What Is Dovetail by PRX?

Dovetail is PRX's podcast publishing platform — the technology PRX builds to help top producers reach and grow their audiences and make money. It sits inside what PRX describes as a privacy-first suite of applications for podcasting needs, so it is aimed at producers and audio organizations that want publishing and audience-growth tools from an established public media technology provider rather than a standalone hosting account.

What Dovetail is

PRX is a public media organization whose work spans three areas visible on its site: premier content (podcasts and broadcast shows), audio technology, and training/production services. Dovetail is the piece of that portfolio that handles publishing.

The site's own framing is short and specific:

• Category: podcast publishing platform
• Built by: PRX
• Purpose: help top producers reach and grow their audiences and make money
• Positioning: part of a privacy-first suite of applications for podcasting needs

That last point matters if data handling is a deciding factor for you. PRX presents the suite as privacy-first, which is a stated design position rather than a feature list — the site does not enumerate specific privacy controls, so treat it as a directional signal, not a compliance guarantee.

Who it is for

Dovetail is described as serving "top producers." In practice, that points to:

• Independent podcast producers and production teams distributing a show
• Public radio stations and broadcast organizations extending a broadcast show into podcast form
• Networks and publishers that need publishing infrastructure alongside audience growth and monetization

If you are a hobbyist publishing a single personal podcast, the framing here is heavier than your needs. If you are running a show or a slate of shows and care about audience reach and revenue, the platform is aimed at you.

What problem it solves

Publishing is only one part of running a podcast. The three outcomes PRX names — reach, audience growth, and making money — map to the recurring jobs producers face:

PRX positions Dovetail as covering this ground as one platform rather than a patchwork of separate services.

How it fits into PRX overall

Dovetail is not a side project — it sits alongside a content operation with real scale. PRX states that its shows reach 25 million people monthly on air across the U.S. and generate 100 million monthly podcast downloads. Its show roster includes The World, Reveal, This American Life, The New Yorker Critics At Large, Ear Hustle, The Moth, Snap Judgment, Song Exploder, Normal Gossip, Milk Street Radio, and Lost Women of Science, among others.

That context is the practical argument for the platform: the same organization publishing those shows also builds the publishing technology. PRX also runs Station Services for local stations and regions, and offers podcast training for storytellers, producers, stations, and news organizations — so Dovetail can be one part of a broader relationship rather than an isolated tool.

What the site does not tell you

Before you commit, note what is not stated on the page:

• Pricing — no pricing signals appear in the available material, so do not assume it is free or paid. Check directly.
• Account requirements — no login or eligibility details are given.
• Feature specifics — the site describes Dovetail's purpose, not its feature set, integrations, or analytics.

How to decide

Choose Dovetail if you want publishing, audience growth, and monetization handled by a platform from a public media organization with a large existing show portfolio, and if a privacy-first positioning aligns with how you want your data handled.

Look elsewhere if you need transparent published pricing up front, a lightweight free host for a single show, or a detailed public feature comparison before signing up. In that case, contact PRX directly for current terms, or evaluate Dovetail alongside other hosts using the same criteria: publishing reliability, growth tools, monetization options, and data policy.