A Chat with Dane Cardiel of "Good Tape:" A New Print Magazine for Podcasts and Podcasters
By: Arielle Nissenblatt
On Wednesday, May 17th, Dane Cardiel and team announced the launch of Good Tape, a new bi-annual print magazine about podcasting for audio professionals, creators, and their fans. It's available for pre-order now! (I bought one riiiight away).
I love this. I love it so much. First of all. The website is gorgeous. But beyond that, we need more people writing about podcasting, audio, sound, and everything in between. Good Tape is doing just that.
I spoke with Dane Cardiel, former founding member of Simplecast and current VP of Creator Partnerships at Gumball, about this new venture.
Let’s Get Some Good Tape
Arielle Nissenblatt: How did you come up with the name for the publication?
Dane Cardiel: Finding a good name for a magazine, or any project really, is so hard! But this one came to me quickly, which honestly forced my hand. “Oh, God,” I remember thinking to myself, “I have to do this now.”
AN: What publications / digital projects do you take inspiration from?
DC: We’re pulling inspiration from multiple sources for the direction of the magazine. Our initial aesthetic was conceptually “audiofile retro,” which draws visual inspiration from vintage zines and magazines like Ty i ja, Poland Illustrated, and old issues of TV Guide. There are also tons of contemporary influences, too.
We’re similarly drawing from legacy alt-weeklies and zines, editorially, but it's key for us to tap into journalists and culture reporters to make sure Good Tape lands as a lifestyle product that breaks from the B2B category.
AN: What surprised you the most about the process of bringing this to life?
DC: The momentum it’s gained in just six months. Sami Wittwer, our designer, created a fully actualized brand identity that absolutely blew me away. I then worked out the business model, incorporated the company, and brought on Alana Hope Levinson to further define our editorial direction and vision. Very quickly Good Tape went from a fun side-project to something I felt an enormous amount of responsibility to do right by our community.
AN: How can the podcast listening and creator community support this launch in addition to pre-ordering a copy?
DC: Pre-ordering our first issue is the best way to support us at this stage. Next is getting a friend and co-worker to grab their copy, too. This project is currently supported through advertisers and print sales, so this early support is crucial for us — we’ve already received over 165 orders in the first week which is a great start.
AN: How does Good Tape fit into your overall career or professional goals?
DC: The next generation of business leaders in our industry are beginning to get their footing. I’m so inspired by the folks behind companies like Domino Sound, editaudio, Molten Heart, Tink Media, Dustlight Productions, Sounds Profitable, Recordical, Stillroom, and more. And I’m excited to join them to help our industry evolve into its next iteration — one that is more inclusive, bold, and forward-thinking. Good Tape is a vehicle to advance this work and I think it will be the perfect platform for me to support our industry.
AN: From my vantage point, your launch day (week, even) was a huge success. Do you agree? And if so, what do you think you did right?
DC: HUGE success! Exceeded my expectations. This was essentially a soft launch since we don’t have much of any substantial content to tease and we’re still very much establishing our contributor pool for this first issue. So, to have 300+ subscribers to our newsletter, 35% of our sponsorship inventory secured, and over 150 copies sold puts us in an incredible position.
I think the success is largely to do with exceptional branding and the right industry relationships. I think people can see through an insincere product launch — especially one that on its face is attempting to be opportunistic about the podcast industry. The driving motivation for this magazine is genuinely to engage with this artform in a deeper way and the print format is a significant differentiator from other media outlets. Good Tape is coming in at a good time, playing into our psychological and intellectual needs.
AN: How can creators contribute? What about listeners?
DC: Anyone interested in their podcast being featured in our magazine can go to our website and sign up for our mailing list. In a few weeks, we’re going to be making a call for submissions for podcasts to be included in our first issue’s podcast directory. If someone has a more specific pitch, they can also go to our website and fill out a brief pitch for consideration. Space is limited and quite competitive, but we’ll carefully review all pitches.
AN: Thank you, Dane!
