Crowdfunding services are making a lot of podcasting news as of late. I learned today that a company called Joyride has been reaching out to podcasters to offer its services. I hadn’t heard of Joyride before, so I decided to look it up.

On its website, Joyride breaks its service down into two sides. One for listeners, the other for creators. The side for listeners is pretty straightforward. It showcases the Joyride Android app (iOS coming soon), stating that listeners can easily find over 100,000 shows. From there, it shows a collage of podcast artwork, featuring many popular shows like Serial, WTF and StarTalk Radio.

For creators, Joyride touts that it can help a podcaster to, “Engage with your audience of passionate listeners
to build a sustainable income and grow your business.” The website explains how Joyride works:

Set monthly fundraise goals and create digital rewards for your supporters. (e.g. ad-free episodes or exclusive bonus content)

Your supporters can pledge monthly donations very easily through the web or the Joyride Podcast Player.

Supporters seamlessly receive their rewards through the Joyride Podcast Player or their favorite player using a private supporter feed.

Connect with your supporters through a private community and communicate with them on a regular basis.

Having crowdfunding features built right into an app that listeners would already (presumably) be using makes Joyride a unique proposition for creators. While there are plenty of other crowdfunding options out there, they typically require podcasters to direct potential backers to their own websites or to third-party companies. It can be a problematic process, especially for listeners who are on the go. Joyride removes some of that friction, and could prove to be a useful tool to those podcasters who are looking to monetize thru direct audience contributions.

On its FAQ page, Joyride describes its fees as, “…5% in fees plus credit card processing fees of 2.9% + $0.30 per contribution. The annual Program Fee is $120 / year, which is waived when you reach $100 per month in contributions.” Shows with smaller and/or lesser-engaged audiences may find the annual fee a bit daunting, compared to other services that just take a percentage of individual contributions. But for shows with larger or highly-engaged audiences, the benefit of Joyride’s in-app convenience may balance out against its fee structure.

What do you think of Joyride? Have you used the service either as a listener or a podcaster? Let us know in the comments!