Tag: Creator Tools

5 Ways Spotify Playlists Help Your Songs Reach Fans Around the World

March 8, 2023

Today at Stream On, artists, songwriters, producers, podcasters, and authors from around the world joined for the latest announcements and hands-on demos of the new tools and resources coming to our platform. We also hosted our companion event, Play On, which featured a series of talks and interactive sessions that inspired and educated creators about how they can leverage the full potential of our platform.

Among these sessions was a Spotify for Artists Masterclass on playlists and music discovery hosted by Spotify Head of Artist and Industry Partnerships International Bryan Johnson, with panelists including Spotify Global Head of Editorial Sulinna Ong, Spotify Creative Director and Head of Urban Music Carl Cherry, and Spotify Head of Global Hits J.J. Italiano. Over the course of the talk, they dove into the ways artists can use—and maximize—the power of Spotify playlists to help grow their careers.

In recent years, streaming has helped music, and culture at large, cross borders across the world. And one of the main ways fans are discovering new artists is through playlists. 

Spotify playlists fall into one of three categories:

  • Made by Editors: Curated by our team of editors at Spotify, these playlists consist of beloved global and regional playlists, including Today’s Top Hits and Pollen.
  • Made for You: These algorithmically driven playlists—like Discover Weekly and Release Radar—are tailored to each Spotify listener based on their taste profile and on a range of different signals.
  • Made by You: These playlists are created by fans who aren’t just sitting back waiting for new music; they’re leaning into artist discovery and actively finding tracks to share with other fans.

So how do these playlists drive artist discovery, exactly? There are five key factors:

1. Spotify playlists are global

Spotify exists in more than 180 markets around the world, and that has allowed us to develop a connected ecosystem of playlists across many different genres and regions. Along with our global offerings, we have thousands of playlists like African Heat, MANSIÓN REGGAETÓN, and K-Pop ON! (온) that help spotlight music coming out of regional and local scenes.

Together, these form our Playlist Pyramid, which starts with our more local and niche playlists, and filters up to our global playlists. Sitting at the top is Today’s Top Hits, which is the biggest and most popular playlist.

For many artists, their Playlist Pyramid journey will start with local or regional playlists. These are often streamed by highly engaged fans who are looking to discover new music, and they give artists a solid platform for building their audience. But from there, an artist can take many paths up the pyramid. When a song starts to perform well, it will be placed in the region’s larger playlists, and it may even be tested in other markets to see how it’s received by an international audience. If the song continues to resonate with fans, the artist can take the next jump up the pyramid, appearing in global playlists like Rap Caviar, Viva Latino, and Mint. And for artists whose songs really hit globally, they could earn a place in Today’s Top Hits.

The rise of Ghanaian singer and rapper Black Sherif is a great example of how this journey can unfold. His lyricism and unique blend of drill, Ghanaian highlife, and trap caught the ears of our editors in Sub-Saharan Africa, which led to his being playlisted in popular local lists like +233 Bars, Asakaa, Ghana Party, and more. As Black Sherif started to perform well on these playlists, he was placed in the region’s top flagship lists—Hot Hits Ghana, No Wahala, and African Heat—which further accelerated his popularity. 

Eventually, our hip-hop editors took note of his growing audience, which was starting to cross borders, and supported him across various playlists, including our global flagship playlist for drill, City to City. He has since become an emerging name outside Sub-Saharan Africa and was selected as one of our six RADAR artists in 2022.

2. Spotify playlists are curated

Placements on our editorial playlists are driven by a combination of the cultural knowledge, passion, and expertise of our editorial teams, and the variety of data insights we gather from Spotify’s audience. Crucially, music submitted via the playlist submission tool is the starting point for all songs, and Global Curation Groups, which are tapped into the latest trends and discussion points, can also determine the outcomes of where a song’s journey continues in the editorial ecosystem.

