Podcasters on Spotify will be able to generate revenue through the paid subscription program, which is rolling out in USA today and will also be available to creators globally later this year.
At the time of launch, Spotify has selected a group of 12 independent podcasters who will be able to leverage the subscription program and monetise their content. The company is also accepting submissions for the creators’ waitlist and will be expanding the program to add more creators from USA and the rest of the world in the coming months.
Creators can access the paid subscription feature through Anchor, where they can mark the podcast episodes as subscriber-only and publish them to Spotify, among other podcast platforms.
Until the end of 2022, creators will see 100% of their subscriber revenue (minus Stripe’s transaction fee). Spotify plans to charge a 5% fee in 2023.
Creators will have the option to charge a monthly subscription fee of $2.99, $4.99 and $7.99. Any paid content on the platform will now have a lock icon on the play button.
The company has also collaborated with NPR to bring five of its shows for paid subscribers starting May 4, including How I Built This with Guy Raz, Short Wave, It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders, Code Switch, and Planet Money. More will be added in the subsequent weeks.
Spotify paid podcast subscription roll out follows Apple Podcast’s similar announcement where the Cupertino-based tech titan revealed a premium subscription, scheduled to roll out in May.
On Monday, Spotify also rolled out a mini-player integrated into the Facebook app, which would allow Premium users to play songs and podcasts directly and free users to shuffle play. The feature has rolled out in 27 countries, with more to be added to the list in the coming months.
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