Podcasts have experienced significant growth in popularity over the past few years, with Spotify emerging as the top choice for podcast listeners in many key global markets. Spotify currently offers a vast library of over 6 million podcast titles catering to an audience of 100 million regular podcast listeners. In the US, it has claimed the top position as the leading podcast publisher.
In this article, we will introduce you to Spotify for Podcasters, a platform dedicated to podcast creation and distribution. Additionally, we will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to initiate your podcast journey using this platform.
Spotify for Podcasters, formerly known as Anchor, is an all-in-one podcasting platform that enables you to create, distribute, expand, and monetize your podcast directly through the app or website. Episodes can be automatically published on Spotify and distributed to other podcasting platforms as well.
Spotify for Podcasters is designed to simplify the podcast creation process, helping creators grow their audience, engage with listeners, and gain valuable insights into their podcast’s reach and influence. Its user-friendly and intuitive design ensures that even those who have never created a podcast before can easily get started using Spotify for Podcasters.
Spotify for Podcasters was first launched in 2018. In October of the same year, Spotify extended its podcasting platform to allow anyone to upload their podcasts, resulting in a 175% increase in podcast listening on Spotify by the end of the year.
The acquisition of Gimlet Media and Anchor by Spotify in 2019 marked a significant milestone in its podcasting efforts. Gimlet Media is known for its excellent content creation, while Anchor is a leading audio creation platform. This move helped Spotify take the podcasting mantle from Apple.
Spotify for Podcasters used to only provide access to Spotify analytics. However, in March 2023, after integrating Anchor’s all-in-one hosting and distribution features, Spotify for Podcasters now provides a unified dashboard with comprehensive tools for creating, managing, and enhancing podcasts. This upgrade has further solidified Spotify’s position in the podcasting landscape.
Yes, Spotify for Podcasters is free to use, catering to podcasters of all levels, from beginners to professionals. With this platform, podcasters have access to unlimited hosting and distribution services. Spotify for Podcasters offers an all-in-one and free platform with recording, editing, analytics, fan engagement, and monetization tools. You can also take advantage of Spotify for Podcasters’ free growth tools such as analytics and fan engagement features.
Podcasters with content hosted elsewhere can still use Spotify’s free growth tools to track their podcasts’ performance and fan engagement. Users can do this by claiming their show on Spotify for Podcasters.
Yes, the Spotify for Podcasters app is available for use on mobile devices with the following operations systems:
You can also use the Spotify for Podcasters website on your desktop to create and publish your podcasts.
Starting a podcast with Spotify for Podcasters is a straightforward process that even beginners can manage effortlessly. If you have a clear idea of what you want to include, you can create and publish your podcast episode in a short time. Here is the step-by-step guide on how to get started with Spotify for Podcasters.
1. Visit the Spotify for Podcasters website and click on the “Get Started” button.
2. Choose between two options: either start a new podcast or connect with your previous podcast. If you’re starting from scratch, click on “I want to start a podcast”.
3. Enter your information to sign up for Spotify for Podcasters. Go to your email box and verify your email to complete the signup process.
1. Click “Let’s do it” to make your first episode.
2. When creating your episode:
3. If you have clicked the Record or edit button in the previous step, now you can create an episode by recording from your browser, using your library materials, adding songs from Spotify, and more.
4. Click the Record icon > Record now to capture the audio content you wish to include in your episode.
Once you’ve finished recording, tap the Add to Episode button to put it into your podcast.
5. To add more content to your podcast, you can link to your Spotify account to add Spotify music and insert transitions to your show.
6. Once you have finished editing your podcast episode, click the Save Episode button in the top right corner.
7. Add metadata to your episode such as title, description, publish date, and other essential information. Click the Publish Now button at the top right.
1. To set up your podcast, give it a name and description, and choose the podcast category and language. Click the Continue button to proceed to the next steps.
2. Pick up an image and text for your podcast cover.
Once you’re satisfied with your episode, tap the Publish button to make it available on Spotify. Your episode will be accessible to Spotify’s podcast listeners.
By following these steps, you can quickly create and publish your podcast episodes, sharing your content with the world. Spotify for Podcasters simplifies the podcasting process, making it accessible to everyone.
If you’re interested in monetizing your podcast on Spotify, Spotify for Podcasters provides several monetization options. The availability of these options depends on the location of the podcasters and the size of their audience. Below is a table outlining the eligibility requirements and the availability of these monetization tools:
| Monetization Options | About | Qualifications | Availability |
| Podcast Subscriptions | Create subscriber-only episodes that fans can pay a monthly subscription to access. | > Have published at least two episodes > Show is hosted/managed through Spotify for Podcasters | 34 markets across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific |
| Listener Support | Receive monthly recurring donations from your listeners. | > 100 listeners on Spotify in the past 60 days > Published an episode in the past 60 days > Show is hosted/managed through Spotify for Podcasters | US only |
| Ambassador Ads | Record host-read ads about Spotify for Podcasters to include in your episodes. | > Show is hosted/managed through Spotify for Podcasters > Invite only—currently in closed beta. | US Invite only: UK, Australia, Brazil (Expanding soon to more countries) |
| Automated Ads | Place sponsor-read ads from third-party brands within your episodes. | > Show is hosted/managed through Spotify for Podcasters > Invite only—currently in closed beta. | Invite only: US, UK, Australia (Expanding soon to more countries) |
Spotify podcasts are also free for listeners. You can listen to and download podcasts for offline playback with a free Spotify account. However, on the free version, you can only download podcasts. If you want to download albums and playlists, you will need to upgrade to Spotify Premium. Please keep in mind that individual song downloads are not supported; you can download them by adding them to a playlist and downloading the entire playlist. In addition, the downloaded content can only be accessed through the Spotify app, and reinstalling the app may result in the loss of your downloads.
If you’re looking to download Spotify music without Premium and keep the downloaded content permanently, you can try a smart Spotify music downloader — Pazu Spotify Converter. It is specially designed for both Spotify Free and Premium users to download all Spotify podcasts, individual songs, playlists, and albums for offline listening. It can extract Spotify content and convert it into popular audio formats such as MP3, M4A, AIFF, WAV, FLAC, and AAC. With Pazu Spotify Music Converter, you can easily enjoy any Spotify Premium feature within a free account forever.
Key features of Pazu Spotify Converter:
Now, let’s learn how to use Pazu Spotify Music Converter to download and convert Spotify songs with a free subscription from the following tutorial.
Download, install, and run Pazu Spotify Converter on your Mac or Windows. Log in to your Spotify account with the built-in web player.
Click the gear icon on the top right corner. Here you can select the output format (AUTO(M4A)/MP3/AAC/FLAC/WAV/AIFF), choose output audio quality, customize the output path, organize the output files in various ways, rename output files, and more.
Use the integrated Spotify web player to search the songs, albums, playlists,s or podcasts you want to download. Click the Add to List button to load all songs in the album or playlist.
Uncheck the songs you don’t want to download if there are any. Click the Convert button to start downloading the Spotify songs to your local computer.
Once the conversion is done, you can find your Spotify songs downloaded as local files by clicking the below folder button or directly going to the output folder you customized in the previous step.
Note: The free trial version of Pazu Spotify Converter enables you to convert the first three minutes of each song. You can remove the trial limitation by purchasing the full version.
Download and convert any Spotify songs, albums, playlists to MP3/M4A etc.