If you’re an artist who wants to better understand the pitching process, the panelists shared a few best practices to get you started:

  • Do pitch your music before it’s released: Using our playlist submission tool on Spotify for Artists is the most effective way to pitch new music. To give your track the best chance of getting playlisted—either editorially or algorithmically—we recommend pitching your song at least seven days in advance of its being released. 
  • Do provide as much info as you can: Our editors love having context when considering a song for placement. Who made it with you? When was it made? Where did you make it? It is also helpful to include any press, music video plans, release schedules, and promotions, as well as the social media accounts linked in your artist profile. If there’s an interesting story around you and/or the song, definitely let us know. 
  • Do think globally: When you pitch a song for placement, it’s visible to our entire team of editors around the world. They’re also constantly sharing their discoveries with each other. So if there are markets or regions outside of your own where you think your song will attract fans, be sure to include those suggestions when you pitch.
  • Do engage your audience: While you can’t pitch your music to us post-release, our editors still look at signals from our broader data to see which songs are resonating. Engaging with your audience and encouraging them to stream your tracks can help build momentum and catch our editors’ attention.
  • Don’t pay for playlist placement: You cannot pay to get on an official Spotify playlist. If someone or a third-party company is offering placement on a playlist in exchange for money, this is a streaming manipulation service that goes against Spotify’s guidelines for music promotion. Additionally, we routinely remove user-generated playlists that claim to offer this, so it won’t benefit you in the long run.
  • You can only pitch via Spotify for Artists: This is the place where ALL editors go to look for new music, and it’s your route to get your music in front of our editors. 

3. Spotify playlists are personalized

Personalization is one of Spotify’s most loved features, drawing upon a multitude of signals to connect the right song to the right ears at the right time. Personalized playlists include not only the aforementioned Discover Weekly and Release Radar, but also playlists like Blend and Daily Mix. They also include playlists like Beast Mode and Songs to Sing in the Shower, which are personalized for each listener but are based on a larger pool of potential tracks chosen by editors. 

One-third of all new artist discoveries on Spotify happen in these personalized sessions, which also help to drive future streams from new fans. Submitting a pitch at least seven days before release day via the playlist submission tool also helps ensure that an artist’s new release shows up in their listeners’ Release Radar.

4. Spotify playlists are driven by fans and artists

The majority of Spotify streams come from active streams, where fans are seeking out the music they want to hear by visiting album pages, artists profiles, or liked songs. This also includes streams from listener playlists. These can help signal to Spotify (and to other fans) that we should be paying attention to a particular song or artist. Artists can also engage fans by creating playlists that feature their music, or tracks by other like-minded artists that they’ve worked with and are inspired by. This can not only help to catch the eye of editors when they’re looking at streaming data, but could also lead to visibility on other artists’ profiles.

5. Spotify playlists are timeless

Spotify playlists are composed of the hottest tracks of the moment, as well as classics from the past. That’s because catalog music—or music that is more than 18 months old—maintains a large presence on Spotify. According to our Catalog Fan Study, roughly 75% of active streams consist of catalog music. Furthermore, catalog music has become increasingly popular with younger audiences who are discovering artists from previous generations for the first time.

While artists can’t pitch catalog music, our editors are always looking at the data to see if a catalog song is a good fit for one of our editorial playlists. And if an artist’s catalog song happens to go viral on a playlist, the benefits are sizable: On average, artists can see a 70% jump in streams for the rest of their music. 

As you can see, playlists are vital to how fans connect with new artists and how artists engage those new fans. And we’ll continue to use our ecosystem of playlists to support artists as their musical journey unfolds.

Are you an artist looking to get your track on Spotify’s playlists? Visit Spotify for Artists to pitch our editors.

4 Tips and Tricks for Podcast Creators To Grow and Retain Listeners

March 8, 2023

Today at Stream On, artists, songwriters, podcasters, and authors from around the world joined us for the latest announcements and hands-on demos of the new tools and resources coming to our platform. We also hosted a companion event, Play On, which featured a series of talks and interactive sessions to inspire and educate creators about how they can unleash the full potential of our platform.

