Spotify for Podcasters release new terms of use

• Spotify for Podcasters has released a new set of terms and conditions, which are relevant for those hosting on Spotify or just distributing podcasts on it. In an email, Spotify has run through some of the changes; we examined the terms of use to see what’s been deleted (red) and what’s new (blue). There are no big changes; but things that we’ve spotted:

  • podcasts that contain “promotional content” need to be marked (just like YouTube requires; and this setting already exists on Spotify video uploads)
  • The “RSS Feed” has been removed from the terms and conditions as a method of delivering content. We’d not read too much into this; the new terms have removed all methods of delivering content, including the Spotify website itself.
  • The licensing requirements have been significantly shortened. As part of that, Spotify no longer contractually has to display your own copyright notice (though it’s unlikely that’ll go away, in our opinion).
  • There’s no mention of training AI or anything like that, though the terms have always allowed derivative works.
  • There is also a lot of stuff about arbitration in case of a dispute, which we don’t understand, but which has added two full pages to this agreement. Lawyers, eh?

• “Instinctively, commissioners favour long-running “always on” chat show formats – they are the simplest shows to monetise with their ability to grow audiences over time and attract advertisers. Any limited run series - fiction or non-fiction – is competing at a disadvantage.” Writing for Podnews, John Scott Dryden from Goldhawk Productions asks: Do we know how to monetise limited-run audio series?, and shares some of the ways the company has found success.

• A number of commercial media and content businesses have written to the UK’s Labour Party to warn about the damage that could be caused if the BBC is allowed to place advertising in its audio content in the UK. It also highlights the precedent that would be set by the move. (The Labour Party are likely to form the next government in July).

• Film Stories with Simon Brew won the podcast of the year at the Publisher Podcast Awards. We have a full list of the winners.

• It’s time to retire the download, says Oliver Plume from Adwanted UK, promoting a streaming-only solution.

• On LinkedIn, Triton Digital’s Simon Lee shares data from Singapore’s podcast landscape. 6% of shows are currently downloaded using Google Podcasts in the city state. They’re in for a surprise.

• In Austria, the government is to make €500,000 (US$540,000) of public funding available for podcasts for the first time, as part of an increased media subsidy of $27mn for private broadcasters. “Excellent journalistic products have been established in this area in recent years that have previously had to get by without any funding at all,” said a government representative.

• Spotify has launched an in-house creative agency for brands.

• Eddy by Headliner is now generating transcript and chapter files for Podcasting 2.0.

• Adam Bowie looks at the recent Edison Podcast Metrics UK top 25 data. So does Bill Rogers, who points out some inconsistencies with other public data.

Tips and tricks - with Memberful

• Want to get your show notes displaying as good as possible? Transistor tests what works across all platforms
• Heard about the iOS 17 changes in Apple Podcasts? We wrote a definitive look at what changed, and the impact it had.

Podcast News

Blubrry’s Podcast Insider makes it to episode 400 today - at least, they think it’s “close enough” to episode 400. The show has undergone many rebrandings since it started as the Blubrry community podcast.

The true-crime podcast Murder, etc. is responsible for re-opening a murder case in South Carolina. The news highlights the benefit of keeping old shows online: the podcast was last released in February 2020, and the host, Brad Willis, is no longer podcasting. “Even though I’ve not picked up a podcast microphone for several years, it’s possible that something good came out of all of it,” he told The New York Times.

Your Morning Mantra - a short, three-minute daily podcast - has had over seven million downloads so far, says its producer, Podshape. The show has a new host - as of Monday, it’ll be hosted by Australian TV personality Davina Rankin, who also hosts Who? Me for the network.

The Podnews Weekly Review includes interviews with Kevin Y Brown from Afripods, and Jon Savage from the Africa Podcast Network, about the podcast landscape in Africa. It’s a fascinating listen. Plus, Sam and James look into Spotify’s announcement about video.

The Pink House with Sam Smith is new from Lemonada Media. The show features guests like Elliot Page, Gloria Estefan, sharing how they all found their own places in the world, with stories of belonging, chosen families, and the journeys we take to become who we’re destined to be.

On June 14, 2023, a fishing trawler that had sailed from Libya to Italy capsized about 47 nautical miles south of Pylos, Greece. It is estimated that 750 people were on board. In the investigative podcast Pylos: A Year On, details are revealed about how it sank, and the trial of the nine survivors accused of trafficking and causing the shipwreck. The podcast is in English and Greek.