What you need to know
- Spotify is rolling out paid podcast subscriptions.
- The feature is coming to the U.S. from today.
- Users will have to make a submission to join a waitlist in order to be considered for monetization.
Spotify is today rolling out its own paid podcast subscription platform, following the announcement of Apple's Podcast Subscription last week.
The company stated:
At Stream On, we shared that we'd be launching more choices for podcast monetization: a native solution on Spotify to power paid podcast subscriptions, and the activation of independent creators as part of the Spotify Audience Network. Today begins the rollout of our monetization options for all creators: with Paid Subscriptions, Spotify's Open Access Platform, and bringing independent creators into our Spotify Audience Network. Today, we're rolling out a paid subscription platform for podcasters that gives them maximized revenue, wide reach, and discoverability. The program begins rolling out in the U.S. today and will expand internationally in the coming months.
The feature, available through Anchor, will come at no cost to the creator as they keep 100% of subscription revenues, with a 5% fee coming into effect in 2023.
Spotify says 12 creators will be involved in the first participating group:
The first group of participating creators includes 12 independent podcasters who are each uniquely well positioned to succeed in gaining meaningful revenue from their audiences. These creators will publish subscriber-only bonus content in their existing podcast feeds. Starting now, we're also going to begin accepting submissions from our waitlist, effectively expanding the program to more creators and the rest of the world over the coming months.
Spotify has also unveiled a collaboration with NPR to publish sponsor-free shows for paid subscribers:
Five shows will be available starting May 4—How I Built This with Guy Raz, Short Wave, It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders, Code Switch, and Planet Money—with more to come in the following weeks. Look for NPR shows marked as "Plus" (for example, Planet Money Plus) to subscribe to sponsor-free content from NPR and support the shows you love.
You can read the full announcement here.
Apple unveiled its own podcast subscription service at its April event last week stating:
Apple today unveiled Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, a global marketplace for listeners to discover premium subscriptions offered by their favorite creators alongside millions of free shows on Apple Podcasts. Starting in May, listeners in more than 170 countries and regions can sign up for premium subscriptions that include a variety of benefits curated by creators, such as ad-free listening, access to additional content, and early or exclusive access to new series.
