UPDATE (August 25, 2023): The official integration between Spotify and Patreon is officially available! Podcasters can add a special Patreon RSS feed to Spotify, and then give their listeners access to that feed. Patreon has a support doc here to help podcasters set it up.
For listeners who are looking to get their favorite Patreon audio benefits within Spotify: Expect the show you listen to to add the integration soon. Podcasters will need to do a one-time setup, so ask them to do so!
Original Story:
For podcasters, musicians, and others who share exclusive audio content on their Patreon, one of the best features on the platform has been the "Audio RSS Link" available to supporters after they pledge.
With this RSS feed -- unique to each Patron -- supporters can access Patreon-exclusive audio content right through their favorite podcast app or RSS reader. For example, those who support a podcast on Patreon have been able to add the RSS feed to Apple Podcasts and access the exclusive content just like they would normally listen to the free version of the podcast.
In my opinion, this has been a wonderful feature for podcasters in particular. It's been a great way to eliminate some of the friction that would come with supporting a podcaster on a separate platform. Without the unique RSS feed, fans would have to use the Patreon app or website to access all the audio content.
Numerous podcast apps have supported manually adding this RSS feed, including the aforementioned Apple app, PocketCasts, Overcast, Google Podcasts, and more. But there's been one notable exception: Spotify.
Despite being one of the biggest podcast players in the game, Spotify has never offered the ability to manually add a RSS feed to their app. And since many people use Spotify to listen to podcasts and music, Patreon users have noticed the gap.
In March 2023, Patreon and Spotify announced that an official integration is finally in the works. In a statement, Spotify said that "podcasters will be able to publish patron-only content on Spotify. Patrons will be able to link their Patreon account to their Spotify account to access their Patreon-exclusive podcasts right where they’re already listening to all their audio content."
I've also been told that non-Patrons will be able to see the exclusive content right within Spotify, which should also help convert non-Patrons into to paying supporters. Non-Patrons will not be able to play the content unless they're paying, of course.
Apple Podcast's Subscription model does something similar: Those who are not subscribed to your paid-for Apple Podcasts content can see the exclusive material, and when they tap on any of it, they are encouraged to start a paid subscription.
It's nice to see that Patreon and Spotify are finally working on a partnership. I would've happily taken support for custom RSS feeds within Spotify, but this is clearly going to be even better. Listeners of my shows have been asking for this support for a long time, and I'm excited that we'll finally be able to offer it.
As for when this partnership will roll out? That is currently unclear, but you can bet I'm eagerly looking forward to it. I'm hopeful it'll be released by the end of 2023.
