Spotify Introduces Paid Podcast Subscriptions

Gossip proved to be true: Spotify did give podcasters the opportunity to monetize their creativity - though not directly, but through the Anchor system. It will allow iOS users to buy subscriptions to their favorite podcasts without having to pay an App Store 30% commission. The bonus content will be available to listen to directly on Spotify, or in other applications via RSS.

While nothing technically prohibits content creators from paying all episodes, the system is supposed to allow podcasters create special episodes only for paying subscribers that will not be available to others, and / or release episodes without advertising integrations. These bonuses will be marked with a lock icon.

For the first two years, content creators won't be required to pay Spotify fees for such subscriptions, but Stripe's payment service, through which payments are made, charge a small percentage for making transactions. Spotify will be 5% commission in 2 years.

So far, 12 authors from the United States will be able to implement paid subscriptions, after a short test period authors from different countries will be able to apply for such monetization, but detailed conditions are not yet available are revealed.

Subscription pricing will be determined by the authors, with three options available in the US: $ 2.99, $ 4.99, or $ 7.99 per month. In Russia, podcasts on Spotify are not yet available, respectively, regional prices are still unknown.