair to your audience in my opinion. Anyway,

no Yeah, I Yeah, that's that's my thing is like

see if if It made enough to like break even or

to pay for like going to events or things like

that for you know added coverage Great. I'm not

expecting to get rich Like it's I I would much

more prefer to be somebody who's one of the more

or less influential discussion based, you know,

podcasters, professional that people come to

rather than having to say, hand me your money

so I can be important. And so like, I guess that's

kind of where I stand with it. Like, we had plans

to do a Basically like a subscription model and

get cast radio And the ability is there in the

site And it's not turned off. It's it's there

Which you know if people feel obligated or like

they'd like to do that that's a way to you know

get involved and that would Help us mentally

with hosting things, but also, you know, just

for producing extra content, but it's not, again,

it's not a mandatory thing. And we have, you

know, the dynamic ad insertion in the podcast,

which it's helpful to some degree. It's, I mean,

it pays for itself, but it's again, it's, um,

it's, I don't know. I don't, I don't want to

do like the live reads. I don't want to do, uh,

things where I'm being disingenuous. With everything

and I really don't want to do the whole patreon

thing because again like I can't Do you know

promise like full? Amounts of things to come

to these people and so again, it's I would rather

just produce, you know really good content and

Have my footprint all over the place then necessarily

be rich at it Well, that's another thing, too.

I mean, when people do live reads of their thing,

unless they have a radio or broadcasting background,

it never sounds natural. Like, I use Dollar Shave

Club every day or I've been da da da da da. I

use Blue Apron or Hello Fresh or whatever the

friggin thing is this month. See, I always had

to script out my stuff. When I would do it like

ahead of time so like, you know like For instance,

I'm looking at this old script You know altered

geek is brought to you by gamefly .com Sign up

today for a premium free 30 -day trial with one

game out at a time by going to gameflyoffer .com

Slash altered geek, you know and then just going

on from there. I mean, it's it takes you out

a little bit, but it's not as bad as like a Oh,

um, yeah. So the podcast is brought to you by

Gamefly. You know, you can get 30 days and one

game out and, you know, go to gameflyoffer .com

slash alter geek, you know, I don't even know

if it still works, but that, that was one of

the, you know, scripts just roughly. So, I mean,

like I have to do that or else it just sounds

like I'm trying to just mash it together. Yeah,

like I said, it's very hard to sound natural

the sound Conversational and unless you drop

it in at the right point in your show It never

sounds right. Like I don't like you like even

for twig. I do the dynamic ad I add five seconds

a silence in after a review or a certain news

story and it just goes in whatever it it pays

for itself Yeah, and and I don't I don't necessarily

mind it But again, it's just, I don't know. If

there was a way to have it on a free model, which

that would be awesome, but I would do it. And

it was that way for a very long time. I've primarily

been the main funder of the hosting space and

the one that manages all the backend stuff. So

yeah, anything that alleviates or automates as

much as possible and it takes its, you know,

it takes care of itself, like I'm good with.

So in that regard, see, and this actually leads

rather nicely into our conversation about the

main event, which is subscriptions. So I posed

this question on Twitter. Either earlier this

week or something. I was alluding to the fact

I was going to talk about this anyway But I said,

you know anyone starting to have or already in

general getting subscription fatigue You know,

it seems like every networking show has one now,

you know, you've got Hulu Netflix Amazon HBO

CBS All Access, and then we're going to have

a Warner Brothers one and an AT &T one. We're

going to have a Disney. I mean, Disney Plus is

going to be an add on for Hulu, but also separate.

