Charging Your Podcast Guest An Appearance Fee?

Supply and Demand The "law" of supply and demand is this: The more demand there is for a product, the more you can charge for it. There are many things that lead and boost demand, and that is outside the scope of today's show. In general, you are...

Show Notes

Supply and Demand

The "law" of supply and demand is this:

The more demand there is for a product, the more you can charge for it. There are many things that lead and boost demand, and that is outside the scope of today's show. In general, you are delivering value (or perceived value)

If you raise the price more and more, the demand may go down (as it doesn't deliver as much value for the price).

Cover Charge

When I was a musician, some places I played would charge a "Cover Charge" which was a way of attracting people with more disposable income (as you would pay $5 to get in the door). People with disposable income might have more money to buy food and drinks.

I believe some people are charging to be on their show as a "Cover Charge." This is for very, very, very popular shows. This is by far, not the norm.

The Slippery Slope

If you charge someone money to appear, you might end up with some "Extra money." I don't know about you, but I remember paying of a car or credit card, and thinking I would have "extra" money at the end of the month. Somehow, you always seem to find a way to spend that extra money.

Now you NEED guests to pay you to appear to help pay for the new car, your child's new braces, or whatever it is you have now added to your assets.

This may mean you are going to be less selective when it comes to choosing guests. As long as they can pay, then they can be on the show.

This would then potentially decrease the value to the audience, which then lowers the number of listeners, which then lowers the demand to be on your show. People are paying to get in front of your audience.

If you let anyone with some money be on your show, you are at risk of losing your audience.

Potential FTC Issues

The FTC Guides, state that at their core, reflect the basic truth-in-advertising principle that endorsements must be honest and not misleading. An endorsement must reflect the honest opinion of the endorser and can’t be used to make a claim that the product’s marketer couldn’t legally make.

255.5 states, "When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product that
might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not
reasonably expected by the audience), such connection must be fully disclosed. "

For me, by having them on your show, your audience trusts you to bring people of value. If you don't disclose that they are paying to be there, and someone purchases their product or service, you might have an issue with the FTC (I'm not a lawyer, but it gets sticky).

Final Thoughts

While this is my opinion, I've provided the logic behind it. As always your show is yours to do with what you want. For me, I always look at better ways to serve my audience.