Luminary podcasting app debuts, blends free and subscription services

SHARE Luminary podcasting app debuts, blends free and subscription services
steinberg_100716_01_64554459.jpg

The Shure Model 55 Unidyne Dynamic Microphone has been in continuous production, essentially unchanged, since 1939. File photo. | Neil Steinberg/Sun-Times

To be free or not to be free — that’s the question surrounding the Luminary podcasting app, which launched Tuesday with roots in Chicago.

Luminary has operations in New York and Chicago. Its co-founder and CEO is Matt Sacks, son of Chicago investor Michael Sacks, who is an investor in the Chicago Sun-Times.

The app is free and will provide access to publicly available ad-supported podcasts. But its real reason to exist is the premium, exclusive shows it promises to those willing to subscribe for $7.99 a month, after a one-month free trial.

The service has lined up such content creators as political strategist David Axelrod and comedian Trevor Noah. Axelrod will present “The Axe Files,” his interview series that airs on CNN, while Noah’s entry is called “On Second Thought.”

They will be among the 25 premium, ad-free podcasts Luminary is rolling out this week. It ultimately plans more than 40, including shows from Conan O’Brien and Lena Dunham.

Matt Sacks lined up a reported $100 million in venture capital funding to start Luminary. He has caused a buzz in the business by combining the free and subscription models in a standalone app, and to test the appeal of celebrities.

In an interview the New York Times published in March, Sacks said he wants Luminary to be to podcasting what Netflix is to streaming.

He posted an article Tuesday on Medium to herald his approach. “To some these two models may seem at odds,” he wrote. “We don’t think they are. In fact, we believe that by living together they enable podcasting to thrive.”

Sacks added: “While podcasters are passionate and love their craft, and many work only for that love, they deserve and are entitled to fair and proper resources and compensation. A subscription model can help podcasting achieve that.”

The Latest
Unite Here Local 1, representing the workers at the Signature Room and its lounge, said in a lawsuit in October the employer failed to give 60 days notice of a closing or mass layoff, violating state law.
Uecker has been synonymous with Milwaukee baseball for over half a century.
Doctors say looking at the April 8 eclipse without approved solar glasses — which are many times darker than sunglasses — can lead to retinal burns and can result in blind spots and permanent vision loss.
Antoine Perteet, 33, targeted victims on the dating app Grindr, according to Chicago police.
Glass-facade buildings can disorient birds in flight. The city is expected to update and revise rules for new developments and rehabbed buildings next month. But bird groups say the proposed guidelines need to be mandatory.