In a move that may well entice music podcasters towards exclusivity on Spotify, the streaming audio giant are now allowing creators to use full length songs in podcast shows.
There is a twist – you’ll have to use Spotify’s Anchor.fm service to create the content, mixing chat and music without having to worry about copyright concerns.
In using Anchor, it means that the episodes are created within Spotify’s ecosystem so they’ll only exist there and won’t be liable for distribution to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts etc.
The new service is being rolled out in Ireland, along with Spotify’s markets for the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
A second twist
There’s a second twist too – if the listener isn’t a Spotify subscriber, they will only hear 30 second previews of the songs instead of the full version.
Keeping the production and inclusion of the tracks under the one roof means the podcasts can be treated as playlists, songs isolated and managed depending on user level.
Artists will be paid per play of their track as they would under normal Spotify conditions. In a nice move, you can also ‘explore’ each podcast episode, which reveals the playlist for the podcast, allowing you to track-hop or save individual tracks to your favourites.
If you’re new to music podcasting, or even if you had ever considered putting together a demo for a radio station, this might be an opportunity worth exploring.
You can sign up for a free account on Anchor.fm and use their suite of tools to get started.