We've got DC Universe. We've got, you know, it's

just it's getting to be more and more and more

and more. So it seems like, you know, honestly,

if you subscribe to them all, granted, you get

most of their back catalog that that network

has ever produced, which is better than any other

option you've ever gotten. But you're also spending

as much as premium cable. when you add it all

up. So I feel like the subscription model, not

only for streaming, but for software is going

to run dry at some point or have to evolve and

create some kind of a better value, because at

some point people are going to say, I'm done,

cancel everything, or I'm going to blitz all

the content or I'm just not going to do any of

it and I'm going to pirate at all. So, you know,

I figure that. You know, at some point. Is something

is going to have to change in the subscription

model? Well, it comes down to value like for

example Netflix is losing a lot of shows due

to licensing agreements expiring like CBS Is

having they have CBS all access NBC's getting

one Warner Brothers is getting one Technically

there are already is that DC one, but it's getting

consolidated into another Warner Brothers app

at some point So you have to wonder what value

are these services offering to you Disney Plus

is Committed to providing new Star Wars and Marvel

content and for seven bucks a month. I'm okay

with that or 90 bucks a year who gives a crap

Netflix is 14 15 bucks a month now I'm starting

to question but you also get things like Dolomite

is my name with like Eddie Murphy and the Scorsese

picture with Robert De Niro the Irishman that

looks fantastic and they put a hundred million

dollars into that so It's gonna be with these

subscription services. It's gonna be what you're

getting in terms of new content you can't get

on your CBS is your ABC's whatnot and unless

the content is that good for you to pay to go

somewhere exclusive then I don't know. Because,

for example, you in the States, you guys have

to watch Startup Discovery on CBS All Access

or on Netflix, right? Yep. There's no choice.

Yeah. It's CBS All Access. Yeah. In Canada, we

get that on the Space Channel. That airs on terrestrial

TV. We don't have to pay for it. We also get

it through an app called Crave, which is similar

to your Hulu, though not nearly as rich. Although

Canada's getting Hulu next year, I think. I'm

curious to see what content's gonna be offered

on it. But yeah, I mean, off the top of my head

right now, I subscribe to Netflix, Crave. Funimation,

which is anime, though I am gifted a subscription

there thanks to my press contacts. I used to

subscribe to Shudder, which is a horror movie

service for five bucks a month. Not a bad value.

Crave. And I am planning on signing up for Disney

Plus. So that's six services in addition to my

regular cable package, which is about $90. There

has to be some innovation. Now, the thing that

sold me on Disney is they're promising a huge

back catalog. They're day one stuff I'm not super

thrilled with, but they sold me with the Mandalorian.

I was like, all right, I don't want a pirate.

I work in the media industry, being a pirate's

being a douche bag. Want to help? Um, am I gonna

get HBO max? Probably not HBO contents a little

bit more expensive than what I want to pay for

Am I gonna watch the Wattsman show? In a roundabout

way of saying it off. I'm sure I'll find a way

friends will probably get it or I'll borrow logins,

but even that's a thing too cuz I think it was

Comcast and Disney or one of the big major cable

companies had said they're going to crack down

on password sharing. It was Hulu. Yeah. And I

get that because I guess in your terms of service,

you agree not to do that. And people were getting

all up in arms about that and thinking, well,

you kind of signed up for their service. So you

kind of got to do what they say. I mean, obviously.

don't be a douchebag, but. Well, the only you

can get around that, I mean, with the whole thing

of all you all you need to do is honestly just

do private window. Like what I do for Netflix

is I pay for extra screens so I can have more

people share my Netflix plan, which I am good

guy Mike. I have like four people sharing my

Netflix, probably two more than I probably should

let share, but. I digress. Yeah, like there has

to be some level of fatigue setting in at some

point because with all the services, you don't

know what's being available next, next year or

next month. I know one big thing people were

talking about is the office is leaving Netflix

and they just paid a couple million dollars to

have friends stick around for another couple

of years. So it's so weird to see all these different

services go everywhere to go exclusive. It's

going to be as much as a cable package. But arguably,

you're getting more because you're getting a

big back catalog. Which is true. And I do give

them that, that you are getting the big back

catalog. And I myself, we have Netflix which

I'm thankful enough that my press contacts got

me that as well Although it's still difficult

to find their screeners because you have to go

through some weird way of getting to them now

and it's yeah I've never been able to get them

to work, right? So For like I never thought to

ask for a calm Netflix account I just assumed

whatever, you know, you know that they actually

will give you one if you were on their press

account before when they were doing the screeners

because they will not let you do the screeners

now unless you have a Netflix account. That's

so weird! So they will comp you a Netflix account

to watch the screeners even though you can't

watch them on that Netflix account but you need

the Netflix account to log in to get the screeners.

It's really stupid. That's really ass -backwards.

It's so convoluted, like, I could never figure

out how to get the screeners, and so I'm like,

eh, I got free Netflix. And granted, I use it

for, like, you know, material that I can use

here, but it's still... It's really weird. Like,

either way, like, how you have to go about it.

And so it's kind of just backwards. But... It's...

Either way we have that we have flake pure flakes.

