Excellent news: Spotify is a go-to vacation spot for podcasts, with 32.5 million listeners per thirty days.
Even higher information: Spotify for Podcasters makes it straightforward to start out a podcast and attain these listeners — no fancy gear or superior expertise required. And, when you’ve began your present, you could find alternative ways to advertise and market your podcasts to maximise your attain.
Right here, we’ll cowl every part it is advisable learn about podcasting on Spotify, and tips on how to add your subsequent episode to the platform, and listen to from seasoned podcasters about their ideas on the platform.
Desk of Contents
What’s Spotify Podcasts?
Spotify for Podcasters is a free and easy-to-use platform for internet hosting, creating, and distributing your podcasts, appropriate for newbies and skilled podcasters alike.
Utilizing it offers you entry to a number of options for rising your present, participating with audiences, and monetizing your content material. Some stand-out options embrace:
- In-depth present and episode analytics
- Monetization instruments
- In-app or platform recording and enhancing
- Q&A or polls to share with audiences to construct engagement
- “Video episodes” for a singular watching expertise for followers
You’ll be able to both use Spotify for Podcasts as your internet hosting platform or add your episodes to Spotify with an RSS feed out of your present host.
How RSS Feeds Work on Spotify
An RSS feed is a singular ID card on your podcast. You’ll be able to consider it as a home handle, and, like a home handle, there is just one RSS feed per podcast.
Each host offers you a code that you may copy and paste into totally different directories to share your episodes on different platforms, like from Apple Podcasts (host) to Spotify. RSS feeds replace robotically, so that you received’t must share your hyperlink with different distributors greater than as soon as.
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The way to Meet Spotify’s Podcast Necessities
Step one to beginning a podcast on Spotify is ensuring you meet its podcast necessities. This is a fast rundown.
Your podcast ought to have:
- A title together with related particulars (i.e., class and first language).
- Cowl artwork in a 1:1 ratio and PNG, JPEG, or TIFF format. The upper the decision, the higher.
- A excessive bitrate MP3 format (128 kbps+) or MP4 with AAC-LC.
- Episodes that don’t exceed 12 hours.
When you meet the circumstances on this guidelines, you are formally able to add your podcast to Spotify. Take a look at the steps beneath.
The way to Begin a Podcast on Spotify
- Create a Spotify for Podcasters account.
- Add details about your podcast.
- Add your information.
- Add episode data.
- Share your podcast on different directories.
1. Create a Spotify for Podcasters account.
Unsurprisingly, you will want a Spotify for Podcasters account to add your podcast to the platform. You need to use this type to enroll and choose both “I wish to begin a podcast” or “I’ve a podcast.”
If you happen to click on the primary possibility, log in together with your present Spotify account or create a brand new one. If you choose the second possibility, choose your present podcast host from the record and declare your present by including your RSS feed and getting into a verification code you recover from electronic mail.
If you have already got a podcast however wish to change to Spotify, comply with the steps outlined right here.
2. Add details about your podcast.
When you arrange your account, you’ll add details about your podcast, together with:
- Podcast identify
- Description
- Cowl artwork
- Class
- Language
- Content material kind (clear or specific)
3. Add your information.
If you have already got a podcast, you’ll be able to add present audio or video episodes or create and edit an episode inside the Spotify for Podcasters platform.
To add an episode able to be revealed, click on Fast Add and add an audio or video file. If creating from scratch, click on Create an episode.
When creating an episode inside the platform, you’ll land on a dashboard that permits you to file or add audio, add information you’ve beforehand uploaded to your library, and edit and add results.
The drag-and-drop builder is a simple strategy to construct your whole episodes, and you may preview it as many occasions as you’d like throughout your enhancing course of.
4. Add episode data.
When you’re able to publish, add an episode title, description, and publishing timeline. You too can be aware if the episode is a part of a sequence, the kind of episode, and whether or not the content material is clear or specific.
5. Share your podcast on different directories.
As soon as revealed, your podcast shall be out there to Spotify customers globally. You’ll want to make use of your RSS feed hyperlink to share it on different platforms. On podcasters.spotify.com:
Click on Settings, then Podcast Availability, then click on RSS Distribution to get your distinctive hyperlink to stick within the designated distribution spot on different directories.
Swap to Spotify for Podcasts Internet hosting
If you have already got a podcast host however wish to change to Spotify for Podcasts, the method is comparatively straightforward and also you received’t lose your present episodes or profiles on different platforms. It’s a 3 step course of:
- Go to Spotify for Podcasters switching web page and use the search discipline to enter your distinctive RSS hyperlink or your podcast identify.
- Join a Spotify for Podcasters account or import your podcast into an present account.
- Redirect your RSS feed so it factors to your new Spotify URL. The precise course of for this closing step varies by internet hosting supplier, so it’s a finest apply to comply with their distinctive steps.
When you’ve migrated efficiently, you should use the platform for all it provides and add audio or video or create a brand new episode with its built-in options.
Spotify for Podcasters: Skilled Perception
I do know that there are a number of podcast internet hosting platforms out there, however I needed to know what Spotify for Podcasts’ present customers assume, so I spoke to some specialists.
Troy Sandidge, host of iDigress Podcast, says “Spotify for Podcasts gives a plethora of inventive instruments and options to share your podcast episodes.”
Sandidge says the platform is particularly helpful for minority-led podcasters: “They [Spotify for Podcasters] have applications just like the “Making House” initiative that actually helps podcasters discover free locations the place they will file episodes. That’s by far such an outstanding strategy to make issues extra accessible for many who might not have the identical monetary skill to start out, however this gives an fairness pathway for extra creatives to proceed.”
Al and Leanne Elliot, hosts of Fact, Lies, and Office Tradition, additionally use the platform: “We’ve had Spotify as a part of our Podcast Distribution combine because the starting of Fact Lies & Work podcast, and though it’s no ‘silver bullet’ for podcast attain, we’ve seen enormous benefits to utilizing it.”
They are saying, “[Spotify for Podcasts] continues to unveil new options that assist podcast creators and encourage listeners to swap to the platform from extra established apps. This proactive method suggests a vivid future for podcast distribution.”
Among the advantages they name out are the analytics (they are saying it provides sharper perception in comparison with platforms like Apple Podcasts), the event group’s openness to receiving suggestions and concepts, and a simplified monetization course of for integrating paid placements or adverts.
Sandidge says, “From applications to neighborhood analysis and extra, they [Spotify for Podcasters] are working to offer a totally streamlined turnkey answer coupled with coaching and alternatives to assist creatives elevate and develop.”
Nevertheless, as with all instruments, there are all the time potential pitfalls. The Elliots name out a number of:
- The podcast class is a comparatively new addition, so gaining visibility in search outcomes can take a while. However the superior algorithm means there’s a superb likelihood your listeners will discover you in a roundabout way.
- Spotify isn’t all the time clear about how new options work. The Elliots say the Q&A panel is a singular function, however they haven’t discovered the place the responses seem.
Again to You
In 5 straightforward steps, you’ll be able to share your podcast on one of many greatest podcasting platforms right this moment. As soon as your podcast goes stay, keep in mind to share it far and extensive. Make this an everyday apply with every episode to spice up your listenership.
