Spotify Is Killing Podcasts
I love podcasts. I love listening to podcasts, and I’ve been creating them for 10 years. But the podcast landscape is in a weird place right now. What made podcasts special for the last 15 years is the open standards they were built on, like RSS, and the independent spirit of podcast creation.
That open standard and independence seems to be fading away, though. Today, podcasting is not only big business, with hundreds of millions of dollars changing hands between companies like Spotify and creators, but the method in which shows are distributed has become, well, complicated.
So consider this my manifesto for the future of podcasting. My hope is that even if there are big names and big companies doing the podcast thing, the small shows, the independent creators, and the open standards that made podcasts special, stick around for years to come.
But to understand why that’s in danger, let’s take a brief look at the history of podcasting. By the way, this video is sponsored by Buzzsprout.
A Brief History
We could go all the way back to the advent of radio broadcasts, but let's start our history lesson with the iPod.
Apple debuted the first iPod in 2001 and a few years later, Apple brought Podcasts into the iTunes Music Store. During that 2005 event, Steve Jobs coined the phrase by combining “iPod”, with “broadcasts.” For the next decade, podcasts, Apple, and the iPod would be inextricably linked.
The iPod was the primary device for listening to podcasts for several years, and the only place to really find them was the directory held by Apple.
But the beauty of podcasting, even in the early days, was that each podcast was simply an RSS feed held in an XML file on the internet, which linked to audio files that could be downloaded for free!
SO even if you didn't have an iPod, podcast creators could link to their RSS feed publicly on the web, and listeners could download those audio files directly to their computer. Maybe even sync them to a Palm Treo or Blackberry if they really wanted. Shudders The Oxford dictionary even named the word "podcast" the 2005 word of the year.
Some of the earliest podcasts to gain popularity was This Week In Tech with Leo Laporte in 2005, This American Life in 2006, Marc Maron in 2009, and then podcasting began to grow!
Once the iPhone launched in 2007 and smart phones became ubiquitous, podcasting had its chance to hit the mainstream public. iOS 2.2 was released in November of 2008 and for the first time you could download podcasts over the air directly to your iPhone.
Fast forward a few years and in 2012 Apple finally made a dedicated Podcast app on the iPhone, which in the typical skeuomorphic design of the early oughts, was a literal reel to reel player.
I had my own podcasts around this time, just me, recording by myself in the attic, and rolling my own RSS feed manually with every new episode. I still have the XML file in case you were wondering.
But 2014 was a landmark year for podcasts. This American Life published a new show call "Serial." This investigative journalist style podcast exploded in popularity, and for the next five years monthly podcast listeners in America doubled.
Around this time we also begin to see third-party podcast apps arrive on the scene, like Overcast in 2014 and Pocket Casts in 2015.
But up to this point, podcasts were still basically RSS feeds that linked to audio files somewhere on the internet! Whether you used an iPhone, Android, or just had a desktop computer, you could listen to any podcast, anywhere you wanted.
Podcast creation tools also got better. Ferrite for iPad, which is what I use to edit all of my shows today, launched in 2015, and Anchor launched in 2016 which let people create a podcast and publish it, right from their iPhone.
It seemed like the golden age of podcasts, many shows were still independently-owned, creation tools and publishing platforms were making it easier than ever to start a podcast, and you could listen to shows however and whenever you'd like!
Speaking of publishing platforms: Buzzsprout! RSS feed meets all the standards for Apple Podcasts, Google podcasts, and they have great features like magic mastering, you can create audio clips to share on social media right inside Buzzsprout, and a ton more. Try it for free at the link in the description.
Enter the Big Guys
During the mid-oughts, some podcast networks began to grow in size and popularity. Some already existed like 5by5.tv, relay.fm and Maximum Fun. But the really big guys started investing heavily in the podcast industry:
Gimlet Media, Slate, Wondery, news outlets like The New York Times, and others started to create highly produced, big-budget shows. And in the grand scheme of things, that's fine! There's room for everyone!
Independent podcasters can still produce content for smaller audiences, while the larger outlets hit the mainstream, and both can live in harmony. After all, podcasts are still just RSS feeds and audio files, all the same for everyone.
But then in 2018 and 2019 came what we’ll call: the great consolidation. Some of the big podcast companies were bought by even bigger companies! Wondery was bought by Amazon, NPR bought the app, Pocket Casts, only to sell it again shortly after, then Spotify buys Gimlet and the podcast creation tool, Anchor.
Thankfully, the independent podcast industry foresaw what was happening, and begun the podcast wars have. In an attempt to keep independent podcasting viable, third-party podcast indexes were born, new podcast hosting companies arose, and lots of tools to record shows became cheap and even free.
The Blight of Exclusivity
Along with the great consolidation of 2019, a $100 million startup company called Luminary launched with the hope to offer premium podcasts with exclusive distribution.
The Luminary app could be used like any other podcast app, but the main selling point was this: for $7.99 a month, listeners could access popular shows with names like Trevor Noah and Lena Dunham. And these shows would ONLY be found in the Luminary app.
Seeing this platform lock-in play from Luminary, big names like Spotify and the New York Times withheld their shows from appearing in the Luminary app. And while Luminary is till around, it largely failed at its attempt to become THE podcast app.
But where Luminary failed, Spotify is hoping to succeed. Unlike Luminary, Spotify already has 381 million people using their app to stream music! They don't have to convince a bunch of people to use a new app, they just need current Spotify users to start listening to podcasts in the same app they use for music.
