Upload a podcast with Spotify for Podcasters. Note: Spotify doesn’t host podcasts. You need to provide a link to an RSS feed in order to have your podcast on Spotify. Log in to Spotify for Podcasters with your Spotify account, or choose SIGN UP to create one. Then, follow these steps: Click GET STARTED.

1. We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and our services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy.
2. The app seems to be directly aimed at encouraging new and amateur podcasters to make shows, while also boosting Spotify’s podcast catalog. Podcasters can edit together Soundtrap for Storytellers.
3. May 22, 2020 No, they do not. They distribute your feeds for you so they are accessible on their devices but that is all. The two ways podcast are typically used to generate income is: 1.
4. Jun 23, 2020 Spotify has taken a few steps this year to introduce new ad products for podcasters, differentiating its platform from. With Spotify's new in-app offers ad, one of the early partners is Harry's.
5. The Spotify for Artists App: Fresh Design, A New Home, and Real-Time Stats Sep 24, 2019. Track your releases and celebrate milestones with a fresh look, real-time stats, and a new 'home' tab—now available on iOS and Android.

Spotify’s road to podcast dominance started brazenly enough: hundreds of millions of dollars spent at once to buy a respected podcast network, Gimlet Media, and a podcast creation app, Anchor. Now, nearly two years later, the company’s continuing to spend, but this time with its sights set on conquering the podcast ad market.

Yesterday, the company announced it spent $235 million to acquire Megaphone, a podcast hosting company that also inserts and sells dynamic ads for podcasts. The acquisition, though large, isn’t as flashy as some of the company’s other deals, but it sets Spotify up to become a force in podcast ad sales. With Megaphone, Spotify wants to dominate podcast advertising and become the main ad seller for shows both inside and outside its network. This could have repercussions, not just for where and how advertisers and podcast networks spend money, but also for how much Spotify knows about listener behavior both inside and outside its platform.

Podcast ads have become increasingly sophisticated and can be swapped in and out based on who’s listening and what ad deals are active. Dynamic advertising, as this is called, was a big change from static podcast ads that were built into a show forever. Now, podcast ads act more like the web — a rotating cast of ads targeted to a person based on what needs an audience that day. Still, the targeting for these is limited by a lack of user data. At most, the hosting services know where listeners are based, what kind of device they’re listening on, and the app they’re using to listen. This totally changes with Spotify.

Spotify knows listeners’ names, billing information, where they live, their age, what music they like, the other shows they enjoy, who they’re friends with on Spotify, what devices they use, and plenty of other data. It’s still not as much as Facebook or Google know about people online, but it’s significantly more information than podcasters have previously known about their audience.

Naturally, Spotify harnesses this data to sell and insert ads through its proprietary Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) technology, which debuted in January for its own internal shows. These ads are inserted in real time as opposed to being swapped out ahead of a listen, meaning Spotify’s system makes live decisions about which ads a specific listener should hear based on their data and also based on the goals of the various ad deals Spotify is currently running.

With the Megaphone deal, SAI will be offered to shows outside the Spotify network, so if advertisers or third-party podcasts want to be able to effectively reach Spotify’s 320 million monthly listeners, they’ll have to pay Spotify to do so, whether that means going to Spotify’s ad sales team and asking to be slotted into shows or by hosting a podcast on Megaphone to gain access to SAI. Spotify gets paid even if it doesn’t sell a show’s ads because it still provides distribution services. (Spotify isn’t the only company attempting to own the distribution, hosting, and sales arms of podcasting; iHeartMedia and SiriusXM are, as well.)

Owning a hosting service also gives Spotify unprecedented access to data about other networks’ shows. Only a network and their hosting provider know how many downloads a show receives, where their listeners are based, and generally, how episodes perform. Now Spotify will have that data, too. Megaphone currently says ESPN is a client, for example. This means Spotify could know how ESPN podcasts perform, which is coveted information especially given that Spotify owns The Ringer, which CEO Daniel Ek said the company acquired to build the “new ESPN.”

Since fully entering the podcasting space in 2019, Spotify has spent upward of $500 million on acquiring companies, and stars like Joe Rogan, Kim Kardashian West, and Michelle Obama, in the space. It now owns a podcast creation app, multiple successful networks, and a podcast player. With Megaphone, it also possesses a hosting service and effective ad network. It’s setting itself up to be an integral part of the podcast ecosystem that outside networks will have to engage with eventually.

To pull this off, Spotify has to make SAI enticing enough that podcasters are willing to change hosting networks just to get its more specific ad tech, and advertisers are willing to switch who they buy from for that same access. To get to that point, Spotify needs to become the most popular place people listen, specifically stream, all over the world, which it seemingly hasn’t pulled off yet. Apple might still hold the top listening position, at least in the US, although if Spotify keeps securing exclusive deals, it might force listeners to convert.

That’s the through line in all of Spotify’s deals, forcing people to use its service for access, whether that be access to ad technology or certain shows. We all might end up having to use Spotify whether we like it or not.

With so many podcasts out there, how can anyone manage them all? Luckily, there are a number of great iOS apps out there to help in that department.

I’ll break down some of the best podcast apps available on iOS. To be honest, the podcasting game is still begging to be reinvented, so while the apps listed are all great in their own right, there’s no single standout platform. However, each recommended app does have its own unique style and set of features. Let’s get started.