I have an access to Hulu and through sharing

and It's you know, I mean I have my pretty much

my pick of everything but I even then I rarely

watch anything through any of that stuff and

Like I will you know half the time I'll like

stream stuff through the websites they come from

Rather than have to go hunt it down somewhere

or whatever And yeah, you'll see some commercials,

but whatever I mean I can watch it pretty much

right after if I so choose But I've also been

doing this thing too where after a show I like

ends I just stop watching The show like cuz I

don't I have like this weird memory that I can

remember the entire Plot line and everything

that happens in the show. So I literally don't

need to watch the show again Do I occasionally

go back and watch episodes? Yes, but I don't

ever really go back and blitz the whole series

and so To me like even with all the value that's

being provided by all these these subscriptions.

I don't In and I get it if you're dealing with

it a conglomerate like a hulu like a Disney like,

you know They've got this large back catalog.

Yeah, I can definitely see the value and in as

powers kind of mentions in a Roundabout way of

saying that you know really they aren't charging

enough. I mean for everything you're getting

You know he says like I don't generally mind

subscriptions because I can sign up for a service

for a month out of the year Binge what I can

and cancel without penalty or the hassle of dealing

with a cable subscription I feel like that alone

gets overlooked with the subscription model talk

and then Kaleo 2000 on and Twitter also says

like a lot of these shows are a lot of these

are gonna go out of business. There's There'll

be like two or three like there are now when

it's all over about 10 or 15 streaming services.

Too many. They just won't survive. Which, you

know, I am like, yeah, I can see like Hulu Disney

because like Disney owns majority stake in Hulu

with the Fox deal. And then you've got Amazon

and Netflix. Those will hang on for sure. But,

you know, maybe AT &T streaming service might.

And then CBS All Access is only the only thing

they have going for me is they have all the Trek

content coming. And that's not enough to keep

them alive long term. Not long term, but they're

going to now with getting Paramount back with

them, they'll have that whole movie catalog to

come back, which will help them. If they choose

to expand it, though. Which I think they are.

I think that was the plan. I was reading something

about the CBS All Acts or CBS and Paramount merger,

which it'll be CBS Paramount is the name of the

company. Real original, you know. It's like NBC

Universal Comcast, you know, it's yeah anyways

So the plan was is with their combined catalog

They're saying that they'll be bigger than like

or at least the one of the biggest rivaling almost

Disney like Nobody else would have their the

the massive catalog CBS Paramount have collectively

But that's debatable, but either way I think

that a lot of it's going to end up on all access.

And you'll see a lot of new content through the

cross pollination of the two different, you know,

networks. So. But yeah, I mean, no, I guess to

pose this question, do you think. That. Because

the subscription model works, you know, as far

as. the video content's concerned. What do you

think about the subscription models? Now, I know

audio is not a big deal because people have been

doing that forever for radio purposes and everything,

like music and your Spotify's and things like

that, because that's more of a convenience thing

and people are more likely to splurge on that

just because people like to just have things

to randomly listen to 24 -7. But do you think

that the subscription model is going to harm

software and plugins for websites, because a

lot of plugins for WordPress are starting to

go subscription -based, too. I'll tell you, one

of the most bullcrap things I've ever dealt with

is the Adobe Creative Suite. That going subscription

model... You can kiss all my ass for that one.

That is that sucks. Is it smart to go subscription?

Yes, you know why cuz people will need it people

will pay it It's dirty. It's a dirty move But

then again, do you remember when Photoshop and

all those programs used to be like two three

grand? I remember when they were like insane

amounts like I think it was like $200 for Adobe

sound booth, which was relatively cheap for what

it was But I remember Photoshop being like, oh,

you can get the $800 entry -level package in

Photoshop. Yeah. When I went to college, my first

year, I think I got the student package for Photoshop,

and I think I paid $800, $900. It's ridiculous.

Oh, yeah when I bought final cut Final cut for

college. This would have been about 2006. I think

I paid a thousand dollars or more I think I may

have even paid two grand for it. I'm not sure

but it was a lot Yeah, and see that that to me

is just seems like a giant scam Because they

can They're purposely leveraging people like,

well, you need us, so you're going to pay us

what we want. And just to make sure you're not

using an old version that can be pirated really

easily, we're going to have you on a subscription

plan so that you stay with the newest version.

