Spotify is now PAYING Podcasters!

The Jag Show

SPOTIFY WILL NOW PAY FOR YOUR CONTENT

The world of podcasting is constantly evolving – and Spotify is now trying to keep up with YouTube.And that means PAYING its creators!

This week, Spotify announced they are rebranding their Spotify for Podcasters interface, now calling it Spotify for CREATORS. This comes on the heels of allowing all podcasters to upload video files of their podcast to the platform – regardless of whether you use Spotify as your host.

Now, one of the reasons YouTube has made such strides in podcasting, in addition to video of course, is how easy it is to monetize the platform. It’s way more turnkey than Apple or Spotify – with their subscription and advertising options. Well Spotify figured this out too.

According to PodNews and Sounds Profitable, the new Spotify for Creators program is open to creators who’ve published 12 episodes, had 2,000 unique Spotify users interact with your show in the last month, and have 10,000 streamed hours in the past month.

Now, those bars are much higher to clear than YouTube’s benchmarks of 1,000 all time subscribers and 4,000 streamed hours in the last year, but it’s a step in the right direction for Spotify.

Now, aside from the tougher requirements, here’s the million dollar question. How do you want to track your analytics? In the old days of podcasting, your host tracked downloads or streams via your audio host, and who grabbed your content from your RSS feed. To track metrics on VIDEO podcasts – be it Spotify OR YouTube, those views will NOT come from your RSS feed. So now you’re in a position where you have to take your downloads, then add your views from YouTube and/or Spotify. And of course, downloads, streams, and views are NOT apples to apples comparisons.

So you have to decide – is having your podcast on video important enough to you, to not have the same consistency in evaluating and reporting your numbers? Maybe the video presence and monetization opportunities say yes. Or maybe you have stakeholders that need consistent measurement and KPI’s, such as a corporate podcast, and audio is just fine.

These decisions are yours to make as a creator, as the world of podcasting continues to evolve. And as always, if you have any questions about the industry, or your specific podcast, find me at JAGinDetroit.com. Lata!

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