Podcast Strategies For Spotify - The Podcast Report Episode #152

The podcast channel you understand the least might be the source for your best audience. It's the podcast report, episode 152 show notes, links, conversation and more@thepodcastreport.com 15 2. Spotify is a platform. Spotify is also a way of life. It's not just a way to get music, obviously, because we can get podcasts on Spotify, but it's also an entirely different approach to media and audio online. To be honest, it bugs me. I'm not a big fan of Spotify. I have been one of these pay to subscribe to music guys for a long time. I was doing it when Zune was doing it. I was doing it, you know, when everybody did it. When, when, When Apple jumped into it. I did it when Apple jumped in the family plan. The family plan jumped into it. I tried Spotify for a couple of months, couldn't get into it. It just is too, I don't know, for somebody my age, too hip, too cool. But that doesn't mean that my audience doesn't listen to it. It's going to be the same for you, this show. The demographic of this show is considerably older, the type who's not necessarily going to go to Spotify or at least appreciate it. Many of my audience will go to Spotify because they have to or they feel like it's the way to be cool. But first of all, I'd say listen to your music however you want to listen to the music. That is one of the most powerful things about the age that we're in right now. But at the same time, realize the impact of Spotify, which is what we're chatting about on today's episode. One of the things that Spotify did from the very beginning, that honestly nobody else was able to do, was make the playlist cool. Pretty much all the online music systems had playlists, but there's something about Spotify. There's something about the social nature of it. There's something about the way they've approached their marketing and the way that they've done anything that makes the playlist cool. Who cares, Paul? It's just a list of things. Will playlists get shared, Paul? They can get shared on Apple podcasts, they can get Apple music, they can get shared other places they can, but it's just not that popular. The cool places are Spotify. The day of this recording, a popular band released a new album and I saw several shares of it and people were sharing it on Spotify. On Twitter, Spotify is just there. It's the playlist. Now, the playlist is not just a functional thing. It's becoming a influence mechanism. And this is important. Spotify influencers are massive. Spotify. If you get on the right list on Spotify, you're going to get plays that you're going to get no place else. It's not just the Internet that's playing this game. The music industry is playing this game. Everybody in the music industry who's still trying to sell albums, which, by the way, that number is going more down and down every time. Everybody in the industry who's trying to solve albums, sell albums is trying to get themselves on the influencer lists. Now, if you know anything about the history of music, there was once an issue called payola. Payola. Rumor is it's happening out there in the Spotify playlist place. And the influencer place. What's that pay to play? People, you know, send the right thing to the right influencer to get the right song promoted at the right time. I'm not one way or the other, but that possibility is there. It's something to think about. And these playlists by influencers is the old American top 40 or Billboard list or some of the things that, you know, our generation. And if you're younger and you're listening or watching this show, thank God. Love to have you. But I just want to be honest. My demographic for the podcast report tends to. Tends to 45 plus at the very least. And being, you know, so we have a different frame of mind. But what happens on Spotify, being on an influencer list is kind of like what we used to see in all the old classic movies, when that band forms and their song suddenly gets played on the radio and they're all in the room kind of dancing together. You saw it in that thing you do, you know, you saw it in any music biopic. It's there. If you want a reference point, there's a movie out last year called Hearts Beat Loud. Nick Offerman, I cannot remember who played his daughter. She was fantastic. A little indie film about a dad and a daughter relationship, which was fascinating being. Being a dad to a couple of daughters. It was a dad daughter relationship to a daughter going off to college. Me too. So there was some interesting emotional levels there. And then it was also, honestly, a movie about a guy realizing how old he is, which was also an interesting connection for me. But what was most fascinating was they had that scene where he realized that his music was good. There was that scene where he got popular, but instead of hearing on the radio or instead of opening up Billboard magazine, or instead of, you know, finding himself in a situation where it's a traditional list, he's in a coffee shop and his song comes over the playlist. His song comes over the stereo, and he asks the gal, what is this? What is this? And she says, you were on a Spotify playlist. So if you kind of want to understand the emotion for that, you can watch that scene in Hearts Beat Loud. I'm not sure if that scene is particularly on YouTube, rented. It's a good little indie film, kind of fun. So Spotify spins young. Spotify has playlists and has influencers. All things that us podcasters want to think about. It might not be something that we understand, but it's something that we definitely want to go out to. And if we want to grasp it, go ahead, take a look at that Hearts Beat Loud thing. But here's what's interesting. On the last feed from Libsyn, that's their podcast about podcasting, Rob Walsh declared that 8.5% of their traffic, 8.5% of their Traffic, the clear. First time they've had a clear number two was going to Spotify. Now, that number is Libsyn traffic only. So it's not the type of thing where you want to say 8.5% of all podcast traffic is coming from Spotify. But first of all, Libsyn is a fantastic sampling. A fantastic sampling. But the other thing that's really important is not everybody has signed up for Spotify. Not everybody has put their podcast on Spotify. Some, my generation tend to think, oh, that's not for me, that's not where my audience is. And I'll tell you, not