Joe Budden might’ve just given us the most expensive “oops” of 2025. What started as a humble flex turned into a full-blown exposé on just how much an independent Black podcaster can really make when the blueprint is yours.

It all popped off when the former rapper turned podcast mogul posted a screenshot of his traffic stats from Patreon—a platform where fans pay creators directly every month. The image revealed over 30 million visits in 30 days. The money part? Scribbled out. But the internet said, “Bet.”

Fans put their CSI hats on and revealed what they believed was over $900,000 in earnings—for just the month of June. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Budden’s team later confirmed that The Joe Budden Network is projected to bring in over $20 million this year. “Now everybody’s asked for a raise,” he joked after the screenshot started circulating.

So what’s the secret sauce? Turns out, it’s not really a secret—it’s independence.

Budden and his business partner and CEO of Patreon, Ian Schwartzman, opened up to The New York Times and dropped real game about running a podcast empire on their own terms. From producing episodes in a New Jersey condo (which they’re buying for $2M), to maintaining a core team of over 30 contractors, the operation is tight, professional, and fully Black-owned.

Budden’s bag breaks down like this:

• Over 70,000 paying subscribers on Patreon
  
• Subscription tiers ranging from $5 to $50/month
  
• Over $1.04 million/month in Patreon revenue
  
• Estimated $12 million+ in subscriptions this year
  
• Millions more in self-managed ad sales
  
• Passive social media ads, merch, and licensing deals to boot
  

He’s not partnered with Spotify, iHeart, Wondery, or SiriusXM. In fact, he was with Spotify from 2018–2020, earning under $2 million a year, with no ad revenue or stock. After that? He walked away.

“The bigger the money gets, the more strings that are attached,” said Schwartzman. And Joe? He wasn’t trying to be a puppet. They turned down a $44 million deal that would’ve pulled all their content off YouTube. “We wanted someone to acknowledge how valuable we were by showing that they would be comfortable giving us skin in the game.”

So they bet on themselves. Again.

In 2021, Patreon offered no guaranteed check, but equity and advisory roles. And that’s when things leveled up. According to Patreon’s CEO Jack Conte, “Joe is in a league of his own. It is not common for people to make a million dollars a month on Patreon.” And yet? Budden’s been doing it monthly since November.

Creators on Patreon made over $472 million in 2024, a 35% jump from the year before. And the landscape is shifting. Platforms like Substack are now tossing out $20 million creator funds to lure talent away from rivals. It’s giving power shift.

But Budden knows that for many up-and-coming creatives, “paywall” still sounds like a trap. The big names—Joe Rogan, Alex Cooper—have made the big network bag look like the only path. So even though posting that Patreon screenshot was a slip, Budden decided to stand on it. Transparency, on purpose.

“How else will they know they can do it this way?” Schwartzman said.

This moment is bigger than numbers. It’s a playbook for Black creators to keep their power, protect their vision, and secure the bag—without giving up ownership. Joe Budden isn’t just podcasting; he’s building an institution. And if this accidental leak showed us anything, it’s that independence hits different when the receipts are this real.

Cover photo: Joe Budden’s $20M Mic Drop: How an Independent Podcast Became the Blueprint for Power Moves/Photo credit: Ahmed Gaber/The New York Times