The Cost of Coverage: Built to 100,000 Monthly Views, We’re Opening the Doors to Sponsorships and Ads
A simple way to keep coverage free, keep the calendar stacked, and put your name inside the stories you already read
(Click on any image in this article to donate to an upcoming article!)
The moment the lights finally hit the marquee
Some milestones feel like a quiet handshake. This one feels like a neon sign warming up, buzzing, then popping fully alive.
We’ve crossed 100,000 views a month between the publication and our socials. That number isn’t just vanity math. It’s proof of a real audience with real habits and real curiosity. People show up here for scene reports, long-form reviews, interviews, announcements, and the small human details that get lost when coverage turns into copy-paste hype. And the wild part is where those people live. At this point, we’re being read in 48 states and 52 countries. That’s not just growth. That’s a living map of attention, proof that this little corner of independent coverage has become a real signal.
So we’re taking the next step.
We’re officially opening two ways for readers and businesses to support the work without turning the site into a paywall dungeon.
One is personal and fun. Sponsor a specific article, even for $1, and get your name or business listed inside that story.
The other is more traditional and more scalable. Digital advertising and sponsorship packages that keep the engine running month to month while keeping most content as open as we can.
This is us choosing sustainability without losing our soul.
Article sponsorships that cost exactly what you can spare
Let’s start with the easiest one.
Sponsoring an article is simple. You donate any amount you’re able. Yes, even $1. You choose an upcoming article you want to sponsor. Then we list your name or business inside that article as an Article Sponsor.
That’s it. No weird hoops. No marketing jargon. No “platinum partner synergy bundle.”
It means your name could appear directly inside an article about one of your favorite bands, shows, or local venues. The kind of placement that doesn’t feel like an interruption, because it’s literally supporting the reporting that made the piece exist.
This also makes sponsorship feel personal. You’re not “buying impressions.” You’re helping send a writer and photographer to a night that matters to you, so it gets documented properly.
If you’ve ever read a review and thought, I’m glad somebody captured that moment, this is how you help create more of those moments.
And because the support is donation-based, the door stays open for everyone. Big donors, small donors, broke-but-invested readers, local bands, local businesses, proud parents, and that one friend who always shows up early and knows the bartender by name.
Also, we want to say this loud.
Big thanks to Kela Geyer for being our first Sponsor Donation and helping with the upcoming run of five shows. That kind of early vote of confidence matters.
Why we’re doing this without pretending it’s glamorous
We’ve worked hard to keep our publication as free of paywalls as we can. That’s been a core part of the mission. Real coverage should be readable by real people, not just whoever’s willing to stack subscriptions like Pokémon cards.
But we’ve been operating for three years now, and the costs are real.
Five upcoming shows can add up to around $1,000 to cover. Tickets, travel, meals, occasional lodging, and the invisible cost people forget, time. Not just showtime. The writing time. The edit time. The photo sorting. The uploads. The back-and-forth with press contacts. The deadlines that don’t care if your week was already full.
Even if an average article cost only $20 to create, we’re nearing our 600th article. That means we’re well beyond $30,000 invested into coverage for the scene, for the artists, and for readers who want more than a blurry phone clip and a setlist rumor.
We’ve also worked hard to grow our press contacts. Our approvals are rising. Reader rates are rising. And that reach keeps spreading. Across the publication and socials, we’re now reaching readers in 48 states and 52 countries, and it’s still climbing. The whole system is gaining traction, and traction is the exact moment you either build infrastructure or watch the wheels wobble off.
This is the infrastructure move.
If you want to see what ad sponsorship can look like in the wild, there’s a sneak peek inside the sample advertisement preview on Intellectual Dissatisfaction Here!
That page isn’t actually published publicly. It’s just a sample so readers can see what a clean sponsorship placement could look like.
The advertising menu
Now for the business side. This is for sponsors who want consistent visibility and who understand that supporting independent media is both good marketing and good community stewardship.
Here are the available digital advertising-business sponsorship packages.
Publication Sponsor and Advertisement
$500 per month or $5,000 per year
Section Sponsor and Advertisement
$250 per month or $2,500 per year
Sponsored Section: [verification needed]
Top Advertisement
$200 per month or $2,000 per year
Sponsored Ad Placement
$100 per month or $1,000 per year
Availability and limits
Advertisers should understand that certain sponsorships are limited in number at any given time. For example, one Publication Sponsor slot, limited Section Sponsor slots, and limited Top Sponsor slots. We will confirm availability in writing when we countersign the agreement.
In plain terms, you’re not buying into a chaotic free-for-all. You’re buying into a clean, controlled layout where your ad shows up with intention.
What sponsors actually get, without the fog machine
Here’s what each package includes, spelled out clearly.
Publication Sponsor and Advertisement
A custom “Publication Sponsored By [Advertiser]” banner placed at the top of every article during the sponsorship term, followed by the advertiser’s primary ad creative.
Section Sponsor and Advertisement
A custom section banner placed at the top of every article within the chosen section during the sponsorship term, followed by the advertiser’s ad creative. We will not place a paywall on content in that section for the duration of the sponsorship.
Top Advertisement
The advertiser’s ad appears near the top of every article site-wide for the sponsored month or months.
Sponsored Ad Placement
The advertiser’s ad appears in a minimum of twenty-five (25) articles per month, which equates to approximately $4 or less per ad placement based on the current monthly rate.
That’s the whole deal. Simple. Transparent. Measurable. No goofy bait-and-switch.
The deeper point, what this keeps alive
This isn’t just about paying for tickets. It’s about keeping a local ecosystem documented.
A scene without documentation is a scene that gets rewritten by whoever shows up later with a bigger budget and a worse memory. Independent coverage is the difference between “this happened” and “this mattered.”
Sponsorships and ads help us do more of the work that readers actually respond to.
More reviews, especially for bills that deserve words but don’t have a massive touring machine behind them.
More photography, because a good live photo is proof that a band was real and radiant.
More travel coverage when the show is worth the miles.
More consistency. Less burnout. Better editing. Better turnaround.
It also helps us keep building the calendar, expanding the network, and increasing approvals so we can cover bigger events while still giving love to the smaller rooms.
If you’re curious what we’re aiming at long-term, you can peek at the yearly coverage calendar inside the Intellectual Dissatisfaction yearly calendar plans Here
Afterglow
Three years ago, this started as a stubborn idea. Cover the shows. Write the stories. Keep it readable. Keep it honest. Keep it human.
Huge thanks to every contributor who’s been doing this on their own time and dime, purely for the love of the music. That’s not a cute tagline. That’s the reality. Late nights, long drives, paid tickets, missed sleep, and the kind of stubborn devotion that doesn’t show up on spreadsheets but absolutely shows up in the work.
Now the views are saying something back. 100,000 a month is the crowd noise of the internet, and for once, it’s not empty.
Sponsorships and ads are our way of turning that noise into fuel, so the next 600 stories don’t depend on someone quietly eating the cost again and again.
If you’ve ever felt seen by an article here, this is how you return the favor. Not with hype. With help. The kind that keeps the lights on and the notebooks open.
And somewhere out there, there’s a future review waiting to be written about your favorite band. It would be pretty poetic if your name was right there in it, like a signature in the margins of the night.
