The Timbre, an independent website that focused on podcasting, is done. This was announced on May 2, 2016, in a post titled “See You On the Radio”. In that post, it states: “The Timbre will not be returning.”

The post was written by Devon Taylor, who was the co-founder and editor in chief of The Timbre. Eric McQuade was the co-founder and director of audio development, and Laura Jane Standley was a partner and the editorial director of The Timbre. The podcast-focused website started in 2014, and had the motto “Be thoughtful”.

The post gives readers some insight as to why The Timbre has now come to an end. There are two reasons.

The first reason is simple: money. What is that saying? If you don’t know the answer, the answer is money. Even as our small streams of revenue increased and some faithful readers generously donated money to us, it was never enough to pay us for our time. Not by a lot. Combing through hundreds of podcasts and distilling our thoughts into coherent sentences took dozens of hours each week. Often we put more time into the site than we did our full-time jobs (don’t tell our bosses), but the math never equaled out. We just couldn’t work for free any longer.

It is a reason that I think most podcasters will relate to. Many of us put time and energy into podcasting, and all the “behind the scenes” things that go along with it, without ever finding a way to turn it into a financially sustainable activity.

The second reason posted in the blog can be summarized as “creative differences” (minus the animosity that seems to go along with that claim in most cases). Eric McQuaide is starting a sports documentary. Laura Jane Standley is working on her writing projects. Devon Taylor will be doing podcast editing.

Those of you who feel sad about The Timbre “not returning” can keep in touch with the creators. Each of their email and Twitter accounts is posted at the end of the announcement blog.