As Google kills Podcasts app, Spotify expands further by partnering up with Substack

The race to podcast market domination seems to be looking at another height. Spotify is now partnering up with Substack, a popular email newsletter platform, to distribute podcasts on the music streaming app.

Spotify said on Thursday that podcast creators on Substack, whether it’s free or paywalled, can share their content on Spotify through Spotify Open Access. Spotify promises that the creators can still take full control over “their subscriber bases, their content, and their revenue.”

You can submit your podcast to Spotify via Substack by going through the podcast settings on Substack. Under the “Distribute your podcast” option, there’s a dedicated “Spotify” section. 

If you use Substack to sync, however, don’t submit your RSS feed separately to Spotify for Podcasters, or you’ll end up with a duplicate. Spotify doesn’t sync founding member episodes or free previews right now, and your podcast will go live on Spotify once you upload at least one episode.

“Spotify Open Access enables creators to grow their businesses while maintaining full control of their subscriber relationships,” Spotify’s Head of Partner Strategy, Stephanie Shaer, promises ahead of the integration.

Google, on the other hand, killed its Podcasts app a little while ago, but the catch is that it’s making YouTube Music as its one-stop destination for podcast episodes instead. The shutdown was effective starting April 2, 2024 for users in the US, and on June 24 for worldwide. That makes a lot more sense, but calling it YouTube “Music” with podcasts in it can be a bit confusing, to say the least.