How Disgraceland Rocks True Crime Podcasts

April 23, 2018 7:53 am

Jake Brennan may be a podcaster, but you can’t take the punk rock out of him. His regular voice hints at a past likely involving some parties, but that only further exemplifies the rock and roll attitude that coincides with his podcast and storytelling technique. By telling immersive and engaging stories, his first foray into podcasts, Disgraceland, has been able to stand out and succeed in a crowded space of true crime podcasts.

Disgraceland is a true crime podcast that focuses specifically on crimes involving musicians. At the time of this writing, his stories have depicted Jerry Lee Lewis, Sid Vicious, Van Morrison, Sam Cooke, and a slew of Norwegian Black Metal bands. The stories are outlandish and instantly captivating given Brennan’s writing and delivery. The stories involve elements you’d likely expect: murder, drugs, and overall mayhem, but with Brennan’s narrative, the energy and excitement builds through each episode to the climax and resolution.

The origin story for Disgraceland will likely ring true for a lot of podcasters. Seeking a creative outlet and unsure of what the future would hold, Brennan dove headfirst into a podcast. “I was definitely at a crossroads in my life professionally and creatively when I made the decision to make Disgraceland. I decided I was going to throw myself wholeheartedly into a creative endeavor, which is not a decision that I take lightly.”

Brennan, an avid music historian, was well-versed in several of these stories already, reading editorial features and biographies recounting the events he’d later depict in Disgraceland. The challenge for him is often how to separate the person, the crime, and their musical talent. Brennan describes this, “Jerry Lee Lewis can be an alleged murdering psychopath and he’s still one of the greatest rock and roll musicians of all time. How do you reconcile that sort of tension of bad people, great music?”

Documentarians and podcasters alike aren’t unique to this problem. To construct a condensed, yet engaging story, the creators often need to inject their unique perspective on the situation. This is especially important when recounting a well-known topic or crime. Listeners won’t want to hear about something they’ve already seen depicted several times before, they want something unique, something new. Brennan describes an upcoming episode, “My take is the media killed Tupac and Biggie by upping the animosity and creating this honey trap for them to keep upping the tension themselves. The media was complicit, as well as the fans, in driving that narrative, driving the tension to a crescendo.”

The nit I will pick on Disgraceland is the balance the story teeters with in regards to factual evidence and entertainment. As a podcast, your goal is to engage listeners. Disgraceland — and several other true crime podcasts — is occasionally guilty of leaning too much into the entertainment at the cost of diverging from objective facts. In a couple episodes Brennan goes so far as to voice some of the people’s internal monologues happening during specific events. Brennan responded to the question of where the responsibility lies in staying truthful to the facts by saying, “as a listener, I’m attracted to those podcasts that are more story-focused and let the chips fall where they may.” Reading between the lines, it appears Brennan is aimed at telling the most immersive, entertaining story possible. He succeeds in this endeavor.

As an indie podcast, Disgraceland’s success has become somewhat of an anomaly. When a new episode is released, it’s not uncommon to see Disgraceland break the top ten podcasts on Apple. Along with a captivating podcast, this success is largely driven by the strong community Brennan has helped foster. When asked about if this was organic or purposeful, he responded with a simple: both. He also stole some ideas from his time in a band as well.

“When I was in a punk and hardcore bands (pre-internet) you’d share demo tapes with your friends at shows and you’d swap merch. It was this big organic supportive scene where all the bands helped each other out. What I found is this exists in the podcast world as well.”

Poster of renderings for upcoming *Disgraceland* episodes. Art by Avi Spivak

Unsurprising, Brennan is big on merch, specifically stickers and t-shirts. He rewards his favorite app reviewers with a shirt and reads their review during the credits. This is the best example I’ve seen of a podcaster grooming a dedicated fanbase and turning them into advocates to spread the podcast through word of mouth. This remains the key for all podcasts, but especially imperative for indie podcasts with limited resources. Our 2017 Podcast Trends Report found 74% of people find podcasts through word of mouth, the largest discovery channel. Combine great content with action and the success will follow.

Planned as a seasonal podcast, the first season of Disgraceland will conclude after 12 episodes. When asked if he’s worried about following up with a second season to rival the first, Brennan responded confidently, “I think there’s some really crazy ones coming up. I don’t think I’ve scratched the surface really.” He continued, “I’m going to take three weeks after season one. Then come back with season two right away and that will take me through the end of the year.”