The other piece is that the negotiating supply of podcasts is less concentrated than that of music. With music, if you want to reduce licensing fees, you have t

The other piece is that the negotiating supply of podcasts is less concentrated than that of music. With music, if you want to reduce licensing fees, you have to negotiate with a label, who could meaningfully undermine your product by pulling all their artists. Podcasts are closer to YouTube... few podcasters have have scale to demand terms, having one walk away over terms is less of a problem because you don't playlist podcasts in the way you do music, lots of podcasters in it for love of the game or starting out hoping to hit it big (and willing to forgo ad revenue for audience).