Podcasts are a great way for musicians to connect with their audience. Two new artist podcasts released this month feature Dua Lipa and Jim Jones.

iHeartMedia and Dua Lipa have teamed up for the “Dua Lipa: At Your Service” podcast, produced by Studio 2054 Productions. This is a weekly interview-style podcast that airs on Fridays, featuring a special guest starring Dua Lipa. The first episode airs February 11 on iHeartRadio and everywhere else. The show hopes to cover everything from fashion and music to literature and activism.

The show’s upcoming guests include Elton John, Megan Thee Stallion, Russell Brand, Bowen Yang, South Korean rapper CL, author Lisa Taddeo, British Vogue editor Edward Enninful, novelist Hanya Yanagihara and the Iraqi human rights activist Nadia Murad.

“In my work, I have had the chance to travel the world and meet some of the most inspiring and fascinating people in the world.” said Doua Lipa. “I’m thrilled to partner with iHeart to not only share some of the amazing tips and lessons I’ve learned throughout my own travels, but also to have a platform to shine a light on some of the experiences and challenges that others around the world encounter and overcome every day.”

Meanwhile, rapper Jim Jones is teaming up with UnitedMasters for his Mining Diamonds podcast. The show features Jim Jones and co-hosts Nakia Booth and Gregory ‘Beef’ Jones and is aimed at black entrepreneurs. The episodes tap into timely business lessons and bring history’s black entrepreneurs out of obscurity.

“We co-developed this new series with Jim Jones, it’s about black founders and entrepreneurs, their history, what they’ve built and what they’re doing,” said Jon Weidman, vice president of content strategy at UnitedMasters. “It’s a great example of partnering with the artist community to bring new stories to the world, and it will be educational for artists as well.”

The reach of podcast media is particularly diverse compared to traditional radio. A Nielsen Report 2021 found that non-white audiences fuel podcast audience growth. 41% of US podcast listeners identify as non-white. Among black listeners, professional podcasts are the most sought-after genre, behind music, health and fitness. Podcast advertising revenue is expected to reach $2 billion by 2023, according to that same report.

“Our whole approach is to ask stupid questions of smart people because I’ve made mistakes in business, because of all these things I haven’t learned because I’m from a black community,” says Jim Jones.

“I was in my 40s without learning key business strategies on how to manage money, or what to do with money and invest it.” Jones built the podcast from his weekly captive audience on Clubhouse which attracted thousands of listeners. “We need more podcasts that will explain these [business] concepts to people and encourage people, especially black people, to own and understand,” Jones says of the content.