So that's incentive for you to pay us. Yeah,

and basically, they can brick the old versions

any time they want. Yes, they can't they've even

claimed as much that they they have like these

open scanners that are like these backdoors that

they have into their old software that they can

legitimately go in and find out if you're using

an old copy or not, even if you're not connected

to the creative suite and shut you down. That's

so dirty. I had it happen on one of my computers

here, actually. Adobe Audition, I had an older

version of it on the machine and they went in

and bricked it. It says, you got 30 days and

then you can't use the software anymore. And

I was like, oh, really uninstall. I'll show you.

I'll reinstall my bricked old version and then

we'll see who's happy now. But or you go back

and you're like system restore to yesterday.

But but yeah, I mean. And I see that as being

a really dirty move. I don't see this as subscription

thing. I know that they've been using it for

Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, but I don't

see it working for things like Stadia and things

like that. Stadia, it's weird because you have

to pay access on top of access. You get so many

games for free. That's cool. You get access to

the Stadia servers. But if you want to buy a

game like, say, Watch Dogs or Cyberpunk, you

have to pay on top of that. Plus, you only own

a digital copy of that game. If you unsubscribe

from Stadia, what do you do? So I don't know.

I think there's a free version of Stadia because

I know the premium is like $9 .99 a month, I

think. I mean, I think that every subscription

service is purposely going to that like $8 .99.

the the like 699 to the 1299 a month because

they're like oh it's kind of a sweet spot but

9 .99 is like where we want to be yeah like that's

a good value in my opinion in my opinion this

is how i break down subscription subscription

models because i'm a fat guy how many pizzas

is it if it's the cost of a large pizza one large

pizza that's one less large pizza for me to eat

a month I'm okay with that cost That's how I

balance my books is my pizzas or how many video

games is this gonna cost me? And it's ridiculous,

but it works Yeah, like the 999 seems to be the

sweet spot anything above that people start to

to him and ha About it like Netflix. I see a

lot of people say oh, I'm cutting the cord, but

you don't see people saying Oh, I'm cutting the

cord at 999 like people talk about Spotify or

Apple music They've got a good deal going Yeah,

and in NC like I can understand like the audio

completely and like somewhat video like and I'm

not saying that that having Couple services isn't

going to break you but like with the plethora

of how they're all like well I'm taking all of

my toys and I'm putting them in my playground

you have to come to my playground to use my toys

Instead of like the conglomerates of like Hulu

and Netflix where you could kind of go in and

you're like, oh I get a variety package every

month, you know, it's I don't know like I kind

of feel like it's purposely like gatekeeping

people out of things. And I get that they want

to control their own content instead of having

to, you know, bow before the mighty Netflix after

seeing how their business model worked and they

made all this money. But like Disney, don't get

me wrong, I get their reasoning for it. They

have such a massive library. It's disgusting

between what they owned anyway from like all

their other studios and Disney and everything.

And then having Marvel and then having Lucasfilm

and having the Muppets and then having you know

now Fox's library I can completely understand

them having their own and especially when they

used to do the DVD model of they're like oh we've

got to the silver edition back to the vault gold

edition back to the vault platinum edition back

to the vault you know double platinum back to

the vault you know and and they would just strangle

20 bucks out of you every time every time so

I mean I kind of get it but Yeah, I mean it's

definitely gonna make people have to choose their

poison Yeah, because I'd love to have access

to all the Paramount and Warner Brothers stuff.

