1:24:27 Oh, you're still here. I thought we were done well there you have it another great entry into the deep and robust THC archive that goes back over 15 years at this point peruse it all at the higher side chats dot com and take advantage And now that that interview is over and we're winding down, I can talk to you a bit more casually about what it is we do here. Because again, you just heard or watched the first hour of a two-hour interview on a show that has gone to great lengths to stay outside of the ad sponsor monetization model and instead opted to maintain true independence through subscriptions only
1:25:08 Over time I've done a lot to improve the Plus Member experience and tried to keep convenience and quality of life in mind, which many paid offerings sadly do not. But let's talk about some details that tend to be on people's minds when they consider making the leap So if you are someone who just listens to the audio, as the show has been for many years we have the same long-running THC Plus subscription for eight bucks a month. Five new shows a month and the full archive no seasons or breaking it up in weird sketchy ways We have a great on-site player with all the bells and whistles, you can download full episodes and listen offline. And there is a lively comment section and 5 star rating system on each episode page so I can see what Plus members tend to like best! We also found a way around the annoying need to put in your username & password when using the private RSS feed in many of the podcasting apps
1:26:04 Now, we have your subscription data built right into the link on the My Account page. Just copy it and paste it in pretty much any podcasting app and you are done! If it ever freezes up on you or stops loading or anything, you can even regenerate yourself a new URL on this same my account page. It's an upgrade that truly does make it much easier than it used to be and we even take it one step further. When you first sign up for a membership, we send you a welcome email that includes that link again. You just copy it paste it boom your in And I know accessing the main show in an ongoing way is really just the only thing 90% of plus members want. But if you do get into the website, you will find some old bonus episodes and live events on the bonus content page. The old cover songs I used to close the show out with as well as some of the new ones I've made recently. And you also get a lifetime forum membership where we have all sorts of interesting categories and threads including the best place to get a guest request to me
1:27:08 People ask me about that pretty regularly, but how could I not put added weight to plus member recommendations? So there you go. Hint hint now in June of 2025, I made the big leap to video it seemed like that's what a growing number of people wanted, but the fear was over being able to deliver episodes in video conveniently behind a paywall because it's a lot more challenging than it is with just audio though we did figure it out Although streaming video does have a lot of extra costs to it, go figure. And that is why we added the new tier of THC Plus TV for people who want that video without changing the price for those who don't really care. So for 12 bucks a month you can get the full shows in video with captions and a nice word search and all the features of the audio player as well as Android and Apple casting from your phone to TV. That's nice!
1:28:01 I also sweetened the $12 tier with one other important feature that has ongoing costs to keep updated and that's a Clip Genie archive of all THC episodes going back to the beginning. And what Clip Genie does is allow you to search by any word and be served up all the transcripts of all the episodes that have included that word, and a clickable link to start the episode right at that point in the show it's very slick People have asked for transcripts for a long time because episodes are so information dense. And this was a way for me to not only provide that, but make them all searchable with the system that provides everything a person could want for finding exactly what they're looking for with the hundreds of episodes there are. All right? So if you think I'm good at what I do and you appreciate the extra effort I make to try to come prepared and lead our guests through the most compelling parts of their work
1:28:55 I'm not asking for a handout. I'm asking for you to get twice as much of the content you already like, for eight bucks or 12 bucks a month. I've used this analogy before but we tip $8 for all sorts of services these days without even thinking about it especially in this new world of the dumb tablet checkouts where they pre-highlight 20% and make you feel bad for switching it to anything else and when you tip eight dollars because someone brought you a sandwich from the back nobody brings you a second sandwich I know ad supported podcasting makes it seem like it should all be free, but independence is worth something especially in this counterculture field. And there's no way to make a viable career out of it otherwise
1:29:37 Some people will say, well what about value for value? But I tried that first and big donations came with aggressive guest suggestions. And that just doesn't work for our type of format though it may work for other formats either way the subscription model has not let me down in 15 years and i thank those who sign up and i hope more people do! As for the typical questions I get that might help you decide or speed up your onboarding, usually I get where is the second hour? Because unlike other shows. I don't split each episode into two files because I find that to be inconvenient. You've got to find the other one and then load that up and it stops in the middle and you might have to hear 2 introductions and 2 wrap ups... It's a little bit
1:30:22 Clunky, but no. Plus members get the full two hour conversation just as it was had in a single file I always ask for the promo stuff last so I cut right before that and splice it on to the first hour And that is how the free hours made and I just strip out the rest So it still sounds pretty whole for free our listeners as you just heard and I do prefer it that way And when you're logged into the website, all the shows magically switch over to the plush shows. So it's seamless and that seamlessness has caused confusion before, but just look at the show length if you're unsure and know that you cannot be logged in and be seeing the free first hour episodes trust me
1:31:07 I spared no expense. They call me the John Hammond of conspiracy podcasting, and I don't say that other people say that so yes if you just signed up and you want to go back and listen to older episodes you do have to skip ahead about 50 minutes to hear the new content but once you are a member you'll be much happier with the full show in a single file and not maintaining two feeds and jumping from file to file just to hear one interview Another common question I get asked is if Plus members have to listen through the website. And of course, the answer is no we have that custom tokenized RSS link that works with many of the podcasting apps and the site is built to have some nice tools included to make it easier and more fun to listen but not necessary.
1:31:51 Spotify is the only weird one. To get Plus on Spotify, you must sign up through Patreon because they have a corporate partnership together! Honestly we know how the game is played I don't have to go too deep into it here but yes major corporations have taken over the internet they get everyone reliant on a handful of convenient platforms and then they push out the controversial content Even though I try to stay integrated for your convenience as much as I can. But some of that stuff can change at any time and that is why i always prioritize and maintain my own independent website but that's it really, I don't want to front load the show with too heavy of a pitch because then it sounds like an ad when I like to say we're ad free sponsorship-free and independent is little more accurate
1:32:36 But because the video is complicated, some things it just seemed best to run through all of it and slap it at the very end of these episodes. So your questions and concerns could be answered. And hopefully I've convinced you that it's worth it sign up at the higher side chats dot com or write in a show notes or the episode description Again, we send you that welcome email with the private tokenized RSS link right there. So you never have to log into the website if you don't want to and if you sign up for video, We are going to be sending the new episode notifications there too where you click the link and it logs you in automatically and your right there to stream it so I'm doing what I can help me help you double your pleasure double your fun and get twice as much with THC plus And that's all there is There isn't any more