This guide sets out the real numbers in Australian dollars, the four Australian requirements that sit outside the equipment budget, and the six things a podcast needs that no gear list includes. Every figure is sourced and dated. Nothing here is an estimate.
Podcast listening in Australia reached 55 percent of people aged 10 and over
The audience question is settled. The Infinite Dial Australia 2026 study reports that 55 percent of Australians aged 10 and over consume podcasts monthly, up from 52 percent a year earlier. The study surveyed 1,600 Australians aged 10 and over, with fieldwork run from 12 to 28 April 2026, and is published in Australia by Commercial Radio and Audio. Trade coverage of the same study reported that audio only monthly listening crossed 50 percent for the first time, which works out at roughly 12 million people.
That is the demand side, and it is healthy. The supply side is where the numbers turn sobering, and it should shape how you spend.
Four in ten podcasts launched in 2026 stopped publishing within six months
Podchaser pulled its database on 30 June 2026 and analysed every show with a first episode dated between 1 January and 30 June 2026. Of the 153,767 podcasts that launched in that window, 64,100 had already gone inactive by the time the data was pulled. That is 41.7 percent, gone inside six months, most of them within weeks of their debut.
Read that against the cost tables below. The money at risk in a podcast is not the microphone. It is the fifty hours of unpaid production labour that go into six episodes nobody hears, and the show that stops because recording became a chore. Every decision in this guide is weighed against whether it makes episode twelve more likely, not whether it makes episode one cheaper.
Podcast equipment in Australia costs between $873 and $3,274 for two people
All prices below were read from one Australian retailer, Store DJ, on 10 September 2026. Australian retail prices are advertised inclusive of GST. Three kits are costed, each for two recording positions, and each one records audio only. None of them includes a camera, a light, acoustic treatment or an editor.
A starter kit costs $873 and records two people to separate tracks
This is the cheapest arrangement that still records each voice on its own channel, which is the single specification that decides whether an episode can be fixed after the fact. A shared microphone cannot be unmixed later. Two channels can.
| Item | Quantity | Unit price | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rode PodMic dynamic microphone | 2 | $134 | $268 |
| Zoom PodTrak P4 four input recorder | 1 | $299 | $299 |
| Audio Technica ATH M20x headphones | 2 | $95 | $190 |
| Intune desktop microphone stand | 2 | $37 | $74 |
| Intune XLR cable, 3 metre | 2 | $21 | $42 |
| Total | $873 |
A console kit costs $2,044 and removes the editing step for music and stings
The step up replaces the recorder with a production console. Sound pads, live mixing and on board processing mean the file that comes off the device is closer to a finished episode, which cuts the post production hours that cause most shows to stall.
| Item | Quantity | Unit price | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rode PodMic dynamic microphone | 2 | $134 | $268 |
| Rode RODECaster Pro II production console | 1 | $878 | $878 |
| Rode PSA1+ studio boom arm | 2 | $199 | $398 |
| Rode NTH100 over ear headphones | 2 | $229 | $458 |
| Intune XLR cable, 3 metre | 2 | $21 | $42 |
| Total | $2,044 |
A studio grade kit costs $3,274 and still records no video at all
The third kit swaps in the microphone most professional spoken word studios run. It is the same model used in commercial rooms, and it is the point at which the microphone stops being the weak link in the chain.
| Item | Quantity | Unit price | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shure SM7dB dynamic microphone with built in preamp | 2 | $749 | $1,498 |
| Rode RODECaster Pro II production console | 1 | $878 | $878 |
| Rode PSA1+ studio boom arm | 2 | $199 | $398 |
| Rode NTH100 over ear headphones | 2 | $229 | $458 |
| Intune XLR cable, 3 metre | 2 | $21 | $42 |
| Total | $3,274 |
Prices read from Store DJ on 10 September 2026. The Shure SM7dB was listed at $749, marked down from $839. Alternatives at other price points on the same retailer included the Shure MV7+ at $489, the Focusrite Scarlett Solo Gen 4 interface at $249 and the Scarlett 2i2 Gen 4 at $349.
