Spotify challenges Apple with its own paid podcast subscriptions

Apple made waves last week during its Spring Loaded event by introducing paid subscriptions for its Apple Podcasts app. As of May, podcasters will be able to offer premium subscriptions to their listeners which can include a number of benefits, from ad-free listening to bonus content to early access for new episodes. Days later, a report claimed Spotify would unveil its own rival platform soon, and on Tuesday, Spotify made its announcement.

Starting today in the United States, Spotify will allow podcasters on its platform to charge listeners for content. With Spotify's Anchor app, podcasters will be able to mark specific episodes as subscriber-only before publishing them to Spotify and other services. For the next two years, podcasters will receive 100% of the revenue they make from paid subscriptions, in stark contrast to Apple, which takes a 30% cut in the first year and 15% thereafter.