How To Get Your Podcast On Spotify - The Podcast Report

Why? What's going on? Is Spotify quickly becoming a destination for podcasters? No. Let's not be ridiculous, but let's not deny the role and the impact of Spotify. You are listening to the Podcast Report with Paul Colligan. Here's Paul. Here's Paul. Spotify is a hot topic and we will be chatting about that, its relationship to podcasters today on the Podcast report. You can get the show, notes, links, conversation and more@the podcastreport.com 140 yes, we are 140 episodes into the Podcast Report. I don't typically do this, but I want to and I need to because I think it's going to be interesting. This month I head out to Social Media Marketing World in San Diego, California. It is an amazing event. I've got a panel that we will have the recording of that panel in a future episode. It'll be four or five months, but that recording will be there. If you're there at Social Media Marketing World, definitely catch up. I will be there. Dave Jackson from the school, the podcast will be there. Gary Leland will be there. Tim street will be there. Lots of really interesting, bigger names in the podcasting space will be there. Some smaller names in the podcasting space will be there. And it's a great, great time. Last week I had Steve Olsher on the show and I was thrilled to have Steve on the show. But I want to be really careful his interpretation of shows like Social Media Marketing World not being accessible. It's a little bit harder just by the sheer numbers. But the groove of that show, people are very open, they want to be there, they want to interact. And if you are on a mission to make that happen, you can do that. And it's a larger statement for the entire podcasting world. All the events, podcasters tend to make themselves very available. I'm not missing Social Media Marketing World. I haven't missed Social Media Marketing World. I don't know if in the future I'm ever going to miss Social Media Marketing World, but if you can come, come. If you haven't grabbed your ticket yet. Paulcolligan.com SMMW will take you there. It is a great event. Thrilled to see you there. And it is filled with very approachable people. There are just thousands of them, so you have to be strategic, but it is filled with very, very approachable people. Now to Steve, I really appreciate what ste with changing the game. We are in a place in podcasting. You can listen to that. The last episode. Thepodcastreport.com139. He has tried something very different. It's very exciting. It's going to work for some. It's not going to work for everyone, but everyone can listen to that interview and learn how to expand the game, try some new things, do what makes sense to your audience, and we will go from there. So Spotify is the topic of the day, but before we hit that, the tip of the week. It's so funny. You, as a podcaster, have an intimate relationship with your audience, yet you will ask me questions like, what is most important to my audience? Here's the thing. You have a relationship. You want to know what is most important? Ask your audience, how often does my show need to come out? Ask your audience, how long should my show be? Ask your audience, how important is consistency? Ask your audience. I don't want to sound like a broken record here, but I do want to encourage you with the simple fact that you have this relationship, you have this intimacy. You have made it happen with podcasts and now you can make it better by going to the very people that you've created the relationship with. If you have any questions about your show, stop asking a guru. Stop going to the podcasting websites and groups that ask about it. Go direct your audience and when they respond, do what they tell you to do, and your show will be better than ever before. Way back in the early days of the podcast report, I told you podcasting was coming to the streaming music platforms. It was coming to Spotify, it was coming to Pandora. We've seen that come true. Spotify has made it easy. Pandora hasn't opened up the gates yet, at least at the time of this recording, this episode, I want to chat about Spotify. I've had this on the short list of things to chat about, but Rob Walsh over at Libsyn gave out some numbers. It's begun to become a bit of a dialogue for people and I thought I would go there. So there is a previous interview with Rob for Libsyn where we chatted about his destination strategy or his destination Libson's destination strategy, you can find that link@the podcastreport.com 140 and others. Now, right now, if you are on Libsyn and I'm speaking only for Libsyn, because that's where I'm at. That's where I put all my clients at. If you're at other places, I'm sure there's ways to do it, but I like easy, simple, brain dead simple, easy, cheap, that kind of thing. That's why I'm with Libsyn. If you put your podcast on Spotify, and I'll have the links to how to do that at Libsyn, and we'll probably find some other ones in there as well. You are going to be there now, and you're starting to see downloads now, and people are starting to see some really interesting download numbers. Why? What's going on? Is Spotify quickly becoming a destination for