Among these sessions was “Ear to the Ground,” a workshop on trends, insights, and recommendations for podcasters to find, grow, and keep their audiences. Head of Partner Management Jordan Newman—whose team creates relationships with the most prominent and promising podcasters on Spotify—took the opportunity to pull back the curtain on some of the global trends we’re seeing across our platform. Between the volume of podcasts created, the growing importance of video, and evolving consumption habits, podcasting has changed enormously in recent years. 

Jordan’s session equipped podcasters with insights to better understand listening trends—how, when, and why audiences listen—and tips for how to harness these insights into action. Read on for a few of his recommendations.

1. People shouldn’t judge a podcast by its cover (but they do, so be prepared)

A detail that’s often overlooked also happens to be one of the most impactful things that helps draw listeners: cover art. Cover art, the podcast title, and episode titles engage listeners right away, so they should be immediately enticing. 

During testing, the Spotify Insights team learned that listeners browsing for their next show prefer covers that convey the most information—that capture the attention of listeners while also giving them an idea of what they can expect to hear. So cover art with a well-known host might attract listeners, while a picture of a person they’ve never heard of before is less likely to draw them in. Abstract imagery only works if the show’s title is super descriptive: For example, New York Times’ The Daily features abstract colors in its cover art; however, it also prominently displays the informative title and the publication’s logo so listeners know what to expect. Taglines are another way to give listeners clues when a show’s name isn’t so obvious. 

When in doubt, choose options that best convey the show’s subject matter and are easy to read. You’ve likely got one shot to stop a scroll in its tracks.

2. Choose a frequency, and stick with it 

When and how often a podcast releases new episodes makes a big impact on whether a show finds and keeps its audience. The majority of our top shows are always on, running weekly or daily throughout the year, and driving three times more consumption per show than seasonal shows that run in short spurts. And it turns out that most Spotify listeners seek always-on content, with 75% of our podcast audience exclusively listening to always-on shows. Always-on listeners spend more time listening to podcasts than seasonal listeners. 

While not every show can or should be always on, if a show’s creative supports the opportunity to publish regularly, then fans are more likely to return weekly or monthly. Releasing episodes consistently and frequently has major benefits. Even if a show takes a break for just a couple of weeks, audiences drop off. Re-runs, however, can reach similar levels of listenership, proving that it’s better to occasionally publish old content than to publish no content at all. Keeping a consistent publishing cadence doesn’t guarantee your podcast will go viral, but it can help you gradually attract more listeners and grow organically. 

3. People are creatures of habit, so consistency is key

When a show is published is a crucial factor to its success. Our data shows that people listen to podcasts frequently and within their routine. During weekdays, podcast listening spikes in the early morning and evening—commute times—and stays consistent throughout the rest of the day. On the weekends, listening remains heavy even into the evening. 

We see more “informative” and “motivational” genres like news, health and fitness, and business peak in the morning. Listenership of other categories like sports, and society and culture, pick up in the morning and remain stable throughout the day. Comedy and true crime listening grow steadily throughout the day. Our research also shows that people are more likely to have an appetite for discovering new content and watching video podcasts later in the day. 

Something else our research shows is that podcast listening habits are stronger when they are attached to another routine like exercising, commuting, cooking, folding laundry, or just winding down for the day. So when these routines happen, they create a “podcast moment” in which a listener seeks out content. And hopefully, they’re finding it. So when in doubt, publish episodes as early in the day as possible.

4. Use Spotify for Podcasters tools to deepen your connection with fans

The strongest predictor of heavy engagement in podcasts is whether or not listeners have formed parasocial relationships with the hosts: Good hosts aren’t just hosts, they’re friends, gurus, and guides. 

One way to do this is to create authentic and vulnerable moments, and generate a sense of reciprocity with listeners. Features like Polls and Q&A in Spotify for Podcasters make it possible for listeners to engage with the personalities behind their favorite podcasts, and for creators to hear directly from fans. While these features are nascent, and their full potential and impact are still being understood, we’ve seen promising signals for what interactivity means to a show’s growth and retention. On average, listeners who “interact” and respond to a poll or Q&A listen to more of that show. And those people are twice as likely to keep listening to that show the following month. 