Two adjustments matter before you use these numbers. Recording four people doubles the microphone, headphone, stand and cable lines, which adds $574 to the starter kit and $1,124 to the console kit. And every kit above assumes you already own a computer capable of running an editor.
Podcast hosting is billed in United States dollars and adds a permanent monthly line
Hosting is what puts an episode into Apple Podcasts, Spotify and every other app. It is the one cost that never stops, and almost every major platform prices in United States dollars, so an Australian budget carries an exchange rate and usually a card foreign transaction fee on top.
| Platform | Entry plan | Published price | What the plan allows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buzzsprout | Free tier | US$0 | 2 hours of uploads a month, episodes hosted for 90 days |
| Buzzsprout | Audio Podcast | US$15 per month, billed annually | 72 upload hours a year |
| Captivate | Personal | US$17 per month, paid yearly | Up to 30,000 downloads a month, unlimited shows and storage |
| Transistor | Starter | US$19 per month | 20,000 monthly downloads, unlimited shows |
Published pricing read from each platform on 10 September 2026. Figures are the platforms' own list prices in United States dollars. The Australian dollar cost depends on the exchange rate on the day you are billed.
The free tier deserves a warning rather than a recommendation. Episodes that are hosted for 90 days and then removed break every link anyone has shared, and a back catalogue that disappears is worse for a new show than no back catalogue at all. Treat a free plan as a trial, not a home.
Four Australian requirements sit outside the equipment budget
This is the part that generic guides skip, because three of these four rules are specific to Australia. Two of them cost nothing. One becomes compulsory at a revenue threshold. The fourth stops most people using the music they had in mind.
An Australian Business Number costs nothing and unlocks a .com.au domain
An ABN is an eleven digit number that identifies a business to government, other businesses and the public. Registering for an ABN through the Australian Business Register is free, and a successful application issues the number immediately. Applications that need review are assessed within 20 business days.
The ABN matters for a podcast beyond invoicing. Registering a .com.au domain requires what the .au Licensing Rules call an Australian Presence, and holding an ABN is the ordinary route to it. The rules also require the domain to match or abbreviate your business, company or trading name, so choose the show name and secure the domain in the same sitting rather than months apart.
GST registration becomes compulsory at $75,000 of turnover
A podcast that earns nothing has no GST obligation. The Australian Taxation Office requires registration once GST turnover reaches $75,000, or $150,000 for a non profit organisation, and registration must happen within 21 days of crossing the threshold. Turnover is gross business income across all your activities, not profit and not podcast income alone, which is the detail that catches consultants and agency owners who add a show to an existing business.
Copyright protects your episodes automatically under the Copyright Act 1968
There is no copyright register in Australia and nothing to pay. Copyright protection is free and automatic under the Copyright Act 1968, and it attaches the moment a work is recorded or written down. Any service offering to register the copyright in your podcast for a fee is selling you something the law already gives you.
Music licensing in Australia has a gap that stops most commercial songs
This is the requirement worth reading twice, because two organisations control two different rights and only one of them sells a podcast licence.
APRA AMCOS represents songwriters, composers and publishers. Its Mini Online Licence explicitly covers podcasts and is priced at $275 for Tier A, $550 for Tier B and $1,100 for Tier C, per licence year and for each category of music use. The agreement defines a Featured Music Podcast as one with no more than 80 percent music by duration, and a Minimal Music Podcast as no more than 40 percent, with download ceilings attached to each tier.
The gap is on the other side. A commercial song is two separate copyrights: the composition, which APRA AMCOS covers, and the sound recording, which belongs to the label and the recording artists and is administered by the PPCA. The PPCA's online and digital licensing lists internet radio, background music, broadcaster digital and subscription video licences. On demand and downloadable use, which is exactly what a podcast episode is, is not covered, and the PPCA directs those applicants to seek a licence directly from each copyright holder.
In practice that means a chart song cannot be cleared for an independent Australian podcast at any reasonable cost or timeframe. The workable answers are production music libraries, royalty free catalogues with written podcast terms, or original music commissioned once and used across the whole series. Budget between nothing and a few hundred dollars a year, and decide it before you record the intro rather than after.