I just don't know if I want to pay it man Like

at that point that drives me towards piracy because

To hell with it man. Like it's it's gonna be

I'll be paying as much for the subscription services

as I pay for monthly cable and The only the advantage

monthly cable has is live And even that's not

a big deal anymore because you can get YouTube

live you can get you know Hulu live you can get

you know depending on the shows But you can still

get some content live on on these various networks

and most and most Specialty channels like for

example the Food Network in Canada I'm just a

big fan of those shows like Chopped Kids Baking

Championship and all that sort of junk I like

to watch those live But you can typically watch

them on the website. However though another thing

is all a lot of cable companies do is if you

sign up with say Rogers Comcast or whoever you

sign into the broadcasters website you have access

to streaming television anyway yeah if you've

got if you've got a cable package that's high

enough with those channels yes you can do that

so that's yet another streaming service so to

speak like It's a little bit much right now and

like you were saying earlier, I think there's

only gonna be a few Contenders left. I think

original content will rule the day especially

especially with Amazon having stuff like good

omens The boys are putting a lot of money into

that Lord of the Rings series Netflix has got

some fantastic movies. It had a really good run

with the Marvel stuff So we're gonna have to

wait and see what happens with a lot of these

Hulu and Disney Again, they have properties that

will do well But we don't have anything announced

beyond the next three years for those services

I feel like I feel like the the back catalog

is not going to be enough to draw people to services

I have a feeling like you said it's going to

be the new stuff and people are going to be making

their decisions on what service they go to based

on what's new. See, I think one outlier to that

is Disney. I think the reason people want Disney

is because of the back catalog, but their day

one offerings, they're not that impressive. Mm

-hmm, which is weird. Yeah in my opinion There

is no reason why Disney cannot have all the Disney

afternoon stuff ready day one There is no reason

for it. I should be able to access the wuzzles

the Little Mermaid cartoon Timon and Pumbaa Rescue

Rangers DuckTales even the new stuff. I should

be able to access that day friggin one and you

can't but What's the big draw? The Mandalorian,

that Jeff Goldblum show. The other weirdness

that happens to be on there. Plus, weirdly, there's

like the incredible Dr. Pole is on Disney Plus.

There's like a Discovery Channel aspect to it

or something. It's weird. So I don't know. Like,

legacy content is good. especially in this era

where physical media seems to be going away,

going more towards the cloud and streaming, but

like we've been saying this whole episode, I

don't know if I want to pay it. See, and that's

the thing too, is like years ago, what's funny

is a lot of the shows I really enjoyed, either

bought the DVDs, granted I've since traded them

all in because it was a space issue, but I have...

specific episodes that were my favorite episodes

of any given series and I have them all on a

flash drive and that's where they reside so if

I ever feel nostalgic I go back and watch that

episode and then I've got the best of the best

in my opinion and I don't really care to see

the rest of the series again in most regards

like unless it's Trek like I really don't go

back and watch anything That's literally the

only series I will go back and watch like that.

I I have like Access to and and that's that's

about it and It's I don't know and that's really

the only draw for CBS all access for me is because

the new stuff that's coming up But So switching

gears slightly, but in the same vein What do

you think about? Websites and podcasts that are

trying to do subscription models on their websites

Like they're gatekeeping people from say Well,

not the news but like Like Fictional drama podcasts

or things of that nature You better be proving

me that you better be able to prove to me. You're

worth the money Yes, actors and artists should

should be paid. You should compensate your artists.

You should not do anything for free but at the

same time it has to be worth it and that's gonna

come up to the individual like I don't know like

That's a difficult one because one of the websites

that do subscriptions are bloody annoying Up

here in Canada one of the national newspapers

the Toronto Star their app You get five free

articles and then you have to pay for it. Um,

to hell with that. You were free for years. I

know you're struggling to survive in this new

digital age. Should have thought about that.

Um, but that's a pain in the butt. Um, but w

but paying for an audio podcast, I guess if you

enjoy it, pay for it. I mean, just make sure

it's a reasonable amount. Well, yeah, you see

I've seen because I've kind of been because I

live in this world now Because I'm a producer

of one I've been kind of scanning around other

programs to see how they their their business

models are And there's there's a couple that

are comparable to us that For instance one of

them they gatekeep you from their website. It

looks like it's from 2006 like they haven't It

just looks severely dated. They have you join

their little club in order to listen to any of

the podcasts other than the most recent one,

which again, if you listen to the most recent

one, you're lost because there's decades of content.

You get some perks and everything else, but it's

like 10 bucks a month for one show. And so like

in that regard, like I'm almost like it would

be better to do like a separate thing for the

club and have like the show for free, you know,

as like an enhancement type scenario to where

it's optional. Like, I don't know. It's kind

of like a weird situation. And I've seen a couple

other shows do it differently. Like they've they've

had like one of them is done by Gimlet and they

granted they have money behind them. Uh, so it's

a really well thought out, well, well done, dramatization,

fictional podcast, but it's paid for with advertisers

as opposed to making the listener pay. So I feel

like that model is more up the alley for something

that, that would be broadcast on, you know, like

radio or something would be broadcast on, on

a podcast as opposed to gatekeeping them in a

subscription model. but I don't exactly know.

Cause I've seen, like I said, I've seen quite

a few do both. And crickets. And crickets. Yeah.