“Followers” are also crucial. Someone who follows a show typically listens to 50% more of it than someone who doesn’t. And that number is even greater if the listener subscribes to episode notifications. So podcasters shouldn’t shy away from telling their listeners to hit follow and to click the bell to receive notifications for new episodes. As an added bonus, the more followers a podcast has, the more impactful it is on the algorithm for our Top Podcasts chart. 

Bonus: Podcasting is for anyone and everyone 

We’re constantly working to enable creators of all kinds to find an audience, connect with fans, and ultimately make a living off their craft. With our new Spotify for Podcasters platform, anyone, anywhere, regardless of their recording setup or technical prowess, can record, edit, host, and monetize their podcast—and the best way to get started is to hone in on the why of what you’re creating. 

So our final piece of advice? We find that people listen to podcasts for four core reasons: to find guidance and connection, to learn useful information, to provide entertainment and escape, or to explore and expand their worldview. Get in tune with your audience and you’re in for a long journey together.

New Spotify for Podcasters Brings the Best of Spotify to All Creators

March 8, 2023

Spotify for Podcasters

Empowering creators is central to everything we do at Spotify. We’ve long been building the tools that podcasters need to tell their stories and grow their audiences, but until now, they’ve been split across multiple, separate platforms, including Anchor and Spotify for Podcasters. For creators who just want a simple way to take advantage of everything Spotify has to offer, it’s been too complicated. That ends now.

Today at Stream On, we announced that we’re combining our tools into a single, convenient, one-stop shop: Spotify for Podcasters. 

This makes for a significantly easier experience for every podcaster already on Spotify, and further, it opens up the opportunity for even more creators to find success—no matter how they choose to manage their podcast.

Making features available to all podcasters

Previously, our most innovative features were limited to Anchor users exclusively. But we’re building the new Spotify for Podcasters in a way that offers more open access to innovation. As a result, all Spotify for Podcasters users—including those not hosting their content with us—will find access to Q&A and Poll functionality in their dashboards.

And stay tuned for even more features to become available for non-hosted users in the future: We’re starting to open up access to video podcasts for more creators. You can sign up for more information at spotify.com/video.

New Spotify for Podcasters capabilities

Starting today, when all creators sign up or log in to Spotify for Podcasters, they’ll find a dashboard with everything they need to make, manage, and level up their show, including:

  • The ability to upload and publish episodes (for users hosting their show with Spotify for Podcasters)
  • Interactive features like Q&A and Polls
  • Advanced analytics to track a show’s growth, including streaming numbers and audience demographic data

Additionally, Spotify for Podcasters offers free hosting. And for those users whose podcast is hosted on Spotify for Podcasters, they also have access to recording and editing tools, video uploading, and monetization features.

Brand-new Spotify features for podcasts

Today, we also unveiled a number of new Spotify features that will help listeners better discover and engage with creators’ work. Look out for: 

  • Podcast previews, which enable listeners to sample a show right in their Home feed.
  • Creators can now add Podcast Chapters to their episodes by including time stamps in their episode descriptions. These allow listeners to browse through an episode by topic or section.
  • Creators can apply to participate in Spotify Labs, a global series of workshops that will provide opportunities to create in our world-class production studios, learn from Spotify experts, and connect with fellow podcasters and artists. 
  • Plus, we’re launching a new space for educational podcasting content—complete with growth tips, comprehensive how-to guides, advice from fellow creators, and more. 

Imagine Anchor’s powerful, all-in-one podcasting tools combined with Spotify for Podcasters’ advanced insights and analytics, all available with interactive features. And imagine it’s free and in every market where Spotify is live. 

Now stop imagining. That’s the new Spotify for Podcasters.

Find out more at Spotify for Podcasters. 

Countdown Pages and Spotify Clips Create Ways for Artists To Engage Their Fans With Video

March 8, 2023

Today at Spotify Stream On, artists, songwriters, podcasters, and authors from around the world joined us for a day of announcements and inspiration. They also took part in hands-on demonstrations of tools and resources coming from Spotify, including new ways for artists to connect with fans and hype their work using Spotify for Artists.