a large group of you consume on Spotify, although a number of you do, and thank you for that. But Libsyn doesn't have everyone on Spotify yet. It's the clear number two. Imagine what would happen if they did. So Spotify is there. That's what Spotify is. That's why Spotify is important. The traffic's real. I want you to consider it now, more important than Spotify as a platform and Spotify as a place where you want to put your music. You want to think about Spotify really as a mindset, and this mindset is it all kind of goes together. And we'll chat about the tech a little bit, and we'll chat about the social a little bit, and we'll chat about how to. Getting your. How to get your podcast on Spotify in a little bit. But it's A mindset. It's kind of the new way to consume music primarily, but also podcasts and who knows what else. And this mindset is something you want to think about. So don't think of it just as a platform, think of it as a mindset. And if it's a mindset, maybe Spotify will get bigger, maybe Spotify will get smaller. But influencers, I don't think you're going to go away. Playlist, I don't think you're going to be going away. Social sharing of things I don't think are going to be going away. So think about Spotify as a mindset. Study a little bit, look at it, we'll go from there. Now, one of the things about Spotify that you have to consider, you have to understand is the tech for Spotify is fantastic. What happens on the industry right now is we tend to have platforms that are doing really well penetration wise, but they don't necessarily have the best tech. We have thing that is fantastic tech, but lousy. Now Spotify's tech is pretty amazing. What do I mean by that? So I have a Google home device or two at my house. I have an Alexa or two at home. I also have both of these on my desk in front of me. So I'm trying to be very careful not to trigger them. I have a Sonos at home. I have a number of different connected speakers. And what happens when you set up Sonos is as you see on the screen. Sorry, when you set up Spotify, you see on the screen all the different devices. And although Apple and Amazon and Google don't necessarily chat with each other, Spotify chats with all of them. It becomes a really interesting pass through type situation. It becomes a really interesting ubiquitous opportunity out there. Someone could move from all these different platforms, stay on Spotify, be okay. I could listen to something at the office on my Google home. I could take that and move it to my Apple phone. I could then bring it to my house and keep going on my Sonos speaker. And this connectivity, this technology, this embracing of everybody is the very thing we want on our podcast. Think about it. The podcast becomes ubiquitous. We can listen anytime, anywhere, any place, any device. Spotify does this right now. Other are going to, as we chatted earlier, it's as much a mindset as it is anything else. So others are going to do this, experiment with it, play with it, take a look at it. I think you will be at an interesting place. The tech is fantastic. Realize what that says about your potential future podcast. Now I definitely said that it tends to a certain demographic and Spotify spins young. But your audience might love what it is that you do if they can find you where they are. You know, there's the obvious clear statement of you should be everywhere. And submitting your podcast to Spotify is definitely part of that. But I want you to get on it and looking at the numbers, not everybody's on it. And I want you to get on it regardless of your audience, regardless of your personal demographic. If you don't like Spotify, if Spotify doesn't make sense, if the Spotify groove isn't you, I don't care. Get on there. We'll chat about how to do that in a second. The most important thing you want to do about Spotify is you want to promote to it and you want to let it be what it is. And by doing that, you basically want to celebrate Spotify a little bit. Now, if you love Spotify, if you live the Spotify life, if you're a Spotify playlist and all that stuff, you can go out and you could do that and people will enjoy that and people will appreciate that and you will speak to it and you will be excited about it. But if you're not, if you're more like me, who hasn't touched Spotify in a while, who sees those links and doesn't necessarily care, still speak to it, bring it up when you chat to your show, say, hey, I'm on Spotify. You might in your social media speak to being on Spotify and we'll talk about some of the marketing options there. But you definitely want to go there, celebrate it. Bigger picture. Spotify associated with audio devices more than it is, not more. As much as it is associated with the platform. This is how you want to be associated. You want to be everywhere, like Pandora. Realize that Spotify is going to make their money by giving away your content for free. Because when they stream Lady Gaga, when they stream Britney Spears, when they stream the Eagles, there I am dating myself, they gotta pay licensing. But when they stream you, when they stream me, they don't have to, which is a better profit strain for them. So, you know, definitely consider that you're gonna be there. They've got more of a reason to promote you than anybody else. If you are from the school of thought of I don't want Spotify making money advertising off my free content, get over it. Less and less of you are of that concept, but please don't let that be a deal. And if you really are into the Power of podcasting. If you really are in a place where you want to be available everywhere, you got to be on Spotify, set it up. Once it's a single move, you don't have to go back to it ever again, although you want to speak to it. And the speaking to it really is this thing that the move to Pandora did for us, which, again, I think is going to get bigger and we chat about that a couple episodes. I think they're going to be significant. I think they're going to be bigger than Spotify. But the move to Pandora, the move to Spotify, all these moves lets us change from get my podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, to get my show wherever you listen to audio. This is huge. This is important, and I want you to think about that. So Spotify, for most of you, in three steps. Number one, make sure you're there. Obviously, promote the fact