Spotify for Podcasters is one of the biggest platforms to host your audio content. But one of the things that resist new creators from joining the podcast industry is the monetization options. While a lot of podcasting platforms do not pay their podcasters or pay minimally, are there any other alternative ways to earn from podcasts? Does Spotify pay podcasters? Let me help you with this scenario using my simple yet doable guide below.
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Does Spotify Pay Podcasters?
Yes, Spotify does pay podcasters, but there are a few catches. Firstly, there are four monetization options that are limited to fewer markets or are invite-based only. So, even if you are a podcaster with a great audience, if you are not from the US, Europe, or Asia Pacific regions, there are minimal chances for you to earn.
| Monetization | Qualification | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Ambassador Ads | 100 listeners on the podcast in the past 60 days, and an episode published for the same period | Invite only: US, UK, and Australia (Expanding soon to more countries) |
| Automated Ads | Invite only | Invite only: US, UK and Australia (Expanding soon to more countries) |
| Podcast Subscription | Show managed through Spotify for Podcasters | Available in 34 markets across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific |
| Listener Support | Show managed through Spotify for Podcasters | US Only |
Secondly, you need to have a huge loyal audience that can either subscribe to your Spotify podcast or give you long listening hours. That’s the only way you can earn good money through your podcasts. Also, Spotify will keep its share, so you definitely need to think large scale in terms of revenue.
Lastly, your podcast should be hosted on Spotify for Podcasters to avail of its monetization options. So, if you have built your audience and hosted your content on some other podcast platform, you will have to slowly begin the migration process and move everything to Spotify.
We have an entire article on the monetization options that Spotify offers.
Alternate Ways to Earn from Podcasts | Spotify, Apple Music, Google, and More
If you want to earn revenue from your podcast, be it hosted on Spotify or any other platform; there are a bunch of options that can help you do so. But the foremost requirement to earn revenue from your podcast is to have both quality and quantity of episodes on your show.
If you have less number of episodes, you are inconsistent, or even if you are not focusing on building quality content and audience, earning from your podcast will only get difficult. You will also need to market your show to reach a bigger audience, and you can do this by sharing your podcast on various platforms and using digital and social media marketing techniques.
A great podcast comes from a great script, equipment, and delivery; you can refer to our podcast guides for all the help you need.
Your Audience is Yawning
Two things can make your audience sleepy while listening to your podcast. One is a boring script, and the second is poor audio.
Here are my favorite 10 best microphones for podcasters that will make you sound-sick professional. And also budget-friendly for beginners and professionals.
Bookmark this page; work on your podcast show, and once you believe you are ready to earn from your podcast, continue applying the techniques below.
Here are five ways you can earn through your podcast,
1. Merchandise
This is one of the most effective ways to build your brand and earn good revenue from it. More practically, it not only helps you earn revenue but also promotes yourself as an influencer or a brand and increases your brand value. In turn, these things help you get sponsorships and other revenue opportunities and potentially make your show a success.
However, one of the biggest requirements to run this revenue model for your podcast is to have a huge and loyal audience. An audience whose major part does not resist wearing a cap or a T-shirt with your brand name on it. Also, a great audience is built with better and more valuable content that regularly engages the audience.
Once you have such an audience, you can get one of the heat press machines and start printing your merchandise. You will also need to create a store for your merchandise where users can buy your products, and this can be done easily using Kinsta’s fast and reliable servers. Kinsta uses cloud servers from Google and has a dedicated CDN to deliver your content faster across the globe. It also has dedicated and manageable servers for setting up WordPress, online stores, and more at a much lesser price than Amazon cloud servers.
Once your merch is ready, you can link it in your show’s description box, mention it on your episode, and also give away a few of them.
Also Read: Podcast RSS Feed: Everything You Need to Know
2. Affiliate Marketing
Another way to earn from your podcast is to sign up for affiliate marketing. Now, a lot of users confuse affiliate marketing with network marketing and MLM, which is not true. Affiliate marketing is more about promoting a legit product to an audience, and when a conversion is done, you get to keep the commissions.
Now, you can do affiliate marketing with bigger brands, like Amazon, for example. But it is important to sign up for only those products that relate to your content and create a need for your audience. For example, if you have a podcast show that talks about how to create your own podcast from scratch, you can sign affiliate programs for equipment, podcast software, and more. This way, there is a good chance that your audience buys the product and you earn a certain commission from it.
Another thing you can do is set up your own online store with affiliate products on it using platforms like WordPress on Kinsta and then link the entire store in the description box of your episode. One of the advantages of doing so is you get to manage the products, add or remove new items, and do more with your store.
You don’t necessarily need to have a huge audience for this, but it is an advantage as your store is likely going to get good traffic from a huge audience and with digital and social media marketing of your podcast.
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3. Offer Courses That Audience Needs
This particular revenue model for podcasting works great with shows based on teaching and educational purpose. Most educational podcasts fail to earn because they do not see the opportunity to earn through the knowledge they are sharing. It only gets difficult to share an entire course through podcasts, especially if it is something that requires visual attention, like designing or coding.
By creating a course on platforms like Teachable, you can create your dedicated paid course and link them with each episode on your show. So, when your loyal fans are buying your course, they are getting beneficial visuals and proper knowledge while also supporting your hard work.
Not only all kinds of podcasts will be able to create a dedicated course, but most of them will directly or indirectly do. For example, if you are an industry expert and host a weekly show about industry news, you can create a course that can help other industry users excel in the field; this is an indirect approach. Likewise, if you talk about lifestyle or daily hacks about swimming pools, you can create a dedicated course on the basics of lifestyle or how to maintain a swimming pool. These are only some examples, and you can curate your course accordingly to your show’s theme.
Also Read: Podcast Cover Art Guide: Size, Logo, Dimensions, and More
4. Create Paid Newsletters
Most small, big, or medium-sized podcasters underestimate the value of generating revenue from newsletters. It is one of the lucrative ways for your audience to spend on your content, as newsletters often have a cheap subscription and still get your audience access to premium content from your end.
Pricing of newsletters is so minimal that audiences do not notice them as huge spending and do not discontinue them. Also, as these are priced minimally, there is a good chance that a lot of users will choose to opt for your newsletter with great content.
In your newsletter, you can share BTS clips, extra information, give life updates to your audience, or anything exclusive about your industry so that the audience is willing to sign up for it.
Also Read: Podcast Covers: 7 Best Apps to Create Stunning Podcast Cover Art
5. Sponsorships
Another popular revenue model for your podcast is sponsorship, and it works when you have a popular podcast show. But how exactly do you get your podcast show sponsored?
There are two ways: the first way is when a brand or product approaches you to promote themselves. Now, this method works when your show is different, has quality content, and people love it. The second method is to collaborate to sign up with programs that get suitable sponsors for your show and break the deal for you. Such programs keep certain commissions from your collaboration to keep their business up and running.
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Wrapping up: Alternate Ways to Earn from Podcast
This pretty much winds up my simple guide on alternate ways to earn from podcasting. Of course, you can employ a few more methods, such as using the donation button or using the “Buy me a coffee” link, traditional advertising (if the platform offers), and more. Which of the above ways to earn from podcasts did you like the most? Let me know in the comment section.
I hope this guide on ways to earn from podcasts came in handy to you; if you have any questions, suggestions, or views, do let us know in the comment section below. If you like this article, do give this a quick share on your social media handles and do tag us. Also, join our Telegram channel, Facebook page, and Twitter to never miss a quick update.
