How to Submit a Podcast to Spotify

Want to know how to submit a podcast to Spotify? 

Listing your show across the major podcast directories is an essential piece of growing an audience, so it’s important to know how to submit a podcast to Spotify when you’re ready to launch your show.

Spotify is a huge platform for streaming music, but in 2019 it made influential platform updates to appeal to podcasters and their listeners. Edison Research reports 43% of monthly podcast listeners consumed episodes on Spotify, making it one of the largest podcast platforms. To capitalize on users discovering your show, first you need to have a live listing.

Ahead, we have a step by step guide on how to submit a podcast to Spotify. You’ll learn about the platform’s specific requirements and follow along with screenshots for the exact Spotify podcast submission process. 

(If you want to know how to create a new podcast on Spotify, check out this article: How to Start a Podcast on Spotify.)

How to Submit a Podcast to Spotify

The basic process to submit a podcast to Spotify is similar to other listening apps. You must sign up for an account, submit your RSS feed, and wait for their approval. To help you navigate the submission process, follow these seven steps to officially submit a podcast to Spotify.

1. Verify Your Podcast Meets Spotify’s Requirements

The first step in our guide on how to start a podcast on Spotify is to make sure your show meets Spotify’s requirements. Use our checklist below to double check your podcast’s settings:

• MP3 must be in ISO/IEC 11172-3 MPEG-1 Part 3 (MP3) audio with bitrates between 96 and 320 kbps.
• Cover art must be a square ratio (1:1) and be in a PNG, JPEG, or TIFF formats at the highest resolution possible
• The RSS feed must have a title, cover art image, and relevant details for at least 1 episode
• Episode titles and other consumer-facing fields shouldn’t exceed 20 characters to avoid ‘…’ truncation within Spotify’s platform
• Special characters must be HTML coded within podcast titles and descriptions. For example, “News & Politics” should be written as “News & Politics”. (A note: Spotify doesn’t allow for other HTML tags like <bold>. These tags will be removed for your descriptions before publication.)
• Episode length can’t exceed 200MB. (200MB is about 83 minutes at 320Kbps or over 200 minutes at 128Kbps.)

2. Create a Spotify Account

Your next step to upload a podcast on Spotify is to visit Spotify For Podcasters and log into your account. Then click the “Get Started” button. 

If you don’t have an account already, you’ll need to create one before you can move forward with the Spotify podcast submission process.

3. Agree to the Terms & Conditions

The next screen will ask you to agree to Spotify’s Terms & Conditions page. Read it if you like, check the box, and click “Accept Terms.” 

4. Describe Your Show

Next, Spotify needs to know if you’re starting a new show or if you already have one. Click the “I already have a podcast” button.

5. Enter Your RSS Feed URL

The next step to submit a podcast to Spotify is to give the platform your podcast feed.

What’s a podcast RSS feed? It’s a URL that websites and podcast listening platforms use to distribute frequently updated information. The podcast directories monitor the feed consistently and display new information as its added to the feed. If you didn’t use an RSS feed, you would have to manually update each platform every time you create a new episode.

A RSS feed for a podcast is a bit different than one used by a website. To function correctly, a podcast RSS feed needs additional information like a title, description, artwork, category, language, video files (if any) and explicit rating. Whereas an RSS feed for another source wouldn’t require these fields. The standard podcast RSS feed format we all use today was basically developed by Apple Podcasts.

Head over to your podcast hosting service and find your RSS feed link. Enter it in the field on this page. 

Once Spotify finds your show, you’ll see it in the right sidebar. Click “Next.”

6. Verify You Own the Podcast

On the next screen, Spotify needs to verify that you own the podcast content you’re submitting. Click the “Send Code” button.

Spotify will send an eight digit verification code to the email address associated with the RSS feed. This email address is likely the one you used to sign up for your podcast hosting service.

Find the verification email in your inbox, then enter the unique code on Spotify. You have an hour to retrieve the code to verify your podcast. If you miss the window, you can always send yourself another unique 8-digit code. After verifying you own the podcast, hit “Next.”

7. Enter Your Podcast Details

The next step to submit a podcast to Spotify is to enter a few details about your podcast including in which country your podcast is made, its primary language, your podcast hosting provider’s name, and the podcast’s primary category.

After choosing a primary category, you’re then able to elect three sub-categories. Spotify also allows you to choose 2 more overall podcast categories with their own sub-categories.

If your podcast spans a wide range of topics, it’s worth adding additional category fields. This way your show will appear in more relevant places as Spotify users use the platform to discover new podcasts. 

After completing each field, hit “Next.”

8. Review and Submit your Podcast

Your final step in our tutorial on how to start a podcast on Spotify is to review all of the information you submitted. Take care in going over the details as you can’t edit this once you hit submit.

When you’re sure everything looks OK, hit “Submit.” After you hit this button, Spotify has officially received your podcast! 

It typically takes a few hours for their team to review the information and set your podcast’s listing live. Your show will show up on the platform shortly thereafter and will be available to podcast listeners.

How to Upload a Podcast on Spotify with Castos

We understand the importance of listing your show across every podcast directory at Castos. So we’ve made it extremely easy for you to submit a podcast to Spotify in just a few clicks. You can complete the Spotify podcast submission process in just a few steps. 

1. Log Into Your Castos Account and Click “Settings” for Your Podcast

First, log into your Castos account and find the podcast you want to submit to Spotify. Click the “Settings” button. 

2. Choose the Distribution Menu

Within the Settings page click “Distribution” to open up the options around automated distribution of your podcast to directories:

3. Select the Spotify Direct Integration Option

On the following screen, click the “Find Out More” button to be guided to Castos’ direct integration with Spotify. There you will be able to automatically submit your show to Spotify in real time. Once the podcast is approved by Spotify, it will appear on their platform with all of your show’s details.

4. Click “Submit to Spotify”

Here you will see a list of all podcasts within your account and their Spotify submission status. If your show has not yet been submitted to Spotify you can do so by clicking the “Submit to Spotify” button.

4. View Your Podcast in Spotify

Just moments after submission your podcast will be live. You can view a link to your podcast in Spotify by visiting the Website -> Subscribe Links menu item for the podcast you’re working on.

And that’s it! Your Spotify podcast submission is complete! You’ve officially submitted your podcast to Spotify in just three clicks.

Now You Know How to Submit a Podcast to Spotify

In this tutorial, you learned how to submit your podcast episodes to Spotify. Follow this podcast submission process in order to make your show available on one of the largest podcast listening platforms in the world.