I'm going to say I, yeah, like it's going to

be tricky to find out what business model works

for you, especially considering how unpredictable

this industry is. Um, It's Any site that decides

to do it. It's a gamble, especially if they're

a new podcast or a new website You're you're

taking a risk And see that's that's what I feel

like too is like this whole subscription model

thing has hit this plateau Finally, and it's

gonna start doing this hard crash down. Well,

yeah, I mean you look at websites I mean to Go

on the subscription model train again. We were

talking about patreon earlier there's a patreon

crash there's too many of them and you don't

know what's worth your time or worth your effort

with these creators and content and like i said

earlier yes you should pay your artist and artists

should be paid but how do you know if that's

what you want to support um and i guess your

country is always like let your wallet speak

for you It's true man, it's weird, but hey party

on um like You People will only know if the contents

good if it's supported the content could be fantastic,

but no one's paying for it So, where do you find

that distinction? Yeah, and that's and that's

the difficult thing in figuring that out. So

Yeah, I don't know. It's definitely something

that's worth weighing, but I definitely welcome

the listeners to weigh in on this. Feedback at

altergeek .com or hit us up on Twitter. It's

probably the easiest way. And I mean, I know

some people prefer Facebook, and that's fine,

too. This will be on there as well. And we'll

recap next week. So let us know. Yay. So let

us know what your thoughts are. And yeah, we'll.

We'll read them on the podcast next week, and

then we'll also answer the things that are geeky

to all of us, including ourselves. What we have

fun geeking out to, and whether it's technology,

games, or media, there's a plethora of things

under that category that works. It's all about

getting altered, getting geeky. It's all about

nude pictures of Betty White. why do you do that

to me oh man you're horrible you're a wackadoodle

um anyways so anything that you'd like to promote

before we take off Yes, you can find me every

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I do a bi -weekly shadow run second edition game

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on that show where we fly through the adventures

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runners from street samurai to riggers to all

sorts of other people in the sixth world. It's

dangerous, it's crazy, it's often stupid. So

you should join us. It's fun. And as always,

ThisWeekendGeek .net, a weekly show on Mondays

where we have the latest reviews in tech, movies,

and other things. The mailman is constantly here

and I almost fall behind Um, but good stuff.

We got a back -to -school guide coming up rather

soon with alex So be looking for that. We should

be having a new dvd commentary coming up with

vinegar syndrome where we review porn but without

the porn. Alex spends the time cutting out all

the sex scenes, and we critique the movie as

a movie, and the results are often hilarious

and stupid. That's actually really funny. Yeah,

it's weird. And some of these movies, you're

like, I wonder how they're going to solve this.

So stuff like that. Like, is the movie coherent

without all the garbage? You know, it's weird.

The movie Sex World was actually entertaining

and had a weird philosophical bent to it. Like,

I think the - who directed that movie went to

film school and was like, I want to make a movie.

Unfortunately, I have to have people boning.

Maybe I can do both. So stuff like that. So yeah,

be sure to keep it locked to this week and geek

net for more great geek content You can also

hear me across the chorus radio network. Occasionally.

I just did a spot on CJ OB Talking about games

calm which happened which is happening in Germany

as of this recording So I'm sure I'll be around

the talk back to school and college at some point.

So Keep listening on the radio waves folks. I'm

always around. Oh, yeah one last thing. Um, I

did a tweet last week about a Pomeranian dressed

as Paddington Bear. I saw that. That tweet has

been seen by almost a million people. You did

that? I'm not the originator, but I am one of

the original people who, I guess, got retweeted

by it. As of right now, I will give you a live

update. Hold on. Let me look at my Twitter stats.

OK, so this thing. has received 3 ,523 retweets,

has been liked over 16 ,000 times, and has the

impressions, aka the people that saw it on Twitter,

919 ,552. Nice. Yeah, not bad. A little dog brought

me a little bit of Twitter fame, proving thus

once and for all the world is not an entirely

large dumpster fire. Even though it seems like

it often. Oh my god Twitter. What a cesspool,

but occasionally we get puppies What's what's

really funny is? We talked about that years ago

About you know About social media and and bullying

and and how worthless it is You know It was it

was back in 2012 as a matter of fact My god,

how things have changed. My god, it's worse now.

We actually predicted this. I will send you the

link. It is hilarious. Because it was you, me,

Blanchard and Dustimus Prime. Dust and Vancour.

Yeah, we were discussing it and how much we predicted

Twitter and social media to become the hate -filled

place it is today. You you can't go on Twitter

for five seconds without finding a bigoted racist

isn't life grand I know it's it's like every

five tweets. Um, it's getting it's getting shorter,

too But yeah, so anyways, you can you can of

course listen to this podcast everywhere Whether

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next time get altered get geeky with the altered

geeks