Spotify is well on its way to taking over the world of streaming audio. The service has long had more subscribers than any other on the market, but its ambitions keep growing. This Tuesday, Spotify announced that it has opened Podcast Subscriptions to every podcaster in the US. This means that if you publish a podcast on Spotify, you can now charge your listeners. From now on, you should see an option to mark episodes as subscriber-only in Anchor.
Spotify Podcast Subscriptions open to all US creators
In addition to expanding the program, Spotify is also updating Podcast Subscriptions. Going forward, there will be 20 pricing tiers available to podcasters. This wider range of options will allow creators to target their specific audiences. Creators will also be able to download a list of contact addresses for subscribers. This will increase the level of engagement that creators can offer.
From now through 2023, podcasters will keep 100% of the subscription revenue they earn (excluding payment processing fees). Starting in 2023, Spotify will charge a 5% fee. By comparison, Apple keeps 30% of a podcast’s revenue in the first year, and 15% every year thereafter.
Perhaps the most compelling element of Spotify’s Podcast Subscriptions is the flexibility they allow. Anchor not only allows podcasters to publish directly to Spotify, but also gives them private RSS feeds that listeners can use to subscribe on other platforms. Spotify also points out that its app is available on iOS and Android as well as speakers, gaming consoles, cars, and browsers. Basically, it shouldn’t ever be a problem to reach subscribers, no matter what platform they choose.
“We believe that offering subscriber-only content on Spotify, where it can be discovered by our user base of 365 million monthly listeners, will enable more of that content to gain audiences and make real connections with them,” the company says in a news release. “That’s also why we’re providing creators with contact information for their subscribers: We understand that creators want to own their relationships with listeners, and we intend to empower that.”
Subscriptions are going international
Finally, Spotify revealed that international listeners will gain access to subscriber-only content on September 15th. It will appear in the same feed as the rest of the content once they subscribe. Plus, in the coming weeks, Podcast Subscriptions will be made available to creators outside of the US.
If you want to know more about setting up Podcast Subscriptions, check out this helpful video:
