What can happen if you don’t play podsafe music on your podcast? That’s one riddle facing podcasters who want to play music: the cost of licensing.

Or, short of that, the fear that if you DON’T have proper licensing in place you’ll get snared by the RIAA or the Music Police or some such Big Brother entity and you’ll spend the rest of your life in jail or paying huge fines.

Hmm. Not fun! So I was elated when GarageBand.com came along offering thousands of podsafe songs for free!

In fact, the fun folks at GarageBand.com market themselves as a place for podsafe music – some 40,000 tunes.

If you are a member of a band, you can join GarageBand.com and upload your own songs. There are a couple of ways: either review 30 songs and upload for free, or pay a reasonable fee of about $20 to upload songs, which will then get reviewed by other GarageBand.com members.

As a podcaster, though, this is where the concept really works. You can pick a genre (acoustic, alternative, rock, world, etc.) and download to your heart’s content. Each band that uploads music under one of three arrangements: either they give it away to anyone for podcasting under any circumstance, or they offer it available once you contact them and ask for permission, or they offer it as streaming audio only. Whatever way, you get podsafe music for your podcast - and lots of it.

And of course the band gets free publicity, and GarageBand.com also gets a boost because you’ll undoubtedly want to mention them on your podcast.

I won’t go into all the great benefits that musicians and working bands get out of GarageBand.com, but if you are in a band and haven’t heard of this website, you’ll want to check it our post-haste.

I’ve been looking to spice up my show with some music for awhile, and other than playing my OWN music, this looks to be a great source of podsafe music.

The chairman of GarageBand.com’s Advisory Board is Sir George Martin, the man who signed The Beatles and produced all of their records (except for the Phil-Spector produced ‘Let It Be’). Jerry Harrison, ex-Talking Head and professional producer, is a co-founders.

Take a listen to GarageBand.com and no doubt you’ll find some great ‘podsafe’ music for your podcast.

Tim ‘Gonzo’ Gordon shows you how to create professional, high-quality audio on your home computer. With 25+ years of radio production, writing and voice talent, Tim can show you how to set up a small pro studio and create audio for fun and profit. Subscribe to his free newsletter Digital Audio Bits at Digital Audio World. Learn how to podcast with Podcasting Adventures Online.

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Many people call themselves podcasting “experts” and it’s no wonder since podcasting is still fairly new and everyone is trying to jump on the podcasting bandwagon to make tons of cash.

Sales letters are written, websites are launched and ebooks are thrown together by internet marketers who want to make a fast buck on a growing trend.

Not everyone who calls themselves an podcasting expert really is and you need to understand the ways to separate the real podcasting experts from those trying to make a fast buck.

Here are some ways to determine whether a podcasting expert is trustworthy and whether you should spend money on their podcasting product or service.

• Ensure that podcasting “expert” isn’t just podcasting for fun. A podcasting hobbyist is only producing his or her own podcast. A podcasting evangelist is producing podcasting solutions for herself, clients and other people. Look for testimonials, case studies or a list of clients that the podcasting expert has helped. Chances are if others are saying great things about this podcasting expert, you can feel confident spending money on his or her solutions.

• Double check that the podcasting “expert” even has a podcast. A lot of people say they can teach you how to podcast, but don’t even have a podcast of their own. How can you learn the ropes if that person hasn’t done it themselves? A rule of thumb is to see if they’ve produced at least 15 episodes of their own podcast or someone else’s. If they have, then you can heed their advice since that person has probably been through a lot of equipment - and experiences - to advise you on the best course of action.

• Understand what the podcasting “expert” has been doing in the podcasting industry. Aside from selling products or services on podcasting, people whose businesses rely solely on podcasting are speaking at conferences, doing interviews in the media, writing articles on the subject and developing ventures all related to podcasting. One podcasting expert has developed an online expo on podcasting. Another podcasting expert is writing a book filled with podcasting case studies. If over the last 6- to 12-months you find that 70% of the expert’s activities have been focused on podcasting, you can confidently buy their product or service knowing that they are true evangelists. Plug in the expert’s name into a search engine and see what pops up.

(c) 2006 Leesa Barnes. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

An Internet maverick with a solid technology background, Leesa Barnes helps businesses use podcasting to drive search engine traffic to their website and build profitable relationships with their customers. She is co-author of Jump Start Your Podcast and she comments on podcast optimization techniques in her blog called Podonomics. Visit http://www.leesabarnes.com and sign up to receive a free ecourse called 5 Ways a Podcast Can Boost Your Search Engine Ranking.

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