And for those who don't use Spotify for music, they have another strategy,
Exclusive Shows
But unlike Luminary, Spotify isn't charging anything for these shows. They're totally free, but you have to listen in the Spotify app.
Remember: this was never how podcasts worked before. Say it with me now: Podcasts were just RSS feeds and audio files you could listen to anywhere and however you'd like.
But no longer. Spotify bought exclusivity to some of the biggest shows, like Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, they bought Call Her Daddy with Alex Cooper for $60 million, and The Joe Rogan Experience went exclusive for $100 million.
What Does It Mean?
Well, for the first time since podcasts launched in 2005 with iTunes, many of the biggest shows are no longer available on the open internet. You can't listen to Dax Shephard or Joe Rogan wherever you want, you have to listen in the Spotify app.
It's still free to listen, but Spotify hopes that you'll come to its app often enough to be tempted and use them for music too. It's likely Spotify will eventually have paid shows as well, but we haven't seen that just yet.
We already have precedence for this kind of distribution in the entertainment world. In the past, certain shows were only available on XM Radio, and if you wanted to watch Game of Thrones you had to go to HBO. TV Networks operated with exclusive shows from the very beginning too!
BUT, this means the very nature of podcasts, that they are simply a public RSS feed linking to audio files that can be listened to anywhere and everywhere, is eroding.
Not only that, but it puts podcasts in a difficult spot when ONE of the platform exclusives, goes a little rogue.
What's the Deal with Joe Rogan?
Joe Rogan became one of the largest shows in all of podcasdom, and he has plenty of controversial takes and guests.
Recently, multiple episodes included conversations about the vaccine that was unsavory and we’ll leave it at that. All of sudden both music artists and other podcast hosts that had gone exclusive to Spotify began withdrawing their content from the platform.
Musician Neil Young was the first, then Joni Mitchell, and researcher Brene Brown announced she would no longer produce any more podcasts on the platform.
Joe Rogan aired a 10 minute video on Instagram defending the controversial episodes but apologized saying he would, [quote] “do his best to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives” and that he would “do my best to make sure I have researched these topics...and have all the pertinent facts at hand before I discuss them.”
Some of the musicians like Neil Young most likely won’t return unless Spotify boots Joe Rogan out of their network. And this is where the conflict of exclusivity comes in: Spotify can’t afford to lose Joe Rogan.
Not only did they spend $100 million dollars to get his show, but a source told The Verge “…that if marketers buy ads on Rogan, they have to buy ads on the rest of Spotify’s catalog.” So not only is Spotify motivated to keep Rogan and possibly convert listeners to their premium music service, but they’re gaining tons of ad revenue as well.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek spoke to employees about Rogan in a Town Hall meeting and audio was leaked to The Verge. The CEO goes on to say, [quote]
"It is important to note that we do not have creative control over Joe Rogan's content," Ek said. "We don't approve his guests in advance, and just like any other creator, we get his content when he publishes, and then we review it, and if it violates our policies, we take the appropriate enforcement actions.”
My Take
Because Spotify bought The Joe Rogan Experience, and it’s the largest podcast on their network, they have lots of motivation to sacrifice other music artists and podcast hosts to keep their prize show.
This exclusive deal is putting other podcasts in a hard place. If they signed a deal with Spotify like Brene Brown, and they don’t agree with Spotify’s stance on Joe Rogan, their only recourse is to stop making episodes. They contractually can’t start publishing elsewhere or independently.
It’s also telling that the Spotify app doesn’t let you add a podcast to your library by straight RSS. You know, that open standard that powered podcasts from the very beginning. Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and pretty much every third-party app let’s you do this.
Now, let’s imagine a world where Spotify didn’t purchase exclusive rights to any of these shows. If Joe Rogan and every other podcast stayed in the same format as always, say it with me: a public RSS feed with linked audio files, no platform would be at the mercy of Joe Rogan’s antics.
We don’t blame Chrome, Windows Edge, or the Safari web browser for loading a controversial website. We understand that their job is to render any URL publicly available on the internet. And it’s the same with podcast apps. Their only function is to parse any RSS feed you throw at it, and let you press play on an episode of that feed.
Now that Spotify is the ONLY platform with Joe Rogan, it also has to play the content moderation game. It needs policies and ethics in place to police its own shows, because Spotify is solely responsible. Just like NBC, HBO, or Netflix is responsible for their exclusive content.
Personally, I’m concerned the open nature of podcasting with RSS feeds and audio files is in jeopardy. Sure, there will always be small, independent podcasters out there doing their thing, but all the advertising dollars and audience may start moving to the big names.
I hope I’m wrong though. Maybe this Joe Rogan situation begins a slow retreat away from exclusive podcast distribution. Creators may now be motivated to keep their independence and not be associated with controversial networks. Spotify is getting a taste of what it means to do content moderation, and listeners have already tweeted about moving to Apple Music.
Like I said at the beginning, I love podcasts. I love to listen, and produce podcasts. And I think they‘ll be around for a long time. But it would certainly help if you, yes I’m talking to you, get out there and support your favorite podcasts! Especially the small ones.
If they have a paid subscription, sure, that’d a great way to support them. But there’s lots of ways to support podcasting that’s totally free. Like, listening to them! Engaging with the hosts who make your favorite shows. Leaving them 5-Star reviews, and most of all:
Tell your friends and family to listen! Podcasts are fun, and there’s something special and bizarre about them too. It’s like you’re best friends with these people you hear talk every week, even though you’ve never met them in real life.
Maybe they teach you something, inform you, and even motivate you. They make you laugh, and think, and cry. Podcasts are special, let’s make sure they stay that way.