podcasters? No, let's not be ridiculous, but let's not deny the role and the impact of Spotify. Now, the date I recorded this, Apple just released the HomePod. We'll probably do an episode about the HomePod in the future. But there's a lot of bad data out there and bad preconceived notions that, like, everybody's on Spotify and nowhere else, and Spotify is. They're at the top. But if you look, look at app music's coming in and playing some stuff, Spotify is not the clear winner. But this is really important. Spotify is a huge player. I heard on another podcast, just the term Spotify is where everyone is listening to music now. They're not the only one, but they're there. Now, here's something interesting on the new iOS 11, that whole idea where you can integrate Siri into other programs and to other elements. I actually told her to open up a podcast on Spotify, having Spotify on my phone, and guess what? When I told her to do that, she opened up the podcast, but not on Spotify, inside of iOS. I don't know if that's bad programming or Apple being tricky, but regardless, it's there, it's part of it. It's interesting. So Rob Walsh over at the feed at Libsyn, that's their show, episode 113. He's got a bit about Spotify that's really, really interesting. Now, a couple things. Number one, they're seeing audiences in the 18 to 30 demographic that skews female as the ones who are doing really, really well on Spotify. Now, what does really, really well on Spotify mean? 5.1% of their traffic is going to Spotify, which is really interesting. Less than half of the shows in Libsyn are set up for Spotify, which makes that really, really interesting. Would that bring it to 10%? I don't know, but very interesting. What kind of shows do well? Again, he said audiences 18 to 30 skewing female. Obviously, a show like this, I don't know. This show's a little bit different because many of you podcasters consume this Stuff everywhere to see what the platform's like. But a lot of business shows, a lot of entrepreneurial shows, these are not people on Spotify. These are people on the traditional devices, iOS, Android, that type of thing. Or maybe even using the hacker type systems of Overcast and whatnot. But of the top shows at Spotify that were from Libsyn for them were language. Makes sense. Three of them were horror. Interesting. Three of them were health and then one each philosophy, history, science and medicine. There was business and a true crime. Interesting. I still believe Rob and Rob has no reason to give you anything other than the correct numbers. So again, that 18 to 30 audience skewing female. But I went in and I started looking at my own stats and what's happening. For me, the podcast report is available on Spotify and if you are on Spotify and listening to that there. Thank you. I know there are a number of views. I took a look at my December numbers. I didn't do January just in case Spotify was a little bit slow to report the numbers to Libsyn. I know it was slower in the past, they've been speeding that up. But basically 1.1% of my audience came from Spotify. Now that is not much, not much at all. However, players that get a lot more attention than Spotify are Podbean, Castbox, Tunein, all far less Stitcher, one of the big ones that we love to chat about, Stitcher. Spotify already is about four times as much as my Stitcher downloads. Now I took a look at another one of my clients with a significant download space. Less than 1% of his podcast coming through Spotify. But here's interesting. I will be having Joel Calm from Bad Crypto on in a future episode we had to reschedule. With all the craziness that's happening with that show, Bad Crypto is exploding. Can't wait to have him on. My dad to have Gary Leland from Crypto Cousins on in a future episode to counterbalance that. But the fact of the matter is he's seen over a quarter of a million downloads through Spotify. Very cool, very powerful. So it is a big place. It's not the big place for everyone, but it's a big place. Obviously, if you haven't submitted to Spotify, do so. ThePodcastReport.com 140 will link you to the ways to do that. But let's go to the bigger picture here. And these. I'm not going to number these, but these were some general thoughts that I jotted down for A way to kind of wrap our minds and our arms around what it is that Spotify means. Number one, go to where your audience is, period. And we have systems in play and we have stuff. I mean, the whole idea of the Libsyn Destinations idea was I set up Spotify once. It's not like I go in every week and push things out to Spotify or against Stitcher at 25% of what Spotify is giving me or these other guys. Go to where your audience is. Wherever you are on, for goodness sake, set things up so that you go everywhere. Now, what's interesting is spreaker. Spreaker.com has had a lot of transitions lately. A lot of wacky things are happening to them and realize that if you host with them, there's a little bit more promotion. But my Spreaker stats less than my Spotify stats. And I've been with Spreaker since day one. Something to think about. Does that prevent me from going to Spreaker even paying the fees? No, because I like being where