Podcasting Truth & Myths Learned Over 500 Episodes

Podcasting Truth & Myths Learned Over 500 Episodes

From The Sound Off Podcast by Matt Cundill

April 29, 2026 · 15 min · Episode 500

About this episode

In this milestone 500th episode, Matt Cundill discusses common pitfalls in podcasting and offers insights on how to improve show performance.

This week, I’m celebrating the 500th episode of the Sound Off Podcast by turning the spotlight on why so many shows underperform—and what you can do about it. After nearly 10 years and 500 episodes, I’ve seen the same mistakes again and again, so I break down 10 big ones: blaming a vague “discovery problem” instead of doing the work of promotion, skipping a proper trailer, tolerating shit audio and lazy editing, and relying on weak interview structures that don’t respect the listener’s time. I also get into overlooked essentials like artwork that actually stands out, using metadata wisely, putting your show everywhere listeners expect podcasts, and not obsessing over video at the expense of audio. Finally, I tackle the myth that you need 10,000 downloads to monetize—reminding you that you don’t monetize a podcast, you monetize an audience. Things I promised to put in the show notes: Here are the levels that Apple and Spotify recommend for your podcast. But I found this that shows those and a few more. Want to make your guests sound studio quality? Waves Voice Re-Gen is a favourite I am using now. Adobe has a free and paid tier in their podcast tools. James Cridland keeps a…

People in this episode

Host: Matt Cundill

Topics covered

  • podcasting
  • promotion
  • audio quality
  • interview structure
  • monetization
  • podcast mistakes

Keywords

  • podcasting
  • audio quality
  • promotion
  • monetization
  • podcast mistakes
  • interview structure
  • trailer

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Apple, Spotify, Adobe, The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3)

Products: Waves Voice Re-Gen

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