Spotify will allow podcast content creators to offer subscription services to their listeners. After Apple rolled out a subscription service for podcasts, this move comes after taking a cut from the podcasters.
Spotify- A new beginning
Spotify is one of the largest music-streaming platforms on Earth, with more than 345 million active users as of 2020 end. It offers podcasts from content creators for users to listen, in a diverse set of topics.
Now, Spotify will launch a podcast subscription service for users in the next week. It has decided not to take any cut from podcasters if they decide to charge users for subscriptions. Spotify has also decided not to prescribe how much should be charged as a subscription amount from users.
The company’s new scheme will make the iOS app listeners purchase subscriptions via a website. This move would help Spotify and users to work around Apple’s additional charges.
Apple’s legacy in podcasts
Apple has introduced a subscription service to podcasts now, 15 years after their introduction to iTunes. The new plan requires podcasters to pay $19.99 per year, and they should pay 30% of the subscribers’ revenue in the first year. This percentage drops to 15% for the next years.
Apple allows podcasters to offer ad-free, bonus, or early-access content to their subscribers at any cost fixed. Spotify plans to counter this competition by not taking any cut from the subscriber’s revenue stream. This company has the edge in this area since the android users are much higher than iOS users.
Spotify also has the most number of podcast listeners. There are questions regarding this arrangement, too. Podcasters do not know till when the no-revenue cut arrangement would take place.
The podcast industry may bring $1 billion in revenue from advertisements in the U.S. for the first time. Podcasts count had grown from 4,50,000 in 2019 to 2.2 million in 2020. This shows the growth of the idea of podcasts and Spotify’s market gain.
#Spotify is reportedly planning to introduce a paid #podcast subscription service, and not take a cut of revenue as #Apple's new Podcast subscriptions will. https://t.co/60LOMMfWgF pic.twitter.com/afhdXMtqkE
— AppleInsider (@appleinsider) April 23, 2021
This move will prove beneficial to podcast content creators. They have not been able to make it a stable source of revenue till now. Now, after Apple and Spotify’s plans to allow podcast subscriptions and derive revenue from sales, this might change.
People could benefit from this idea by paying their favorite podcaster while supporting them to do more such content.
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