'Paid' podcast not included in premium subscription?

[dayman85se]

Plan

Premium

Country

Sweden

Device

PC

Operating System

Windows 10

My Question or Issue

I have a premium subscription but am unable to access episodes of the podcast "Absolutely Mental" (https://open.spotify.com/show/3kFX6pMQ3xNlYMuGKAupya?si=FrTtZeVPTmmjsuf_MBN5hg&dl_branch=1) as it requires an additional subscription? Surely this can't be right? My premium subscription already provides access to all of the podcast content on Spotify right?

[dayman85se]

Hey @dayman85se,

Thanks for keeping in touch.

As @Alex mentioned, some podcasters already have these paid podcasts available in other platforms, like Patreon, and not in Spotify, and that content isn't available in the Spotify catalogue. Our goal is to have all of the podcaster's content in Spotify so users don't need to go somewhere else to get them.

The podcasts that require a paid subscription are extra to the ones that are already available in the Spotify catalogue for free and Premium users, so you wouldn't be paying extra for content that it's already in the Spotify catalogue.

Regarding the revenue, this paid subscriptions aren't with Spotify, but directly with the podcaster. Spotify is only giving you the option to get that paid content from the podcaster directly through our app so you don't need to go to other pages or platforms. Again, 0% of this revenue goes to Spotify, but to the podcast creator, as you wouldn't be paying Spotify for this.

Hope this is more clarifying. The Community is here in case you have more questions or need anything else.

Cheers!

[Alex]

Hi there @dayman85se,

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community!

Paid content is decided by the creator. Usually, they’d need to use a different service, like Patreon, to offer paid content. We want to allow creators to keep all of their content in one place and still have the freedom to offer paid subscriptions.

Spotify takes a 0% revenue share while allowing creators to connect with their existing paid audience. So this is a way to support your favorite podcasters 🙂

Hope this clears things up. Don't hesitate to reach out again if you have questions.

[dayman85se]

Hi Alex

Thanks for the reply but this doesn't really clear it up. You said "Spotify takes a 0% revenue share" but I'm paying you my subscription to access the content ON Spotify. So you are taking some revenue from me, and then restricting my access to the content ON Spotify, no? Isn't the whole point of a Spotify premium subscription that it's one payment and EVERYTHING is included? If I wanted tiered payment schemes and 'in-app purchases' I'd have gone with Apple.

[CarlosE]

Hey @dayman85se,

Thanks for keeping in touch.

As @Alex mentioned, some podcasters already have these paid podcasts available in other platforms, like Patreon, and not in Spotify, and that content isn't available in the Spotify catalogue. Our goal is to have all of the podcaster's content in Spotify so users don't need to go somewhere else to get them.

The podcasts that require a paid subscription are extra to the ones that are already available in the Spotify catalogue for free and Premium users, so you wouldn't be paying extra for content that it's already in the Spotify catalogue.

Regarding the revenue, this paid subscriptions aren't with Spotify, but directly with the podcaster. Spotify is only giving you the option to get that paid content from the podcaster directly through our app so you don't need to go to other pages or platforms. Again, 0% of this revenue goes to Spotify, but to the podcast creator, as you wouldn't be paying Spotify for this.

Hope this is more clarifying. The Community is here in case you have more questions or need anything else.

Cheers!

[dayman85se]

Hi Carlos

I really want to understand this, so when you say "users don't need to go somewhere else to get them" and "you don't need to go to other pages or platforms", I have Spotify open, I'm logged in with my premium account, how do I get Episode 2 of Absolutely Mental without "going to other pages or platforms"?

[CarlosE]

Hi @dayman85se,

What I mean is that users don't need to go to another platform to get that paid content - they can do so directly in Spotify by subscribing to the podcast. To listen to that episode in Spotify, you just need to subscribe to the podcast. You can find more info in this article.

Hope this helps.

[dayman85se]

I accept your answer to the question I have asked, but I am absolutely appalled that my premium subscription no longer gives me access to everything on Spotify. I would like to request a toggle in the settings to hide all premium content, similar to showing only offline content, as I don't want to see things not included in my subscription. How do I go about this?

[Alex]

Hi @dayman85se,

Thanks for the question.

The best way to request a new feature is through an Idea post. You can go ahead and create an idea on the relevant idea board. We always take new ideas and feedback into consideration to improve the app. Here you can read more on how ideas work.

We also suggest checking this help article for useful tips on how to submit an idea. As a heads-up, it's good to know that the higher the number of votes an idea gets, the more likely it is for the idea to be implemented.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any more questions.

[dayman85se]

Thanks, I have now created a submission in ideas.

Given that I first became aware of 'Absolutely Mental' when Spotify recommended it to me, and to access it I have to pay, would that not class this as an advert? And although you are now telling me premium no longer includes all content on Spotify, I thought it was still ad-free right?

[MafeG]

Hi @dayman85se,

Thank you for your swift reply. 

Certainly a Premium subscription allows you an ad-free musical experience. And in this case, content recommendations are not adverts since they're not part of commercial campaigns or paid to Spotify. 

Hope this clears things up, let us know if there's anything else you'd like to know. 

[dayman85se]

You two are absolutely full of it.

"Anchor takes a 30% share of Sponsorships facilitated through the platform"

Anchor, which is owned by Spotify. So trying to say the subscription is some completely separate entity that Spotify doesn't benefit from and is only offering to content creators as some benevolent act is so disingenuous!

I pay for my 'ad-free' premium subscription, you recommend 'paid content' to me, you get 30% of sponsorship money that content creator is bringing in.

How do content creators get more sponsorships (and therefore Spotify get more money)? By getting more subscribers. And how do they get more subscribers? BY RECOMMENDING IT TO PEOPLE. This was an advert.

This is the Drake situation all over again. Why not just be honest about it?