Countdown Pages

Building buzz for an album release requires artists and their teams to work across multiple platforms and services, resulting in a disconnect between where music is being teased and where music is actually being streamed.

The most powerful time to reach fans is when they’ve chosen to engage with music, ahem, on Spotify. That’s why we’ve built a new tool called Countdown Pages.

Countdown Pages are dedicated spaces for artists to build anticipation for new albums. On Countdown Pages, fans can watch exclusive video clips, pre-save the upcoming release, preview the track list, and watch the timer count down to the release moment. 

Plus, fans who pre-save an album release will receive a notification as soon as the release drops. We’ll also automatically add the album to a listener’s library, ensuring that more fans start streaming on day one. In early tests, on average, over 80% of pre-savers streamed the new release within the first week.

Want to check out a Countdown Page? Visit Ed Sheeran’s artist profile on your Spotify mobile app and scroll down to the Upcoming Releases section to pre-save his forthcoming album “–”.

Spotify Clips

We could not be more excited to bring Countdown Pages to life—but we don’t want to limit artists’ video options to Countdown Pages. So, we’re making them available in more places where music lives on Spotify. 

Artists can add under-30-second videos to their album pages or their artist profiles. That way, new listeners and existing fans can go deeper into an artist’s stories while they’re listening. We call these videos Spotify Clips.

With Clips, new listeners will be able to get to know an artist and their music better, while loyal fans will be able to dive even deeper into an artist’s music, forging even stronger connections. The possibilities are expansive, with Clips enabling artists to build excitement for an unreleased song, promote a new album or single, tell the story behind a song, and much more. We’re unlocking this feature for thousands of artists this week, and we’ll be opening it up to more and more artists in waves throughout the spring. 

Learn more about these tools on Spotify for Artists.

Three Campaign Tools From Spotify for Artists To Build Your Fan Base

March 8, 2023

Today at Spotify Stream On, artists, songwriters, podcasters, and authors from around the world joined us for a day of announcements and inspiration. They also took part in hands-on demonstrations of tools and resources coming from Spotify, including new ways for artists to promote their work and strengthen their fan bases using Spotify for Artists. 

How artists can get more listeners and increase their reach with Discovery Mode

One-third of all new artist discoveries on Spotify happen thanks to personalized recommendations. With Discovery Mode, artists and their teams can identify priority songs, and Spotify will add a signal to the algorithms that shape personalized listening sessions, helping to increase the likelihood that the song is recommended to listeners on Radio and Autoplay. Every month, artists receive reporting on how many new listeners their selected songs reached, how many added them to playlists, and how often the songs were saved.

On average, within a song’s first month of Discovery Mode use, we’ve seen listeners save those songs 50% more often, add them to playlists 44% more, and follow the artist 37% more. Those results have stayed strong as we’ve scaled up the program.

So now, we’re ready to take that one step further. Today, Discovery Mode is available directly within Spotify for Artists. Now, thousands of independently distributed artists and labels will have access to Discovery Mode. 

How artists can turn listeners into fans with Marquee

Marquee is a full-screen sponsored recommendation of a new release to listeners across Spotify Free and Premium. It enables artist teams to reach listeners who have shown interest in the artist’s music before. It’s already a big part of artists’ and labels’ release strategies and is one of the most effective tools out there to market new releases. 

We recently worked with marketers across eight labels and distributors to find out just how much more effective Marquee is than leading off-platform marketing options. We found that, on average, Marquee delivers ten times more Spotify listeners for every dollar spent on similar social ads.

Marquee has already been available for all U.S. artist teams in Spotify for Artists, and starting this week, we began rolling it out to artist teams in the U.K. and Australia as well.

Showcase the music that matters most to you

We’re also excited to introduce you to Showcase, a new marketing tool we’re testing. It will appear as a mobile card on Home and will introduce an artist’s music—whether a new release or catalog—to likely listeners. We’re just starting to test Showcase with artists and labels and will make it more widely available in the near future.

