The world of podcast content is ever-expanding, with new pods launching every week. How do you make yours stand out? One of the key elements is your podcast music.
We’re here to offer the expert guide to what makes a great podcast theme; the impact of music on mood and tone; its importance in storytelling and what you need to consider when you’re choosing your podcast theme song.
Why Theme Music Matters
First up, you need a memorable podcast theme that’s destined to become an earworm. First impressions count and your theme music or song will help to guide your listeners and give them an instant insight into your content, hooking them in within the first few seconds.
Whether you’re doing a deep dive into pop culture, serving up daily or weekly insights into politics and current affairs, creating the next must-listen true crime series or launching a narrative podcast or audio drama (serialized or anthology-style), your podcast theme helps to provide essential sonic branding. Your podcast’s sonic signature delivers instant brand recall and fosters listener retention – both of which are essential in an increasingly oversaturated marketplace.
How to Choose the Right Theme Music
What mood or tone are you trying to create with your podcast intro? Is it upbeat and lighthearted? Tension-fuelled and mysterious? Calm and contemplative? Authoritative or scholarly? You need to find music that aligns with your podcast’s personality.
Part of your music selection process is looking at your target audience. Are they a younger demographic? Persuade them with music that taps into current trends. Targeting older listeners with classic – or classical – music could be the way to go. When you understand your listeners’ tastes, you can pick the music that will resonate with them. Listen to other podcasts that are catering to your ideal audience and pinpoint what makes their podcast theme music effective – whether it’s a genre (pop, rock, indie, country, etc) or a mood. Mellow, ambient music lends itself to more serious topics and a reflective mood, whilst bright, summery pop will make your comedy content sparkle.
The other way of looking at it is, what do you want your target audience to feel? Whether you’re aiming for excited, inspired, relaxed or intrigued, the music genre you choose needs to reflect that.
When it comes to how long podcast intro music should be, we’d advise keeping it short and sweet – typically anywhere between 15 to 30 seconds.
When to Update a Podcast Theme
Generally, keeping the same podcast intro for each episode builds familiarity and trust and helps your listeners to settle into their daily, weekly or monthly listen. However, special episodes or stand-alone interviews might benefit from a customized intro. And if your podcast is split into seasons, you could think about updating your intro slightly for each new season. This signals a fresh start, but maintains that consistent overall sound.
Sourcing background music for podcasts and podcast jingles follows on from your theme selection. You may need music for an interview bed, for transitions, or to lead into and out of ads or sponsorship reads. These could be cut-downs of the main theme, or reworkings of it, or completely separate stings that align with the mood and tone you’ve already established. Our industry-leading Editors’ Toolkit has hundreds of beds and drones, edit gaps and effects, soundscapes and promo/teaser tracks.
When your podcast focuses on storytelling, music can be a key element to ramp up tension or intrigue, excitement and action, wonder and awe or romance and heartbreak. Think of how the soundtracks to your favourite film and TV shows steer and move your emotional dial, and find the music that fits. When you’re painting pictures with words, the right music is even more important when it comes to making your storytelling sing. So, give careful thought to the genre, instrumentalization and tempo of your tracks.
Licensing Music for Podcasts
You’ve established your mood and tone, you may even have found the perfect piece of music, but do you have the rights to use it? You may think that royalty-free music is the way to go, but you run the risk of using the same tracks as a rival, and sounding generic.
When it comes to unique, stand-out podcast music, we have a huge catalogue of high-quality, original, broadcast-grade music with simple, clear licensing. No more rights headaches or weeks spent trying to clear something (and breaking the budget on big-name tracks…)
Our in-house experts have handpicked hundreds of tracks that are ideal for podcast themes. Kick-start your search with our dedicated Podcasts playlist, where you’ll find everything from a bouncy, hip hop R&B instrumental to trap with deep bass, or mysterious, ambient piano and pulsing synths.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for themes or moods, check out Tension & Drama, the chilled-out ambience of the Zen Den, or transport your listeners instantly to the edge of their seats with Anticipation. And for those transitions or shifts in emotion, our Mood Changes playlist delivers exactly what you’d hope for.
When it comes to what kind of music is good for podcasts, we’ve done the hard work for you. Sport, Current Affairs, Lifestyle, Comedy, Romance, True-Crime, Politics, History – the (play)list goes on! Plus there are different mixes and stems available for each track. If you’re still feeling stuck (or overwhelmed by the choice), then you can call on our music experts for creative support.
So, now you know where to find the best music to license for your podcast, just browse our theme-worthy tracks, speak to our team, or register for a licence.
Need Music for Your Project?
At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!
