Budden Opens The Books: $20 Million In Annual Revenue, Most From Patreon Subs.

Joe Budden might be the most transparent podcaster of all. After he inadvertently revealed last month on Instagram how much he’s earned on Patreon, Budden’s team has laid out how The Joe Budden Podcast on track to have $20 million a year in revenue.

Budden Network CEO Ian Schwartzman tells The New York Times that more than half of its earnings come from the Patreon memberships. He puts the total at $12 million, which Patreon confirms makes Budden the site’s biggest earner. The remainder is made from advertising — which Budden sells in-house — as well as income from YouTube, merchandise sales and content licensing.

They are also sharing where all that money goes. It includes $1.5 million a year in salaries to Budden show co-hosts Trevor Robinson, Marc Lamont Hill, Melyssa Ford, Parks Vallely, Antwan Marby and Lamar Burney. There are also production and marketing costs. But Schwartzman shares with the Times that they are in the process of buying the New Jersey condo where the show is recorded for $2 million.

Schwartzman said they are making their finances public to encourage other creators to remain independent. “How else will they know they can do it this way?” he tells the Times.

The disclosure process began last month when Budden shared a screen shot showing how many visitors he has to his Patreon page. The number is 30.2 million during the last 30 days. And although he blacked out the page’s numbers showing his total number of active members and lifetime Patreon earnings, the website Complex was able to remove enough of the digital ink to reveal the numbers. It allegedly shows that Budden earned $903,000 from Patreon subscription sales during June. And his podcast currently has more than 154,000 active members.

Budden has called Patreon home since 2021. Members receive a range of features depending on their subscription tier, including exclusive video podcast episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and a members-only chat feature. Subscriptions to Budden’s content start at $5 per month and go up to $25. While subscribers get ad-free episodes, Budden also distributes his show widely featuring advertising.

Patreon CEO Jack Conte tells the Times that Budden may be “in a league of his own” since not a lot of people make a million dollars a month on their platform.

It is not the first time the subject of Budden’s earnings has made headlines. During an April 2024 episode, Budden said that he had grossed $7 million since he launched his show in 2015, or “about $4 million” after taxes.