With the addition of Showcase, Spotify for Artists now offers artists and their teams a robust suite of promotional tools. Artists can reach listeners right when they’re deciding what to listen to, target listeners based on their streaming history, and access data that tells them how the tools performed. 

Streaming has already democratized access to music for listeners. With these new tools, we’re democratizing access to marketing for artists. No matter an artist’s career stage or budget, we’re helping more artists market their music at scale—something that has never before been possible in this industry. 

Learn more about these tools on Spotify for Artists.

Spotify Takes to the Stage: Connecting Artists With Concertgoers

March 8, 2023

S4A_FTR_Blog_MerchxTicketing

Today at Spotify Stream On, artists, songwriters, podcasters, and authors from around the world joined us for a day of news, networking, and inspiration—and a deeper look into how artists can better connect with their fans on our platform. And what better way to do that than helping fans experience their favorite artists IRL?

Over half of our listeners are unaware of when their favorite artists are in town. Of those users, one in three say they would have gone to the concert had they known about it. So in 2022, we worked with artists, venues, and ticketing partners to list over 840,000 concerts on our Live Events Feed, which is one of our most rapidly growing channels—and our users’ personal gig calendar. We even closed out 2022 by featuring personalized concert recommendations in the Wrapped hub for the first time—across more than 60 languages globally. All this goes further to help artists reach more fans of their music and help fans make sure they never miss a show. 

In 2023, we’re going to keep diving headfirst into concert discoverability.

For artists, this means more places to inform fans about their latest shows and tours. First, we’ll be integrating ticket offers into the “Now Playing” view so artists can grab a listener’s attention right when their music is resonating most. Additionally, artists can spotlight concert dates to the top of their profiles, and soon to their This Is playlists. With these new ticketing features, we’ll not only help artists better promote their shows, but also make sure that Spotify is our listeners’ go-to resource for finding concerts they love.

Fans can make sure they never miss another show with these concert integration opportunities right in the Spotify app:

Live Events Feed: Our main in-app concert destination lets you find concert listings based on your location and favorite artists. You can also adjust your location to browse concerts in other cities and countries, all personalized to your taste.

“Interested” button: Wherever you see a concert listing, you’ll be able to hit the “Interested” button and tag the events you want to attend. That way in the future, you can check in on your personal gig calendar in the Live Events Feed.

Fans First Emails: Make sure you’re following and streaming your favorite artists on Spotify for the chance to be recognized as a top listener—we send Fans First emails and notifications to those engaged users, putting them at the front of the line for special access to concert pre-sales and merch exclusives. 

Of course, no concert is complete without the merch table. While you can currently find your favorite artists’ merch on their profile pages and their album and single pages, we’re also going to start adding it to the “Now Playing” view so you can buy the merch after falling in love with their song.

Stream On Returns March 8, 2023

January 12, 2023

On March 8, Stream On is back! 


During our inaugural Stream On in 2021, Spotify pulled back the curtain to demonstrate how we connect creators and fans and empower creators to live off of their art. We shared company announcements—like how we’re reaching new audiences in markets around the world—unveiled new creator tools, showcased product updates, and touted podcast exclusives.

This year’s Stream On will build on our vertical-defining creator tools, features, and programming in an event streamed live from the Arts District in Los Angeles. We want creators across the world and across disciplines—whether that’s music, podcast, audiobooks, you name it—to experience the event as it happens, so you’re invited to watch the event virtually on For the Record.

During Stream On, we’ll share how Spotify is unlocking new possibilities for more creators than ever before so they can better connect with and build a truly global audience. We’ll also share the latest developments and tools to help more creators chart their pathways to success, get discovered by new audiences, build an engaged community, and connect with fans worldwide. 

So save the date for March 8, bookmark For the Record, follow @Spotify and @SpotifyNews on social media, and stay tuned for much more to come as we create the future together. 

Video Podcasting is Now Available for Creators in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico

July 12, 2022

A video podcaster, off screen, holds a microphone and speaks in front of a camera

*Update as of Tuesday, November 15, 2022: Video podcast publishing capabilities are now available to Anchor creators in over 180 global markets. Learn more here.