Distribution to Apple Podcasts and Spotify costs nothing
The apps do not charge to carry a show. Creating an Apple Podcasts Connect account and submitting a show is free, and the paid Apple Podcasters Program is required only if you want to offer listener subscriptions. Once a hosting platform generates your feed, submission is a form, not an invoice. Directory listing is the cheapest step in the whole process and the one people worry about most.
Six things a podcast needs that no equipment list includes
Every cost above is a purchase. Everything below is a problem, and problems are what stop shows. This is the honest version of what you actually need.
| What it is | What happens without it | How it gets solved |
|---|---|---|
| A room that does not ring | Reverb and air conditioning noise sit under every word and cannot be removed in the edit. Listeners register it as amateur before they register the content | Acoustic treatment, or record somewhere already treated |
| Someone running the technology | The host watches levels instead of listening to the guest, and the conversation flattens. Failed recordings almost always trace to a settings error nobody noticed | A second person, or a studio where an operator is included |
| Video capture | Audio only shows forfeit YouTube, Spotify video and every short form clip. Video is now the default distribution format, not an upgrade | Cameras, lighting and a switcher, or a room where they are already rigged |
| Editing hours | A one hour conversation takes two to four hours to edit properly. This is the line item that causes shows to stop, not equipment cost | Learn it and protect the time, hire an editor, or book a session with the edit included |
| A format that survives episode twelve | Shows built on a novelty or a single guest type run out of material. Four in ten new podcasts stopped inside six months in 2026 | Design a repeatable structure and a guest pipeline before recording episode one |
| A publishing rhythm | Irregular release trains listeners not to expect you, and the apps surface consistent shows. Sporadic publishing is what podfade looks like from the outside | Batch record several episodes in one sitting and release on a fixed schedule |
Notice how many of those six are solved by the same decision. A treated room, an operator, cameras and an edit are four separate purchases when you build at home and one line on an invoice when you book a room that already has them.
Konnect Studios includes the room, the operator and the cameras in one hourly rate
Konnect Studios is a podcast recording studio in Parramatta, in the Parramatta CBD, six minutes on foot from Parramatta station and the light rail. Podcast studio hire in Sydney with an operator included starts at $174 an hour on the Capture session, and the reason it appears in a guide about starting a podcast is arithmetic rather than advertising: four of the six problems in the table above are already solved in the room.
| What a session includes | What it replaces from the list above |
|---|---|
| A treated recording room at minus 40 dB isolation | Acoustic treatment, and the search for a quiet space |
| A studio operator who sets up before you arrive and runs the session | The second pair of hands, and the failed recording |
| Up to four Shure SM7dB microphones, each on its own channel | The microphone, stand, cable and interface lines in every kit above |
| Two Sony FX30 cameras recording 4K, with a full lighting rig | The camera, lens and lighting budget that no audio kit contains |
| Blackmagic ATEM live switching to a director's feed | Most of the editing hours, because the cut happens during the session |
| Two sets, The Vault and The Luxe, inside a single booking | A second location for a second look |
| Editing on Craft and Conquer sessions | The editor, or the two to four hours per episode you would spend yourself |
Session details and rates read from the Konnect Studios podcast studio hire page on 10 September 2026. Sessions book in 1, 2, 4 and 8 hour blocks, up to four guests, Monday to Saturday 7am to 9pm with after hours by arrangement.
The equipment budget converts into studio hours at a rate worth knowing
The three kits above are not abstract sums. Measured against a $174 hourly rate, the starter kit is a little over five hours in a studio, the console kit is close to twelve, and the studio grade kit is nearly nineteen.
| Kit | Purchase price | Equivalent studio hours at $174 | What the hours also include |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $873 | 5 hours | Operator, treated room, 4K video, live switching |
| Console | $2,044 | 11 hours | Operator, treated room, 4K video, live switching |
| Studio grade | $3,274 | 18 hours | Operator, treated room, 4K video, live switching |
Neither path is automatically right. Buying wins when you record often, already have a quiet room and enjoy the technical side, because the kit is paid for once and the marginal cost of episode fifty is nothing. Hiring wins when you are testing whether the show works, when you need video from the first episode, or when the editing hours are the thing you cannot spare.
