YES! YOU ALL HAVE TO CHECK THIS ONE OUT IMMEDIATELY.

WHERE DO I START?!

@eelerschoice has an incredible world to explore and dives head long into generational trauma and environmental destruction. Amazing character interactions, well paced, and reaaaaally fun sound design. They are also doing their funds drive for SEASON FRICKEN 2! @lawofnamesmedia's At the Bottom of the Garden uses fairies as a means to explore stories about the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves (and others) and the writing is exquisite so far. I am only a few episodes into this but it has me in a chokehold.

@strangekindstudio Mercy: A Queer Eldritch Western. Set during the Wild West, full of super rich characters (like I am envious of how well they are written), and kicks it off with a monster that is SUPER fun and unique. I literally check each day to see if the next episode has dropped. @thegospelofhaven Give this one a go. You will like it, trust me from there. Just know the sound design is very very very... wet.

@goodmorningevildoers just wrapped their first season and I am so happy I stumbled on this one. It takes the "radio personality" and flips it on it's head a bit. It is super fun and quick, I swear the longer episodes flew by.

Hey Cuties! It’s ya girl, Faustina! Every audio drama Sunday, I make a little video called Faustina’s Faves for shouting out audio dramas I love. And I wanna hear about your show, or a show you love!!

If you want to be featured on Faustina’s Faves, tell me about an audio drama and why you think I might enjoy it! Self promos super welcome!

Love ya, mean it!

-Faustina, xx

Excited to announce that our next Tales from the Dead West episode is going to be written by the amazing @lawofnamesmedia! Be on the look out here and on their pages for casting calls, live dates, and more!

as it turns out, trying to write your own audio drama is about 30% character creation, 20% world building, and 50% coming up with a list of fucked up pizzas that monsters might enjoy. this is fun lol

I LOVE ART! Bonus points if it: - makes me uncomfortable - makes me think - has multiple layers that I have to peel back to get to the juicy lesson that the artist is trying to convey - makes me sit with emotions that greet me with hands both curled into tight fists aimed for my gut and opened for brilliant comforting hugs Also, f&*k AI drivel

Happy Trans Day of Visibility!

To our wonderful trans friends: we see you, we value you, we appreciate you.

Please put some eyes on this and spread it as wide as you can.

Our composer for Re: Dracula, Travis Reeves, is currently fighting aggressive brain cancer. If you have some spare funds to send his way for treatment, please do.

From his aunt: "It appears Travis' best option is to explore cutting edge treatments in specialty facilities for which healthcare coverage doesn't apply. We're racing to raise as much funds as possible to ensure all option doors can be opened."

gofundme.com

Donate to Supporting Hope and Treatment Access for Travis, organized by Lisa Vallero Butterfield

Dear kind-hearted loved ones, colleagues + supporters, I’… Lisa Vallero Butterfield needs your support for Supporting Hope and Treatment

Frankenstein Audio Drama

Hello! We are Rhapsody Of The Exiled, an audio drama adaptation and retelling of Frankenstein Or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley!

We are trans and neurodivergent written and directed, with a largely queer cast and crew, queer romantic, and neurodiverse storylines, and music! We can promise you a lot from our story, including a romantic Clervalstein subplot, non-binary Professor Waldman, non-binary blind hermit, Autistic William Frankenstein, neurodivergent Justine Moritz, lesbian Elizabeth and Justine, transfem voice actress for a non-binary creature, and a Professor Waldman x Professor Krempe consensual workplace relationship.

We want to use this beloved story and all its characters to explore ways in which we find ourselves isolated from the world, be it by no fault of our own, or somehow by our own hand. If that sounds like it would be of interest to you, do give us a follow! We are most active over on BlueSky, but you can follow us here, or over on TikTok @rhapsodyoftheexiled

Hope to see you around!

PSA for podcast and audio drama creators:

If you publish a new episode of your show and it never shows up on Spotify, *do not panic*.

If you're using any kind of background music, it might've gotten flagged by their copyrighted content scanner. If it has, they do not notify you directly about it. Instead, they will notify your podcast hosting platform (i.e. Buzzsprout, Acast, Podbean, etc.)

If your new episode doesn't show up on Spotify within an hour or two (as it normally does), here's what you should do:

Create a video of your podcast and upload it privately to YouTube.

Check the 'Restrictions' column of the Content page in YouTube Studio. If the video you uploaded has 'Copyright' in this column, something was flagged and this is the problem. (In my experience, YouTube and Spotify's scanners are aligned).

Hover over where it says 'Copyright' and click the 'See Details' button. This will tell you what got flagged.

Confirm whether this content was legitimately flagged or not. If it was (meaning you can't prove that you have rights to use the music), it's time to replace the track and reupload your episode. (You'll still want to do the following steps after you do that). If wasn't, it's time to document why the flagging was in error. In Metropolis' case, we use a lot of pre-1924 music that is in the public domain per Title II of the US Music Modernization Act of 2018. But rights holders are notorious for not removing things that have aged into the public domain from their claims list. That means we have clear rights to use the music (as does anybody: again, public domain!), but we still have to go through the appeals process.

Contact your hosting provider to get the notice email from Spotify Content Protection. You need to ask their support team if they've received an email for your show from Spotify with a Subject line of "Possibly Infringing - Notification Warning - Claim xxx - ref:_xxx". It usually takes about 30 minutes to an hour for them to receive that notification from when the episode was uploaded. Within the email, there's a unique link to appeal the decision. Note that you only get five days to appeal - procrastination is definitely not your friend here!

Use the Appeal Link from the Email to file an Appeal Notice If you click the link, it will take you to a form to appeal the decision not to post the episode. This is where you need to present your case by either that you've replaced the music in question, or that you have a right to use it. If it's the latter - make sure you present the case as thoroughly and completely as possible (with links and references). (You'll also want to confirm that the track that YouTube spotted is the one that Spotify flagged.)

From my experience, Spotify will usually respond 24-36 hours.

If you took the right steps, it'll usually be a short note that they've published the episode and you're in the clear.

Cheers, and happy creating!

**Casting Call!** Tales from the Dead West: Nearer Hell Than Purgatory

Unpaid hobby project.

@dead-west-podcast is a horror/weird western fiction podcast. Tales from the Dead West are stand-alone, found footage style stories by other writers.

This episode, Nearer Hell Than Purgatory, is written and directed by @ash-alder.

The call will be open from January 13 to 8am pacific, January 27.

Casting for: - 1 character using she/her pronouns with any American accent

- 1 character using he/him pronouns with any accent from anywhere that reads "country" or "folksy"

shorturl.at/fhVel

Questions? Message here, or @dead-west-podcast or on Discord to ash.alder

I'll be honest guys, life without a few little obsessions just isn't worth it