Good Tape, the leading magazine with critical coverage on entertainment and podcasting, officially launches “Off The Record,” a community-centered media business that facilitates real-time dialogues between podcast executives, creatives, and brands. Each event convenes diverse industry leaders and inspires conversations around hyper-relevant topics focused on evolving the medium.

What began in 2023 as an informal monthly coffee meetup in Brooklyn, NY – first hosted by Jeff Weiner, Joe Fucigna, and Dane Cardiel — has now evolved into a formalized network and new brand under the leadership of Dane Cardiel, Kristin Myers, and Meggan Ellingboe, who will establish Off The Record’s founding chapter in Los Angeles, CA.

As podcasting solidifies its position in mainstream media, Off The Record offers direction and intention to the industry’s growing identity crisis, providing a space for strategic minds to move beyond surface-level discussions and toward collaborative problem-solving.

“The idea remains the same as when we first started – connecting the well-appointed but often siloed podcast leaders who truly care about the future of the medium,” says Dane Cardiel, Good Tape’s founder. 

“These leaders hold deep expertise across the industry’s ecosystem and have a clear vision of what’s missing and what needs fixing, but are too isolated to affect widespread change. Off The Record is a container where these thinkers can move beyond talk and into action.”

Through intentionally curated gatherings over coffees, happy hours, or dinners, Off The Record brings together decision-makers to move past roadblocks, share expertise, and collectively shape the industry’s next chapter. 

“I’ve taken to calling this a bit of a thing-tank for podcasting,” says Kristen Myers, a host of the Los Angeles chapter. “There are more boutique teams, more brilliant consultants, more ways to monetize and grow than ever before, but none of that matters if the landscape cannot be navigated. There are still fundamental challenges and under-explored territories to be charted. We need every bit of passion, technology, and expertise we can find and we need it in one room, ready to earnestly make things happen.”

Off The Record is proud to partner with boutique podcast marketing consultancy, Listening Party Agency, as one of our launch partners. For more information about Off The Record, partnership opportunities, or to request an invite to our next gatherin

Good Tape is a new print magazine about podcasting for audio professionals, creators, and their fans. Founded by Dane Cardiel, former founding member Simplecast and current VP of Creator Partnerships at Gumball, Good Tape will feature work by the country’s foremost journalists and artists, answering the industry’s most pressing questions while also asking more.

Podcast creators are looking for relevant media resources and have few places to turn. Good Tape will be this community’s first go-to resource, helping them understand the state of their industry and look forward to what’s next.

“Good Tape was inspired after attending On Air Fest in LA last year,” Cardiel says. “As I spoke with others, the responses made overwhelmingly clear: There’s a real need for dedicated culture writing that intelligently covers our industry – especially one that understands the importance of design and centers our behind-the-mic creative community.”

Good Tape is proud to partner with Top Down Studio, an editorial consultancy founded by Alana Hope Levinson, to develop its editorial scope, voice and audience. Top Down Studio helps writers and brands tell editorial stories across a wide variety of mediums, with in entrepreneurial media.

“I’m thrilled to support the formation and launch of Good Tape,” says Levinson, who has spent the past decade launching media products for companies like Medium, Dollar Shave Club, and Chegg. “While the magazine is primarily for audio professionals, the high level cultural reporting and art direction will broaden its appeal, making it a must-have lifestyle product that breaks out of the B2B category.”

Artistically, Good Tape will follow a long tradition of revolutionary media – from the underground presses of the 60s to the punk zines of the 80s – and carry this legacy forward in celebration of a new era of podcasting. “We’re playing with scale, texture, and composition,” says Design Lead Sami Wittwer. “We want to challenge the readers’ largely digital context and encourage them to regard the magazine as an art object.”

To pre-order the first issue of Good Tape, please visit https://goooodtape.com and follow along for updates on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.