Apple Podcasts

For many years, Apple iTunes was the reigning king of the podcast platforms. But despite being the leader in the industry, Apple stopped innovating in the podcast space as it focused more on music, movies, mobile apps, and other digital media.

Apple made some attempt to center podcasts again when it cut podcasting out of iTunes and launched Apple Podcasts in 2012. Did Apple reinvent the wheel when it did this? No, but giving the medium its own dedicated app was certainly an important step. Whether an Apple customer is a podcast aficionado or not, every Apple device comes with the built in Podcasts app.

Apple Podcasts is still the de facto directory most podcasts aim to be listed in. Apple Podcasts’ top show and episode rankings are also the most common way podcasters gauge the popularity of particular programs. Getting on the platform's 'New and Noteworthy' section, a human curated list of upcoming podcasts put together by Apple, is considered a big accomplishment.

Earlier this year, Apple that it had hit one million podcasts in its library. That’s not individual episodes. We’re talking entirely about full shows. On top of that, many of the apps on this list aggregate Apple's podcast directory to power their podcast search features. So, if you’re looking for a show, it’ll certainly be listed in Apple Podcasts.

Still, at its heart, Apple Podcasts is just a list of podcast feeds (even if it has a ton of them), a fairly simple library to sync the shows you’re subscribed to, and a barebones podcast player. It’s basic, but it gets the job done.

Overcast

The most popular third-party podcast application is probably Overcast. It’s different from the other apps on this list as its focus is more its audio player than any sort of show discoverability options. And, honestly, that’s where it excels.

The app is devoid of content when you first download it. It really requires that you know what shows you want to listen to. Once you fill up your library, though, you probably have the best iOS podcast player.

Overcast has a number of listening features you won’t find anywhere else like “Smart Speed.” Basically, this feature speeds up the podcast whenever there are silences or long pauses in order to maximize your podcast listening time without altering the actual content. Overcast also has a “Voice Boost” feature which gives your podcast volume a boost if you’re listening in a particularly noisy atmosphere.

Overcast is available for free download or with a $10 a year subscription to remove ads.

Spotify

Spotify For Podcasters In Beta

If there was ever a platform to threaten Apple’s perch on the podcast throne, it’s Spotify. Interestingly enough, as Apple looks to separate podcasts from its music offerings, Spotify is looking to take over the podcasting world by bringing podcasts to its popular music streaming app. Not too long after Apple, Spotify also announced it had reached a million podcasts on its platform — an impressive feat when you consider iTunes' head start.

However, Spotify is looking to go much further. It's immersing itself in the growing podcast industry. Last year, the company the podcast creation platform, Anchor, and Gimlet Media, the production company behind popular podcasts like Reply All and Crimetown. The company is also signing deals to bring exclusive podcasts to the platform. For example, the most popular podcast in the U.S., The Joe Rogan Experience, is now on Spotify.

Spotify is really trying to provide a premium experience to go along with its premium music subscription service, which costs $9.99 a month.

Unlike most other podcasting platforms, a podcast listener can’t simply add the feed of their favorite podcast to the app. The podcast owner must apply directly to Spotify to be added to the platform. Of course, this could be a positive to some users looking for more than just what’s featured on every other podcasting app.

Breaker

Breaker is attempting to bring social media aspects to podcasting. It’s not just a podcast player. It’s not just a podcast directory. It’s all that with a complete podcast-oriented social network built inside.

Users sign up for a profile just like they would to any other social media site and begin subscribing to their favorite podcasts. Again, unlike other podcast platforms, those subscriptions aren’t only for your own listening pleasure — they’re public on your profile, sort of like Facebook Likes or YouTube channel subscriptions.

Spotify does have a feature where users can view their friend's music activity feed but not what podcasts they listen to. So Breaker really stands out in that regard. Its users can also comment on shows and episodes and share their recent listening history.

Breaker users can also follow other podcast listeners on the platform in order to keep track of what they’re consuming and find new shows to listen to. The app also uses your subscriptions to recommend other similar and trending podcasts.

A podcast social network may not sound revolutionary, but it’s quite frankly the most refreshing take on a podcasting platform I’ve seen yet.

/download-clean-music-on-spotify.html. Breaker is free to download but offers a $5 a month subscription to remove in-app advertisements. Breaker also lets podcast owners charge for premium episodes within the app.

The Podcast App

It may have an extremely generic name but The Podcast App may very well have the nicest UI and most interesting discovery platform of all the apps on this list.

Spotify For Podcasters Account

While it’s free to download, it unfortunately limits some very basic features — such as full listening history and the ability to add podcasts by RSS feed — to its $24.99 a year premium subscription, without a monthly subscription option.

However, there’s a particular free feature I find myself using in tandem with other podcast options. Upon opening the app I was immediately met by a recommendation engine organizing shows by episode length. Only have 20 minutes? The Podcast App will recommend you show episodes that you can listen to in 20 minutes or less. It’s a great way to discover new shows that may fit certain commutes or downtimes throughout your day.

Spotify For Podcasters Sign In

Alas, in my opinion, we still wait for the perfect platform, a total podcasting package. However, these iOS apps each offer a piece of that perfection we hope to one day see on a single platform.