Paid podcasts were only one of several new features Anchor announced today at the Spotify event. The test, for the time being, will only focus on paid subscriptions, but Mignano told us the company may explore the à la carte model in the future. to a small number of creators, but aims to expand access to more creators as soon as reasonably possible. Plus, in the same way that Spotify today helps users discover new podcasts they may like to try, it will also point to paid subscription-based podcasts in the future as the new model rolls out further.Īnchor says it will initially open up the beta test in the U.S.
It will highlight the paid content alongside the free material on the podcast's main page, for example. Spotify, meanwhile, will try to make discovery easier.
In other words, users may be open to the idea of paid bonus material, but they don't necessarily want to switch between apps to gain access, nor do they want to figure out how to get paid RSS feeds into some third-party podcast listening app. We feel like that's really held this model back and hindered creators' reach and ability to gain paid subscribers," he said. "It hasn't been a really seamless experience for the listener, and it hasn't really been a great experience for the creator. "The problem is the system for doing this type of paid subscription so far in podcasts has been really disjointed," he explained. However, it will more immediately benefit creators with a strong Spotify presence and a loyal listenership.īut Mignano points out that creators may be able to grow their paid subscriber base thanks to Spotify's tools for podcast discovery. We also understand the offering will be limited to those who use Anchor to record and publish across podcast platforms. It will then use its understanding of what creators actually do with paid subscriptions to inform its product launch and its "best practices" recommendations in the future. Anchor will also allow creators to determine what price to charge their listeners for the paid experience and what that experience would include - like bonus episodes or interviews, or even ad-free content, if they prefer. The company was hesitant to detail some of the specifics of how paid subscriptions would work at launch, but did say that the model would involve a revenue share between creators and Anchor, where creators keep the majority of the earnings.