Ben’s Blog: One Year On

I’ve always been big on birthdays. Some people aren’t so keen – maybe the number is something that they’d rather not think about, or they prefer to not be the centre of attention – I’m happy to admit that neither of those situations have ever intimidated me. Today is Sound Rebel’s first birthday, a year since we incorporated Sound Rebel Limited with Companies House. But because of the situation we’re in, it feels like a difficult one to celebrate.

Of course, looking back over the last twelve months provides loads of moments to be proud of both personally and as a business. Dilemmas with Jess Ellis, our first original format, went straight in to the Top 5 podcasts in the country on the Apple Podcast Chart and has racked up hundreds of thousands of downloads and streams since its launch. Spotify featured our health and fitness podcast, A Girl & A Gay In The Gym, as one the best podcasts of this genre on their home page. 

We’ve launched new original podcasts on to the Sound Rebel Network with Triple Captain, Over The Influence and Keep Real: Mental Health Stories all off to a flying start. Within the next few weeks we’ll be launching two new formats, with Give Me Some Good News with comedian Nathan Caton and The Big Pod Quiz both launching to provide some much-needed light relied during this period of lockdown.

Our original podcasts have featured some fantastic guests who’ve been funny, relatable and honest from musicians like Duncan James and Heidi Range to Love Island star Gabby Allen and football commentary legend Clive Tyldesley. We’ve also spoken to two of the highest profile people from our former stomping ground, the UK radio industry, with Jordan North from Radio 1 and Toby Tarrant from Radio X coming on to Triple Captain to discuss their love of fantasy football. 

Soon we’ll be recording with Jason Manford, Mandip Gill, Russell Kane, John Motson, Kate Thornton and many other well-known personalities – so there’s a lot of great podcast content in the pipeline for the next few months.

We also took Dilemmas to the stage last summer, with a hugely successful live show at Studio 2 on Parr Street in Liverpool. There were plans to develop our live offering which, of course, have currently had to go on hold – but as soon as we’re allowed to, we can’t wait to entertain more audiences with live recordings of our various podcast formats.

In the last few weeks, we’ve also taken another leap by deciding to take two of our weekly podcasts daily whilst the UK is in lockdown, with Jess Ellis hosting Daily Dilemmas and Hattie Jeffries and Richie Swan creating a Morning Motivation series for their listeners on A Girl & A Gay In The Gym to help with both their physical and mental health as we all face an unprecedented challenge. I’m delighted that our teams feel so passionate about doing something positive for their audiences at this awful time, and hugely proud that they’d like to do it under the Sound Rebel banner.

We’ve also had some brilliant things to celebrate on the client side of our business, as we’ve been commissioned to produce podcasts on behalf of some fantastic brands. We’re hugely grateful to the clients who have decided to keep producing their podcast whilst we’re in lockdown, as a way of staying in touch with their audiences throughout the pandemic – and we know that they will see some fantastic results. There are also some fantastic conversations happening right now, with brands understanding that now is a great time to build new communication channels as communication and connection are the things we all crave so much.

It’s been a busy first twelve months at Sound Rebel, that’s for sure – we have worked as hard as we can to build our business, striving every day to produce the highest quality content that we can for both our clients and for our audiences who listen to our original podcast productions. So, with so many positive things to look back on and talk about, why is today difficult to celebrate?

Well, quite simply, it’s the unknown. We’ve achieved some brilliant things with Sound Rebel so far, but we’re still a new business – can something so young survive something that could be so catastrophic, not just in terms of health but on a financial level for both individuals and businesses? 

In all honesty, it won’t come down to us – it will come down to the audience. I don’t worry for a second that we won’t continue to knuckle down, work hard, and do what we need to do in order to produce the highest quality of work that we can do whilst we’re all working remotely. But if the audience isn’t there, then there’s not much we can do.

Before the pandemic hit, nearly half of podcast listening was done whilst people were travelling. Now that we’ve all got to stay at home, will listeners integrate podcasts in to their new routines?

I’m quietly optimistic. Podcasts are a form of media that achieves a level of intimacy with its audience like few others can. They bring people together, create connections, and can accompany you wherever you are. I listen to a lot of podcasts whilst I’m on the road, but I also listen when I’m walking or when I’m cooking. Most of all, at this difficult time, I want to hear a friendly voice – and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

So, apologies for the doom and gloom. Despite what’s going on, it’s absolutely a day to celebrate – and I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s helped us to hit our first major milestone as a business. We are completely committed to the work we produce for our clients, and we absolutely hope to provide that friendly voice for people who need it over the coming months with our slate of original podcasts, which are going from strength to strength.

Ben Anderson is the Director of Sound Rebel and a former Managing Editor for Capital FM. Sound Rebel is proudly based in Liverpool and produces professional podcasts for clients in the North West and remotely across the UK. Talk to us about starting a podcast for you – email hello@soundrebel.co.uk