It was revealed that music streaming service Spotify plans to launch podcast subscriptions next week. According to the available data, the platform will not charge connection fees from authors and determine the payment amount for access to podcasts independently. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing its own knowledgeable sources.
Interestingly, information about the upcoming innovation on the Spotify platform appeared a few days after Apple announced the imminent introduction of paid subscriptions to its podcast service. Unlike Spotify, Apple will charge creators $ 19.99 per year for posting subscriptions, as well as a 30% commission on earnings. After the first year, the commission for Apple Podcasts contributors will drop to 15%. In return, Spotify should have all the money going to the authors. What’s more, according to reports, Spotify users on iOS will be redirected to a dedicated website to sign up, so they won’t have to pay Apple’s standard 30% commission.
Authors will likely need to manage their podcasts separately across different platforms. Apple does not allow RSS to distribute exclusive content; it must be manually uploaded to the platform. Spotify has never used RSS, so content creators will most likely have to download podcasts through the platform’s own system. Spotify officials have yet to comment on the imminent launch of paid podcast subscriptions.