Listen to this story read aloud in 2 minutes and 20 seconds. 


Podcasting of all kinds continues to explode, and fans simply can’t get enough of their favorite shows and creators. Just as listeners seek increased opportunities to connect with their favorite content and creators, podcasters want to do the same to connect more deeply with their fans. Video podcasts are a perfect opportunity to forge these connections, and our continued investment in the format will result in a better experience for both creators and fans.

Today, we’re expanding our video podcasting capabilities to creators in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico. These are markets with especially strong podcast creator communities that have shown a healthy appetite for new ways to create and experience podcasts. Video-native podcasters will now have access to Spotify’s audience around the world, while audio-native podcasters will be able to start experimenting with video and deliver content that their listeners can engage with more deeply.

Just as we’ve built a suite of innovative creation tools for podcasters, and we’re now doing the same for video content. Video podcasts are a historically underutilized medium, but one has the potential to grow by unlocking a new way to help audiences engage with their favorite podcasts. Video podcasts allow listeners to feel more connected to the creators behind their favorite shows, whether they’re listening on audio-only or watching the video, or even toggling between the two. 

Our approach to video podcasts is centered on putting creators and their needs first. As we learn from users and iterate, we’re pioneering new formats of audio, interactivity, unique listening experiences, and tools creators can use for an evolved creator experience with greater control over their content. This expansion will further innovation on our platform for creators and listeners around the world. 

Read more about how to start your own video podcast on the Anchor blog.

Spotify Ushers In New Era of Podcast Monetization With New Tools for All Creators

April 27, 2021

More and more creators are bringing their podcasts and shows to Spotify. With 345 million monthly listeners on Spotify, there’s a massive opportunity for all of these creators to monetize their work—and we believe there needs to be a variety of options for them to choose from to do so. 

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.

Paid subscription platform 

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.

This feature will be available to creators through Anchor, allowing podcasters to mark episodes as subscriber-only and publish them to Spotify and other podcast-listening platforms. For the next two years, this program will come at no cost to the creator, meaning that participating creators receive 100% of their subscriber revenues (excluding payment transaction fees). Starting in 2023, we plan to introduce a competitive 5% fee for access to this tool.

By enabling wide distribution of subscriber-only content, our aim is to help podcasters maximize their subscription audiences and grow them from their existing listener bases. Within Spotify, this content will be searchable and discoverable like any other podcast episode. 

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. 

We’re also unveiling a collaboration with NPR in which they will publish a selection of their shows sponsor-free 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.

Listeners can look forward to a seamless Spotify listening experience. This subscriber-only content will be fully searchable and discoverable within the Spotify app, and even show up within a show’s main feed—shows will be marked with a lock icon on the play button. Listeners will be able to tune in knowing that their subscriptions are going directly to the podcasters they love, giving independent creators a revenue stream on their own terms.

Spotify Open Access Platform (OAP)

Are you a creator or publisher who has subscribers elsewhere? We’re also working on technology that will let your listeners hear your content on Spotify using your existing login system. This gives creators with existing subscriber bases the option to deliver paid content to their existing paid audiences using Spotify, retaining direct control over the relationship. 

Stay tuned: We’re currently testing the technology and will have more to share in the coming months about partners and features.

Spotify Audience Network

At Stream On, we announced the Spotify Audience Network—a first-of-its-kind audio advertising marketplace in which advertisers of all sizes will be able to connect with listeners consuming a broad range of content. We’ve already unlocked Megaphone publisher inventory via the network, and starting May 1, we will begin to open Spotify Audience Network to select independent creators using Anchor, so more people can have access to this unique tool.

We believe this technology will enable more creators to make meaningful revenue from their podcasts by providing much better value to advertisers than existing podcast advertising solutions that use RSS. This will ultimately bring more dollars (and more-efficient spending) into the space, benefitting creators who choose to monetize through advertising.

Curious to know more? Check out Anchor’s blog for more on how the Paid Subscription program works for creators.