Spotify plans on launching a new podcast subscription service next week and will be letting content creators keep 100% of the subscription fees. Facebook is also going to be a launch partner and is developing a system for people to easily stream Spotify content through their social media platform.
Last week, Apple announced that they are launching their own podcast subscription service that will be available on all of their devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPod, and the companies smart speaker system. Content creators will have to pay Apple $19.99 per year in order to offer subscriptions, and Apple will take 30% of revenue for the first year and 15% for the years following. Apple has also launched a new creators website, which helps with individuals on how they can leverage subscriptions to best suit their audience.
Podcasting, has been on a rampage, before the coronavirus pandemic, and now has completely exploded in popularity during the lockdown, and is on track to bring in more than $1 billion in revenue this year from advertising in the U.S. for the first time. An estimated 116 million Americans, or 41% of the U.S. population over the age of 12, are now monthly podcast listeners, an 11% increase over 2020, according to Edison Research and Triton Digital.
Spotify is likely going to forgo generating meaningful revenue from people who gravitate to their platform, start distributing their podcasts and charging users a small fee for bonus content, or early access features. Spotify has not divulged exactly how their system will work yet.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