that you're there. If you are on Libsyn or you are on Libsyn Pro, they have this thing called Destinations. We've chatted about Libsyn Destinations in previous episodes. A really quick, easy way to submit. A number of other podcast platforms apparently have quick and easy ways to submit. I will put a link from Spotify about all the major hosts and how to get there through that. We'll put that in the show, notes thepodcastreport.com 152 I will also put that link in the feed for this. So that wherever you're consuming this podcast, wouldn't it be cool if you were consuming this on Spotify? Wherever you listen to this podcast, you'll be able to sweep over the notes. However, you do that on your device and you'll be able to click through and see that article as well. I had a client yesterday and we were looking at the strategy for which, you know, they're promoting their podcast, they're promoting their podcast heavily. And the question of which platform should I promote? Should I have that long list of everything or does that send people into one of those, you know, now they're comparing different platform type of things, or should we just recommend a few? And what was interesting was we realized we definitely have to recommend Apple Podcasts. By the way, don't call it iTunes podcast anymore. Call it Apple Podcast. That's what Apple wants. We definitely have to recommend that. We definitely have to recommend Google. Despite their numbers. There's that perception, you know, I have an aunt who has an Android. Don't you care about me? So they're promoting Apple Podcasts. They're Promoting Google, but really, because Spotify is number two, they're promoting Spotify. They've got that link to Spotify on their site now, or at least are in the process of putting that up. Get yourself on Libsyn. I'll get you the link, but put a link in all of your pages. Don't just speak to it, but actually put that link on your pages. Share episodes is Instagram stories. One of the most amazing things inside of inside of Spotify is that you have this option to share an episode as an Instagram story. Instagram, funny enough, is also a demographic that many of you might not necessarily understand, but the ability to share that on a regular basis as an Instagram story is quick, is easy, is effective. It's a cool thing to do an Instagram story about. And it's another way to kind of get your audience out there to a different level. So definitely think about that and monitor and move appropriately. Your numbers on Spotify for most of you will be a small percent, but for some of you will be a significant percent. And if that number goes up, if you start to see a rise in that number, if you start to see, you know, different elements to that number, you want to pay attention. Inside of Libsyn. Libsyn actually stores the Spotify stats independently. I don't know how the others work, but get on it, monitor it, make use of it, respond to it, and go from there and do compare it to the other platforms. There are some people. I'll give you a hint. I'm not doing an episode this season about what to do on Stitcher. I'm not doing an episode this season about what to do on Tunein. The two people that we're talking about this season is Pandora because what is the potential? That was a couple episodes ago and we're doing this episode on Spotify because of what is. Remember, it is number two with a bullet right now. New concept, new piece, new level, new area. Definitely go there. So respond to it, market to it. One of the things you can do in social media is, you know, let's say your show releases on Monday. Monday you might want to say new show release, link to Apple. Tuesday, new show release link to Overcast. Sure, why not? Overcast Wednesday, new link release link to Spotify. Maybe Thursday, Pandora. Do these different options and you're interesting place. So definitely move appropriately. So the three Spotify steps, make sure you're there, promote the fact that you're there, share episodes as Instagram stories, monitor and move appropriately. Those are the three some of you are listening to this going, why is Paul making such a big deal? Spotify is an interesting place and it's not just another directory. It's a different concept. You know, I said earlier in the notes, it's a, it's as much a mindset as it is anything else. And as we move from check me out, do you know what a podcast is to My show is available wherever you get your audio. You want to understand these different platforms. You want to think about getting on influencer lists for Spotify the time of this recording. There are no podcast lists for Spotify, although we know it's coming. All the press about Spotify, we know it's coming right now. It's awkward in some places, especially on the web, to do podcasts, but recent news, recent announcements show that podcasting on Spotify is going to be their big focus. When Pandora releases their second channel, Spotify will do one of those reactive kind of things and will put even more into this. And you as the podcaster, you want to get this out everywhere. Hence the reason for this episode. Thanks for listening to this episode of the podcast report. We did an experiment today. We actually recorded this live on Facebook, but are doing a deeper editing in the show notes. I will link to this recording on Facebook and I will if you want to watch it. What I did at the beginning was it kind of explained the recording process. And then when I finish this, for those of you who are consuming this live, I'll actually be around to take questions and make responses and whatnot. I will put the link to the Facebook Live episode in the show notes and I'll put them on your podcast app so that you can click through to that as well. Make sure you subscribe to the show. Notifications are getting harder and harder. You don't want to stumble across. You want to know that this show's coming, so you want to subscribe and it's easy. ThePodcastReport.com Apple to get to Apple podcast ThePodcastReport.com Spotify to subscribe to this bad boy on Spotify. ThePodcastReport.com Pandora you get the idea. ThePodcastReport.com Facebook Instagram will get you to all the social media elements of this. Thank you so much for listening. Our next episode will be a straight from Facebook Live audio and then from there we've got a fun topic. Thank you so much for listening. We'll chat next time. Bye.