Podcasters often find that collaborating with other podcasters is beneficial. Many of us have created segments, or put together stories, for someone else’s podcast. Often, this work is done for free out of friendship or the love of podcasting. But, it doesn’t have to be done for free.

AIR has, for the first time, addressed payment rates for work that is done on podcasts. It has differences from the rates that might apply to freelance writing or graphic design work. This payment rate chart, that is specific to the nature of podcasting, is incredibly useful – especially as podcasting becomes more commercial.

AIR is an advocacy group that was founded in 1988 by 10 independent radio producers. Today, their network has expanded to about 1,000 independent audio producers, multimedia journalists, and public media programs, stations, and networks across 29 countries. AIR is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

The pay scale is broken up into three levels: Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced. These levels refer to the expertise of the person creating the podcasting content. A Novice is going to make less than someone who is considered to have Advanced skills.

There are also three levels that describe the type of work being created. For example, Level 1 pieces are the lengthiest and most time-consuming to produce. Things that take less time might be a Level 2 or Level 3 piece. In other words, the effort that goes into creating content is recognized. The more effort it takes – the higher the pay rate.

Other parts of the pay rate chart set rates that podcasters can charge for pilot ideas, tape syncs, pilot production, the production of content from already gathered actualities, and even a day rate.

This is great news for people who produce content for other people’s podcasts, or who have been asked to produce or edit podcast content for another podcaster, a company, or by the boss of their “day job”. Use this chart as a starting point for the pay you should receive for the content that someone else wants you to create for them.

AIR suggests that producers charge for-profit outlets more than nonprofit entities. It also suggests that freelancers producing pieces for on-air broadcast negotiate at least a 5 percent rate increase if the piece you create is then redistributed as a podcast.

One of the great things about the pay scale that AIR has created is that it doesn’t differentiate between whether the person creating the content happens to be male or female. That means podcasting can become a field where women can expect equal pay for equal work.