Spotify is giving its creators a new way to earn money with Memberships, a program that lets fans pay a subscription fee for exclusive content. The streaming giant is drawing inspiration from competitors such as Patreon and YouTube as it rolls out the feature.
Spotify first detailed the program in May during its Investor Day event, describing it as a way for creators to "build recurring revenue directly from their most engaged fans on Spotify." Like Patreon's membership tiers and YouTube's six channel membership levels, creators can bundle Membership benefits into specific tiers with different price points.
Creators will keep 90 percent of the revenue earned from Memberships, while Patreon takes a 10 percent platform fee. Memberships will launch in 34 markets, but shows must meet certain requirements to qualify. A show on Spotify for Creators or Megaphone needs at least 100 consumption hours, 100 listeners or viewers, and three published episodes.
The program builds on Spotify's earlier efforts to help creators monetize their content. Its Partner Program, launched in 2024, offers a share of ad revenue and additional earnings through paid subscriptions. Spotify first introduced a paid subscription platform for exclusive content back in 2021.
Source: Engadget · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing