How to Sell Podcast Episodes: At-a-glance
You might sell original podcast episodes as premium content if you already have an existing audience.
Or, you might choose to sell your back catalogue, whilst keeping your most recent episodes free on your main feed.
You can even put your entire show behind a paywall, but this comes with the huge risk of dismantling your audience.
There are plenty of ways to sell podcast episodes. Patreon is a popular platform, and many hosting providers now offer private podcast features.
And, you call sell podcast episodes on apps like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, too.
Read on for the full range of options…
Podcast episodes are generally free of charge. They ‘live’ on a podcast hosting platform and can be found everywhere podcasts are consumed (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and hundreds more listening platforms). Listeners can subscribe to them on their app of choice.
This is an overwhelmingly positive thing, because:
From a listener’s point of view, podcasts are accessible to almost anyone.
From a podcaster’s point of view, this means that your content has the potential to reach the maximum number of people.
It’s a win-win.
However, you might be thinking about how to sell podcast episodes as additional ‘premium’ content alongside your main series.
Or, you might just want to run a 100% ‘premium’ podcast, as opposed to creating free content available to everyone.
In this guide, I’ll run you through some options.
But first, a word of caution…
Who Can (or Should) Sell Podcast Episodes?
If you’re going to sell anything, you need an audience. One thing most aspiring and new podcasters have in common is that they’re starting out without one.
Podcasting is one of the best ways to build a loyal audience, but this takes time.
Coming right out of the gate, without any existing fans, and announcing that your new podcast is behind a paywall (however low) will kill it before it begins.
Even if you’re an established podcaster with a dedicated following, you should consider going premium carefully.
If you move your entire podcast over to a paid model, you’ll likely lose most of your audience.
You might continue to release the main podcast for free but create additional premium episodes. If this is your plan, be sure that you can take on this extra work without sacrificing the quality of your content (or your mental health).
Selling Your Back Catalogue
A tried-and-tested approach for podcasters who’ve been in the game a while is to sell their back catalogue. This is a strategy Mur Lafferty talked about in Podcast Income Stream Lessons From Top Indie Creators.
In this situation, you might always have your most recent 50 episodes available free on your feed. This means you’re still bringing in new listeners and turning them into dedicated fans.
But then you can sell access to your full back catalogue or blocks of episodes, which means listeners can pay to binge through the entirety of your content.
So, there are middle-ground options that aren’t all or nothing. Your podcast can be freemium and premium at the same time.
A more pressing matter for you right now might be wondering how you will take payments for your podcast episodes and ensure that they’re only available to your paying customers. Let’s look at eight great options.
How to Sell Podcast Episodes
If you’re looking to sell your podcast episodes, then you’ll find the perfect fit right here.
1. Patreon (or Ongoing Crowdfund Platforms)
Patreon means “ongoing crowdfunding model” in the same way that Google means “internet search.” As far as I know, Patreon is the original and biggest platform in this space. However, popular alternatives exist, such as Buy Me a Coffe, & Ko-Fi.
The bottom line is that these platforms allow your listeners or fans to give you money on a regular (usually monthly) or “per piece of content” basis.
If you go down this route to sell your podcast episodes, you’d likely have your main podcast as well as the behind-a-paywall content you release to your backers.
2. Supporting Cast
Supporting Cast is a platform created by The Slate Group to manage its podcasts. The platform provides audio for the audience on demand and a distraction-free relationship between the audience and podcasters.
The principles of Supporting Cast are similar to those of Patreon and the others mentioned above. The key difference is that Supporting Cast specialises in audio content.
Supporting Cast also integrates with MailChimp, WordPress, and many other platforms to help your show grow.
3. Memberful
Memberful is a platform designed for people who want to run a membership site. This is overkill for the average podcaster, but it is often an attractive option for people who run service-based businesses.
With Memberful, you can run a members-only podcast and other premium content offerings, such as blog posts and videos.
Memberful integrates with compatible podcast hosting platforms, so you would still host the audio on a separate platform. For some podcasters, Memberful would be an unnecessary middleman. But, others can build an entire business around their podcast with Memberful’s additional integrations.
4. Podcast Hosting Providers
Some podcast hosting providers offer private podcasting tools. These tools allow you to set up protected feeds that aren’t available to the general public.
Private doesn’t necessarily mean “paid”. But access to any private podcast feed can be granted by using a third-party e-commerce tool.
Hosting providers Captivate, Podbean, and Castos have integrated approaches that allow you to take payments directly. If premium podcasting will be a big part of your monetization strategy, then publishing on one of these platforms makes a lot of sense.
5. DIY Options
An effective (if a little clunky) route is to link to your premium episodes in the cloud on a platform like Dropbox or Google Drive.
You’d still need an e-commerce platform like Gumroad or E-Junkie to take payments. In addition, your listeners won’t be able to access your “podcast” in their listening app because there won’t be an RSS feed. However, this might be a simple way of testing the water when figuring out how to sell your podcast episodes.
It’s worth moving to one of the other options listed here, though, if you want to keep going in the long run.
6. How to Sell a Podcast on Apple Podcasts
Podcasters can create ‘channels’, grouping multiple shows together, and create freemium or fully paid tiers around their content in Apple Podcasts.
With Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, “you receive 70% of the subscription price at each billing cycle, minus applicable taxes. After a subscriber accumulates one year of paid service, your net revenue increases to 85% of the subscription price, minus applicable taxes. Your other podcast revenue — including any ads — will stay 100% yours.”
As one of the biggest podcast listening platforms in the world, this will be a low-hanging fruit and an appealing option for many. However, some podcasters have raised concerns that your paying audience will be locked into Apple’s ecosystem, and you’ll have no way to reach them outside of the platform.
If you’d like to dive in and start selling Apple Podcasts subscriptions, you just need to fill out this Apple Podcasters Program Agreement.
7. How to Sell a Podcast on Spotify
If you host your show with Spotify for Podcasters, you can sell episodes on Spotify with their ‘podcast subscriptions’ feature.
Aside from the hosting criteria, you must have at least two published episodes and at least 100 listeners in the last 60 days.
Once you’re set up, you can mark any episodes (existing and future) as ‘subscription only’, putting them behind a paywall.
With Spotify subscriptions, you keep 100% of your earnings, excluding payment processing fees.
You can also download your subscriber list to get the emails of the subscribers who’ve opted to hear from you.
If you use Patreon to sell podcast episodes, you can also integrate it with Spotify to give supporters the option to listen on the platform.
8. Bandcamp
Bandcamp is the website that gives artists control over what they sell, how, and to whom they sell it. You can use Bandcamp to sell podcast episodes. You can even use it to sell merchandise, such as t-shirts or physical copies of your audio. And you keep ownership of all your content.
Uploading your podcast files on Bandcamp costs you nothing but a little bit of time. You can also choose how many times each audio file will stream for free.
With Bandcamp, you upload your podcast in a lossless (WAV or FLAC) format, which makes it particularly appealing for fiction podcasters and audio dramatists. Here’s our full guide on how to sell your podcast with Bandcamp.
So… Should I Sell Podcast Episodes?
Surprise, surprise… it depends.
Are you just starting out in podcasting with no existing listenership? If so, then probably not. Focus all your time and attention on consistently creating quality content that resonates with your target audience.
On the other hand, if you’ve been podcasting for a while and already have an engaged following, it might be a tactic worth exploring. Just be mindful that creating extra content will require extra time and mental bandwidth.
Can you afford either?
Selling your back catalogue is a handy way of making premium content available without much extra work. This is a “best of both worlds” approach, as you’re still releasing your show as free and available to all. You can still pick up new listeners along the way; maybe they’ll go premium further down the line.
Remember that there are many other ways to monetise a podcast. Check out our ultimate guide for a list of different strategies and techniques. You’re guaranteed to find something that fits your situation, your podcast, and your audience.
We can also work with you inside Podcraft Academy to help you with every aspect of podcasting, from launching and editing to interview skills and promotion. In there, you’ll find all of our courses, resources, checklists, and templates. We run weekly live Q&A sessions, too, so you’ll always get the help, support, and guidance you need to keep on going!