In a chat with Jim Jones on his Artist 2 Artist podcast, Joe Budden shared his thoughts on artists starting podcasts and offered his advice.
At around the 9-minute point of the podcast, Jones asked Budden what advice he would give him, considering the success of his eponymous podcast, The Joe Budden Podcast.
“Do it yourself,” he flatly responded. “I be saying that to n***as, nobody ever want to do it yourself. … And I ain’t saying don’t partner with n***as or don’t have an investor, I’m not saying that. But, like, I always believe in the product. So if I start a pod, if I start on episode one—episode two, I’m not taking a check from somebody. I’m not doing that. I want to see this grow. I want to give myself a shot.”
Earlier this year, it was reported that the Joe Budden Network is expected to bring in over $20 million in 2025. The podcast boasts approximately 70,000 total paying subscribers on Patreon, bringing in roughly $1 million a month. But then there’s also advertising, merch, and other deals to consider.
“N***as just be starting pods and going to take a check,” said Budden. “Most of the podcast industry is taking a check.”
Jones added that he believes many artists and celebrities won’t even consider starting a podcast unless there’s already money lined up for them, but Budden insisted that’s not the way to go about things if you’re truly interested in building a business in the podcast industry.
“That’s not my story,” he said. “I don’t have that experience. So, the person that wants to start a podcast, I damn near stop giving advice. ‘Cause nobody wanted to hear how I did it, or, do it yourself. They don’t want to hear that. So yeah, these n***as that’s just taking checks, more power to them. But to hear how that’s done, you’d have to get it from them. My story got the bumps and bruises. My story got cursing out the execs… My story got false allegations. My story got all of the shit that no sane or non-psycho person would want to go through voluntarily. That ain’t my story.”
Budden then went on to praise Jones for taking the right steps to launch his own podcast, and said that he’s “doing it right.” He added, “You take your time, room by room, get you a set… Just do it, that’s all you got to do.”
Watch the full video of Jones and Budden's conversation up top.