my audience is. But think that way. Leverage the tech that makes podcasting so awesome. One set up quickly and then you're good to go. Things like YouTube. I know there are people who say it's a terrible thing to put your audio podcast on YouTube. I've got a client who every time he puts a podcast episode on YouTube, he gets over 1,000 views. And here's the thing that's interesting. His thousand views of just an audiogram, some show art, and then the little squiggly lines that look like an indicator on a sound bar that alone gets more watch through than similar videos in his category. Get so he's doing well. Leverage the take that makes it awesome. Stop talking about platforms. You've heard me say in the past, you don't really need to call it a podcast. But let's stop talking about platforms. I mean, a lot of us talk about itunes. And yes, itunes is a good chunk, but it's not all of it. Imagine if you were watching TV on anything other than a Sony TV and they were chatting about, well, since you're watching this on your Sony TV or you should be watching this on your Sony tv, there'd be this weird disconnect like why I'm doing this on my JVC or I'm doing this on my Acer or I'm doing this on whatever. It would just feel weird. Well, think about it. If someone, if you're a consumer, if your avatar is running around listening to you on Spotify and You keep talking about itunes. How are you able to convince them that you know who they are and then you know what they're doing if you don't even know how they're listening to the very show where you try to convince them that you know who they are and you know what they're doing. So stop talking about the platform. Do you have tech that will grow with you? I am absolutely, thoroughly convinced. I've said this before, I'll say it again. The story that ends with us doing the work of the computer is every bad science fiction piece out there sitting and trying to hack your WordPress blog. To make something work for something is ridiculous. When somebody else will do that for you with the click of a button. Now, if you're the enthusiast, well, here's the deal. You're not an enthusiast. That's why you're not listening to the show, or that's why you're listening to the show, because you're not the enthusiast. You're doing real business with your podcast and there are just times when you hand things over to the people who know what's going on. So do you have tech that will grow with you? Spotify is not going to be the only one. Pandora is coming. Pandora's coming very soon. And that's not any inside information. That's just I'm a guy who can look at the market and tell you what's going on. Others will rise, people will come up. At some point, Microsoft will actually pull off something that resembles a decent podcasting strategy. And whereas I don't think it's going to be a huge chunk of what we're doing, it will be a definable number that you want to point your show at. Are you going to be able to do that? Are you with somebody that can grow with you, or are you willing to spend all of this time working on your show because you want to save a few bucks or you quote, unquote, want to have control? Thought about it. Have you cleaned up your paths? I was looking at a very well known podcast. I referenced it on the show before. Their album art in itunes is different than their album art and Spotify. And it's not a itunes version. Spotify version. You can tell that they just never got around to changing the itunes art because it's the old one and the Spotify one looks better. And they almost look like two entirely different shows. Have you cleaned up your paths? Are you presenting a solid presentation across all of them? Does your site reflect reality? This is an important one. As I record this. Here I am chatting about Spotify and about how Spotify has more downloads than any of the others. Stitcher, tunein, etc. I have a link to Stitcher. I don't have a link to Tunein. We'll be fixing that as well. But if Spotify is really part of the game, I've got a link to Spotify, my site, and I'm going to get that set up. And that will happen probably by the time you listen to this, if not shortly after with. But does your site reflect the reality of what's going on? Do you have the links to Stitcher? Do you have the links to Google and Overcast and these people who are picking it up? Looking at the list again, this should make sense. No, this does make sense to everyone in our space delivering my show. And by the way, I'll just say this legally and anybody who wants to use this. If you deliver my show on your platform and just give me some sort of stats so I know what's going on, you have my freedom, my permission to do this. Because the purpose of the podcast report is to get the business of podcasting information out to as many people as interested in the business of podcasting. If you've got some artsy fartsy fancy pants network that you want to put it on, please do. And those of you consuming on some artsy fartsy fancy pants network, enjoy the show. I want my show everywhere. This makes sense. It makes sense for Spotify. Remember, every time a Spotify plays a Britney Spears song that probably dated Me, Ed Sheeran, or whatever