The ALIVE Podcast Network offers a novel platform for Black content creators

ALIVE Podcast Network founder Angel Livas often describes her company as the Tyler Perry Studios of podcasts.

Livas has worked in media for over 20 years. However, it wasn’t until three years ago she realized none of the people she worked with were Black. When she started collaborating with  Black content creators, Livas said she saw a large disparity in marketing efforts, compensation, intellectual property rights and cancellation rates compared to their counterparts. As a result, Livas founded the Virginia-based ALIVE Podcast Network (TAP-N) in 2022 to focus on how podcast shows can serve and interact with communities, rather than how much revenue they bring in.

“The ALIVE Podcast Network is the home of Black voices. … It’s a place for people to be able to go to hear Black culture, to hear things that are relevant to the Black community — and not just from any lens, but from a Black person’s perspective,” Livas told Technical.ly.

TAP-N was initially funded with $350,000 from friends and family, then eventually received funding from Techstars and angel investors. It recently opened its first funding round for venture capitalists and additional angel investors, with Livas aiming to raise $1.5 million. The company is also funded through advertisement sales.

Livas said Black creatives will approach TAP-N, or the network will recruit them through social media like LinkedIn if their content aligns with the company. TAP-N also recently finalized a deal with Riverside.fm, a podcast and video-recording platform, to create a Black creators hub and drive engagement and exposure for the company.

TAP-N’s app is currently less than a month old and features podcast shows of various genres, which also stream on other platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Its tech stack includes Visual Studio, Angular, MySQL, Figma, Amazon Web Services and Kotlin.

The app also offers features not commonly seen on other podcast platforms. There is a chat function for hosts and listeners to communicate directly, and listeners are able to share clips of a podcast episode with others.

“I think that’s key because a lot of times podcasts are siloed,” Livas said. “Unless you really know about a podcast or they’re a major podcast, it’s hard to really learn about it and get tapped into it.”

TAP-N is additionally preparing to launch a new feature later this year: an e-commerce marketplace. Listeners will be able to purchase a product mentioned in a podcast episode directly within the app instead of having to redirect it elsewhere.

Another unique aspect of the company is its contracts with its hosts. All podcasters must pay $350 to $600 annually for their shows to be distributed by TAP-N, which is the company’s main stream of revenue. Podcasters also have access to TAP-N’s quarterly mastermind groups and PR team. Those paying the $600 fee will be able to use an AI feature created through the network’s partnership with Taja AI, which generates a headline, description and notes to make their show more discoverable. Based on subscribers’ preference, hosts also receive half of the revenue made from the app’s monthly subscriptions, which is $4.99 for a monthly plan or $100 for an annual VIP plan. The other half goes to the network.

In the long run, Livas believes that TAP-N’s goals and distinctive features will bring the company more publicity and subscriptions and establish trends within the industry.

“But to be the first one to do it, I think that that’s important because it is … changing the trajectory of how we consume information — and how much we infuse community into that communication,” she said.

This editorial article is a part of Entertainment Tech Month of Technical.ly’s editorial calendar.