Welcome to Night Vale live tour!

[Varda]

If anyone else is a "Welcome to Night Vale" fan, FYI, they're making a rare appearance on the East Coast to do their nifty live shows! I'm going to catch the Atlanta show, assuming I can score tickets when they go on sale tomorrow.

[gunsofchekhovia]

That's awesome. I wish I was able to go to such a thing.

[Varda]

Okay, the Night Vale show was seriously awesome. If any of you have the chance to catch it, it would be well worth your time. Such a great example of immersive storytelling, and pretty damn hilarious!

The Atlanta show was at one of the biggest indoor venues in the city, and it was sold out. I had *no idea* the podcast fan community in the area was so big!

[tbaker2500]

Wowsa. That's cool.
Atlanta seems to be podcast heavy, especially with Stuff You Should Know.

[normsherman]

Wish they returned email! Seems like a fine partnership with the broader podcast community. Myself, Pseudopod, Tales to Terrify, Cast Macabre and NoSleep podcast have all tried emailing-- no replies. Lotta people would like to figure out how they hit so big outside the standard podcast fiction audience. If anyone figures it out let me know, cuz it's pretty spectacular!

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Well, they have 197K twitter followers. So, if even 20% of those are real live people, in the USA, then they should be able to fill seats.

Once you sell out a couple gigs, more venues will be willing to book you. I've heard bands say (and the comedian podcast host agree) that once you sell out your first 500-seater, lotsa doors open up.

Notice that their website is clean, crisp, easy to read, bright, and mobile aware/responsive/friendly. Alas, the DC sites are none of these. The EP sites are a little better.

I haven't heard the Night Vale cast yet, but the DC cast is usually as good as or better than anything else I've tried in podcast or radio land -- even when I don't like a particular story.

[Varda]

Norm: actually, me and Alex (one of the Pseudopod slushers) did manage to get in touch with one of their guys (Jeffrey Cranor) in advance, as we wanted to invite them out for beers and talk with them about cross promotion with PP while they were in Atlanta. They were too busy to meet with us this time, but I'd be happy to pass along the contact info if you want--PM or email me. (Not sure why we got an answer but none of you guys did. Maybe because we offered to buy 'em beer?)

[tbaker2500]

Notice that their website is clean, crisp, easy to read, bright, and mobile aware/responsive/friendly. Alas, the DC sites are none of these. The EP sites are a little better.

Thanks, ASID. I appreciate your kind words for a couple of hundred man hours we did for free.

[tbaker2500]

Getting past my knee jerk reaction, I think you are right ASID. However, it is also confusing, bereft of content, and hard to navigate. It is more about show dates than it is about making it easy or possible to listen to them.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Sorry about that, I didn't mean to criticize so much as point out some areas for improvement. (I still have several cringe-worthy sites and apps up, so I can hardly point fingers. At least my shame is mostly safely hidden behind company firewalls.)

It's true that that site doesn't support and augment their podcast so much. It doesn't seem to be about that. But it does make it easy to find out about or buy book$ and live show$, and merchandise.

It doesn't have direct episode links, like DC does, but it does have many easy-to-find links to iTunes, Stitcher and their own episode lister.

It looks like they only have 43 episodes and that they come out every two weeks like clockwork.

To be so big for so little content suggests that there is some serious marketing or alternate distribution (radio?) in play.

Update:
Yep, they cross promote several bands with their "Weather report" music, plus they've got mainstream reviews and tie-ins to TV shows, plus they've had big-name guest talent (Including the venture Bros guys!).
These bands and talent bring in lots of fans. Just like I discovered DC by following an author I liked.

[tbaker2500]

No worries, I had a long day.
Interesting. That would help bring in the listeners. Kinda like Thrilling Adventure Hour. Not all that great of a how, but a huge following.

A site redesign is definitely in the plans, something that flows well to mobile and is structured differently. Real life has gotten in the way tho.

FYI, we are on stitcher, I got that set up a while ago. Are you insinuating that it might help if I told people about that??

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Dunno. I've no feel for how many people use or care about Stitcher. My POOMA hunch is it's not a big factor.