is going on these days in music, every time it plays that, it's got to pay. Those guys when they play me, they don't have to. That includes the premium customers as well as the regular customers. So, you know, doing my show makes sense for Spotify. Me, putting my show available to Spotify makes sense. This makes sense for everyone. This is our future. If you are not participating in this future, you might want to ask yourself why. Next question. Are you making a show or a podcast? We've chatted about this in the past, but the fact of the matter is two bits of you, two bits of your audience in the world. Your audience either knows what a podcast is and doesn't care if it's a podcast or not. And there are those who don't know what a podcast is and they get confused. If you do your show called the podcast, is there possibly some consumer out there who might get confused and might think they aren't able to get you on Spotify, they aren't able to get you on panel, Pandora and these types of things. Think it through. Are you making a show or a podcast? By the way, the answer is you're making a show. If you call it a podcast, you're limiting yourself, which is ridiculous. Does it matter what it's called? I've heard the debate, Netcasts and webcasts and all this stuff doesn't matter. You know it's a podcast. I know it's a podcast. Podcasting is what makes it so powerful. Podcasting is the distribution feature that lets a huge company like Spotify pick you and me up and put it on their system. Does it matter if we call it that? Will it matter if you call it that? Does it matter what it's called? No. So short term here idea, easy get yourself on Spotify. Longer term thought process is, if it wasn't easy to get yourself on Spotify, get yourself on a system that makes it easy to get yourself on other systems like Spotify. Because Spotify is not where the gate closes. Once you find yourself on other systems that might have a bigger percent of what you're doing. My friends communicate that make it possible. If someone sees your site and they happen to be on Artsy Fartsy, you know, System X, do you want to let them know that you're available by subscription on Artsy Fartsy System X? And the answer is yes, that is exactly what you want to do. So if you head up to the podcastreport.com140 I've got the links out to the Libsyn episode. I've got the links out to to my past episode with Rob. I've got how to get your podcast set up for Spotify. Got everything you need there. We'd love your comments on this one. We've got comments built into the site and of course there's all the social options, which I will give you in the closeout. But I'm thrilled to be on Spotify. My clients are thrilled to be on Spotify. The numbers are getting real and they've just really, in the grand scheme of things, only shortly entered the game. There we go. Chat with you next week. Bye. So, obviously, get yourself on Spotify. Thepodcastreport.com 140 I don't care how you get on Spotify, but just make sure you get on Spotify in such a way that's easy because you should be producing content, not twiddling bits. And go on a place that gives you the ability to get really good stats to see what's happening. You know, you listen to someone like Rob, you might think I'm only getting 5%. But if you look at the stats, someone like me is only getting 1%. Maybe I change my Spotify. We'll chat about that in the future. But then people like Joel are seeing a quarter of a million downloads on Spotify, which means Spotify definitely deserves some massaging and some work. So get on Spotify, make it easy, make sure you've got the stats, compare them and deal with it. This isn't an issue of Spotify's latest bright, shiny object. This is Spotify is part of the bigger picture. The bigger picture is your content everywhere, because your audience deserves it. Spotify is just a symptom. Spotify is just an element. You are the podcast. You are the media. And I can't wait to chat with you next week. We love the social interaction here at the podcast report. The podcastreport.com Facebook thepodcastreport.com Twitter thepodcastreport.com InsertSocialPlatform of your choice. We'd love to hear from you. Love to give you the chance to interact with other listeners of the show. Another thing we'd love to have you do is simply subscribe to the show, if you know what that means. Great. Head out to the podcatcher of your choice and subscribe to the show if you don't know what that means. Basically, all the big programs, itunes, Google, Stitcher, all of these platforms give you the ability to subscribe to the show like you'd subscribe to a magazine or a newspaper. And then the minute a new episode comes out, it comes to you automatically. It comes to you without worries about spam or that type of thing. And you don't have to visit the website. You don't have to go out to these platforms and see if there's something new. It comes to you automatically. Do that by subscribing thepodcastreport.com iTunes thepodcastreport.com tuninthepodcastreport.com Stitcher. You get the idea. Finally, last but not least, we do have an email address. It's the podcastreportlook.com Would love to hear from you, chat with you next week. Bye.