Spotify began rolling out Memberships on October 20 in 34 markets, letting eligible podcast creators charge fans for benefits such as bonus episodes and early listening access. Creators retain 90% of the revenue they generate, and listeners with either Free or Premium accounts can join a participating show’s Membership.
Creators set their own offerings and can divide benefits among tiers with different prices, rather than providing one standard package across participating shows. Options include exclusive video or audio, access to older episodes and fewer ads, making the benefits dependent on the show and tier a listener chooses. Initial availability includes the U.S., the U.K., Australia and Canada, alongside markets in Europe and Asia.
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To qualify, shows must use Spotify for Creators or Megaphone as their host and have published at least three episodes. They also need an audience of 100 listeners or viewers and 100 hours of consumption on Spotify during the preceding 30 days. Eligible creators can set up Memberships through either hosting platform, adding payments from fans to earning options that already include sponsorships, advertising and the Spotify Partner Program.
Listeners in supported markets can browse Membership options from a podcast’s show page, complete checkout and consume the member content within Spotify. Members can show a badge alongside their episode comments, while creators can use welcome clips to greet people who join.
The Adam Friedland Show and Two Hot Takes are among the launch participants, along with Making Sense with Sam Harris. YMH Studios is introducing Memberships across 12 shows in its network. Spotify says creators can use free trials and targeted promotions to attract subscribers, with analytics helping them identify what drives registrations. Creators can also export member information, including contact details when fans agree to share them.
The rollout follows Spotify’s May plan to adopt Apple’s HLS technology, which would let creators hosted on Spotify for Creators or Megaphone distribute video podcasts to Spotify and Apple Podcasts through one setup. Separately, Spotify activated video distribution through five outside hosting providers, allowing their creators to send video to Spotify and earn through the Spotify Partner Program without moving hosts.
