NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Streaming music service Spotify affirmed its belief in the value of podcasts on its platform with the surprise release of Spotify For Podcasters, a beta program aimed at podcast content creators.
According to Digitial Music News, the service will allow podcasters to link their RSS feeds to Spotify, allowing content to be pushed to Spotify through various podcast aggregators.
Previous reports that Spotify would allow content creators to directly upload podcasts to the streaming service proved to be inaccurate.
Typically, a podcast creator relies on a centralized aggregator as a distributor for their content, which is then distributed via RSS feeds to sites such as Google Play, iTunes, and Stitcher. Under the new system, podcasters will be able to connect their RSS feed directly to Spotify.
Spotify will also provide podcasters with access to a dashboard that provides analytics such as episode performance, daily stats on listener demographics, location, engagement, and more.
Podcasters will also be connected to Spotify’s promotion push for podcasts, which have been a steadily growing business with advertising buys expected to double by 2020. In recent months, several high profile entertainment companies, including Creative Artists, United Talent, WME and iHeartMedia have made investments in podcasts, underscoring the growing importance of the medium.
