Image Credit: Spotify

Spotify Podcast Subscriptions offer fans a way to support their favourite podcasters in exchange for exclusive content.

Especially during the pandemic, more podcasts are currently be published than ever before. Similarly to Patreon, with Spotify Podcast Subscriptions, podcast creators can mark episodes as susbcriber-only. Fans can pay a monthly fee to access the exclusive episodes right within Spotify. For creators, Spotify Podcast Subscriptions are a more efficient monetization model than sponsorships or advertisement. Podcast Subscriptions were announced and launched to a handful of creators in April earlier this year. Today over 100 podcasts are using the new monetization tool. As of earlier this week, Spotify have now opened up Podcast Subscriptions to all U.S. podcasters.

Spotify Podcast Subscriptions are available in Anchor. With Anchor, creators can publish their shows to Spotify’s 365 million monthly listeners, as well as all other major podcast platforms. Creators can choose a monthly subscriptions price, mark episodes as subscriber-only and publish these episodes to Spotify. For future episodes, creators can simply toggle subscription episodes on upload. On Anchor, statistics can be tracked and creators can now download a list of subscribers contact details to send out marketing emails. Users must subscribe in a browser to avoid Apple’s App Store fees. Creators currently receive 100% of the earnings (minus transaction fees) until 2023, when Spotify plan to introduce a 5% fees.

Along with the roll out to all U.S. creators, Spotify are introducing a couple of new features based on learnings during testing:

  • We will be expanding the number of pricing points to 20 options that can be chosen by the creator, offering increased flexibility. 
  • We now offer the ability for creators to download a list of contact addresses for their subscribers so they can further engage with their subscriber bases and offer even more benefits.

On September 15, international listeners will be able to subscribe and listen to subscriber-only content. Spotify says they plan to open Podcast Subscriptions to all creators around the world soon, while continuing to build on experience.