AJ Churchill on How Apollo is Driving Podcast Findability, and the Future of Podcast Apps
In this week's Pod Chat, I chat with AJ Churchill, co-founder of Lunar.fm, the company behind the Apollo podcast app and the audio fiction sci-fi drama, Earth Eclipsed.
We talk about how audio production quality is changing with new technologies, as well as the innovations behind the Apollo app that are helping audio fiction podcasts be found, and how that can help other podcast app developers improve their own products.
The Power of Regular Stereo
While AJ's background is in soundtracks and high end audio composition, he's a huge component of regular stereo when it comes to podcast audio. As he explains, humans only have two ears and there's only so much they can process.
The Importance of Testing Audio on Different Sources
Podcasts are listened to on a multiple of devices. While we'd love to believe our listeners all wear great headphones and set aside time just to listen to our voice, the reality is very different. As AJ shared, it's key to listen to your episode on as many different sources as you can to highlight what can be improved, based on device.
Why Apollo Is Purely for Audio Fiction and Drama
With the Apollo podcast app, AJ and the team at Lunar have built a platform solely for audio fiction podcasters and listeners. Indeed, it's an even more niche approach because each podcast is hand curated by other audio fiction creators and listeners. This has ensured a high quality database that's also super easy to navigate, thanks to the intuitive UI of the app.
How Podcast Findability Drives Apollo
AJ shares how an experience trying to find a podcast on Spotify, and the amount of non-relevant results that came back in search, spurred Lunar on to defining what features Apollo would have. Key to this was an intuitive and highly intelligent search system based on tags, recommendations, and ongoing learning.
Key points:
00:00 A Composer's Journey
11:47 Lunar Productions: Quality and Timelessness in Storytelling
15:12 AJ and Danny Discuss the Success of Audio Fiction Apps
19:25 The Benefits of Apollo for Fiction Podcasts
24:33 The Power of Tagging in Apollo
28:45 AJ and Danny Discuss the Future of Fiction Podcasts
34:12 AJ on Apollo, Lunar FM, and Earth Eclipsed
Connect with AJ:
Contact me: danny@dannybrown.me
Products I use for Pod Chat
Note: these contain affiliate links, so I may get a small percentage of any product you buy/use when using my link.
My equipment:
- Electro-Voice RE320
- Motu M2 Audio Interface
- Sony MDR-7506 Studio Monitor Headphones
- Podcast Pro Boom Arm by Accu-Lite and O.C. White
Recommended resources:
- Captivate.fm
- Aweber email marketing
- Boomcaster remote interviewing
- My Podcast Reviews
- Reel.so audiogram creator
Mentioned in this episode:
Check out Trailer Park Podcast
Trailer Park Podcast focuses on the art of the audio teaser, and is hosted by Arielle Nissenblatt and Tim Villegas. Season 1 consists of 8 episodes featuring trailers from very different podcasts.
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