The honest test is the one most people skip. Count the episodes you will actually publish in the first year, then price both paths across that number rather than across one recording. What podcast studio hire actually costs in Sydney models the cost of a finished episode rather than an hour, which is the comparison that changes decisions.
The first year of an Australian podcast, costed two ways
A twelve episode first season, two people, recorded monthly. Both columns assume the same show and the same output.
| Line item | Buy and record at home | Hire a studio |
|---|---|---|
| Recording equipment | $2,044 once, console kit | $0 |
| Room | Whatever treatment costs, or nothing and it sounds like it | Included |
| Operator | You, during the conversation | Included |
| Video | Not included in any kit above | Included, two cameras in 4K |
| Recording sessions | $0 | $348 a session at 2 hours, $4,176 for twelve |
| Editing | 24 to 48 hours of your time across the season | Your time, or included on Craft and Conquer sessions |
| Hosting | About US$15 to US$19 a month on either path | About US$15 to US$19 a month on either path |
| ABN and copyright | $0 | $0 |
| Music licence, if you use music | $275 and up, or use royalty free | $275 and up, or use royalty free |
Studio figures use the published Capture rate of $174 an hour across a two hour session. Equipment figures use the console kit priced above. Hosting is the published entry pricing from the platforms listed earlier.
The gap between the two columns is smaller than the headline numbers suggest, because the buy column is missing four rows that the hire column fills. Add a camera, a light, treatment and an editor to the left hand side and the two paths converge quickly.
Questions Australians ask before starting a podcast
How much does it cost to start a podcast in Australia?
Equipment for two people costs $873 for a starter kit, $2,044 for a console kit and $3,274 for a studio grade kit at Australian retail prices in September 2026. Hosting adds roughly US$15 to US$19 a month. An ABN and copyright protection cost nothing. Music licensing starts at $275 a year if you use music that needs it. A podcast can be started for under $1,000, and a video podcast cannot, unless you hire a room that already has cameras.
Do you need an ABN to start a podcast in Australia?
Not to publish one. You need an ABN to invoice sponsors, to claim GST credits and, in most cases, to register a .com.au domain, because the .au rules require an Australian Presence. Registering an ABN through the Australian Business Register is free and a successful application issues the number immediately.
Do you have to pay GST on podcast income in Australia?
Only once your GST turnover reaches $75,000, or $150,000 for a non profit organisation. Turnover counts gross income across all your business activities, not podcast revenue in isolation, so an existing business that adds a show is measured on the combined figure. Registration must happen within 21 days of crossing the threshold.
Can you use commercial music in an Australian podcast?
Generally no. APRA AMCOS covers the songwriters and publishers, and its Mini Online Licence explicitly includes podcasts from $275 a year. The recording itself is a separate copyright administered by the PPCA, which does not sell a podcast licence and directs on demand and downloadable use to the individual rights holders. Production music libraries, royalty free catalogues with written podcast terms and commissioned original music are the practical alternatives.
Do you need to register copyright for a podcast in Australia?
No. Australia has no copyright register. Protection is free and automatic under the Copyright Act 1968 from the moment the episode is recorded. Any paid copyright registration service is selling something the law already provides.
Is it cheaper to buy podcast equipment or hire a studio in Australia?
It depends on episode volume and whether you need video. A $2,044 console kit is worth about eleven hours of studio hire at $174 an hour, so buying is cheaper past roughly a dozen recording hours if you already have a quiet room, do not need cameras and can edit. Hiring is cheaper for a first season, for any show that needs video, and for anyone whose editing hours are the binding constraint.
How many new podcasts survive their first year?
Fewer than most people assume. Of 153,767 podcasts that launched worldwide in the first half of 2026, 41.7 percent had already stopped publishing by 30 June 2026. Consistency, not equipment, is the variable that separates the shows that continue from the shows that do not.