I don't see much talk about the Spotify for Podcasters platform (https://podcasters.spotify.com/), which seems to be completely free and unlimited for hosting along with other features.

Any thoughts on the pros / cons or issues or anyone having good experience (or bad) on this platform?

I did a podcast w my friends in hs that was surprisingly easy to monetize posted theough anchor. Since then anchor has been bought by spotify and turned into Spotify for Podcasters, and im worried it won’t be as good anymore. For anyone who was paying attention during the switch, is Spotify for podcasters just as good as anchor or are other alternatives now better to post through?

Looking to do a music related podcast featuring songs and some talk about the music played. Seems for legality and ease of implementation Anchor?Spotify's Music + Talk is the way to go but I am wonder if there are other options out there.

Anchor had it all, ambient background music, chunk editing, fade in/out.
Now I’m stuck searching for alternatives that aren’t trash.
Tried Riverside. it’s garbage. Any real replacements out there?

People have told me they watch podcasts in video format on Spotify but my host (Buzzsprout) doesn't seem to allow this. Looking around it seems you can only do it through Anchor but I'm just surprised I can't see more people annoyed at Spotify forcing you to use one host.

Is it possible to upload video podcasts to Spotify without switching hosts?

If it isn't, is it worth switching? I see posts about people complaining about poor service from Anchor for example.

Content of email to creators below

Hi!

We have some exciting news to share: Anchor has officially joined Spotify in an acquisition announced today.

What does this mean for your podcast? Today's news does not change the way you create, host, distribute, or monetize your podcast with Anchor. We will continue to operate Anchor's platform as you know it (but now as part of Spotify!), and in fact it will only get better from here. You can expect to see useful new tools, more powerful analytics, and even easier ways to make a great podcast and get it heard by more people all over the world.

For more on the announcement, Anchor's founders have shared their thoughts in a blog post this morning.

Thanks so much for being a part of our journey so far—we can't wait to share the next chapter with you.

• The Anchor Team

So I’ve been using Anchor to post podcast content to Spotify because it’s a free ‘hosting’ platform, but I’ve noticed that most podcasts that are much ‘bigger and seemingly more professional’ all seem to use more official RSS feeds. Is there a very specific reason for this? Is it the only way to get monetised and more exposure? If anyone else knows more about Anchor, could you share what any drawbacks are? Thanks.

A few weeks ago, I had started a music podcast (basically a radio show) using Anchor through Spotify, where you're able to add songs from Spotify, as well as recorded audio clips together to create an episode. Spotify allows you to use songs from their catalog, so long as the episode is released through Spotify only. However, today they got rid of that feature and replaced it exclusively with the editing program Riverside, which does not allow for songs to be added to a podcast from Spotify.

Basically, my question is: Does anyone know of any other programs with a similar feature where I can use songs without any worry of copyright infringement? I would really hate to shut down my brand new show just because of a change like this.

Hey all, I've decided to start a podcast, again. I had one years ago, maybe close to ten years ago, and I used Anchor, which did recording, distribution, monitization, everything. But Anchor seems to be gone!

Is there anything else that worked the way Anchor did? Did some other company swallow it up? Thanks for any advice. :)

I was going to get back into podcasting, but I found out yesterday that Anchor is now Spotify for Podcasters. Then I found out that those easy tools that Anchor had that were transferred to Spotify for Podcasters are going away in June and being replaced by Riverside. I tried Riverside and it's awful. I couldn't get it to recognize my microphone. Then when I got it to recognize my microphone and I went into their studio I was totally lost. I finally managed to record a sound snippet and I couldn't find any intro/outro/background music. I found a few sound clips for things like drumrolls and applause. I tried asking Spotify for Podcasters' stupid chatbot if the old Anchor features are going to be transferred to Riverside but of course it didn't understand me. Do any of you know if those easy features from Anchor are going over to Riverside in June or am I just going to go back to finding royalty free music and making my own intros and outros and putting everything together in Audacity?

Hi All,

Looking for some comments here, I know there are a thousand threads on Anchor, yes I've read them all. Most seem to be outdated or overly simple, either saying "it's free and good" or they are posted by someone who seems to have another agenda.

I'd really like to hear from people currently using Anchor if any of these common complaints are still true.

1. Anchor owns your content. > Their TOS specifically says otherwise.

2. Moving to another host is a mess. > I've read all the articles about how they don't allow 301 redirects, how you can't download your original files or move them. They address this here: https://help.anchor.fm/hc/en-us/articles/360045927851-Initiating-a-301-Redirect-to-a-New-Host I've also seen people saying they only convert .m4a files if you use their editing software.

3. They upload to THEIR Apple account, not YOUR Apple account. > Again, this just doesn't appear to be true? They tell you how to access your stats from podcastconnect: https://help.anchor.fm/hc/en-us/articles/360032820251-Accessing-Apple-Podcasts-Analytics Bonus that this article also shows you how to change your email in the feed, which I've seen other complaints about. Also, the same for Stitcher, they don't distribute there but you can just sign up and drop your RSS feed, is this not that simple? https://help.anchor.fm/hc/en-us/articles/360039016112-Submitting-your-podcast-to-Stitcher-for-distribution

4. Ads. > Okay, I know ads are not worth much unless you have several thousand downloads, but you can use their system for making ads in your podcast. My main question is, does Anchor automatically put ads on your content for using their free service? Edit: answered

Thanks everyone for your comments. If people have other complaints or notes I will update this post to reflect.

I just uploaded my second episode on Anchor, it works on Spotify only on my TV and on the website, but my phone won't play it, my friends can't listen to it on their phones either. What's going on? Should I just wait?

Hey! I'm diving back in to podcasting -- is Anchor (Spotify, I guess) still the standard for easy management/distribution? Or is there an alternative I should be looking at?

I saw on other threads that Anchor is undesirable. I'm a newbie and only have a few episodes, but Anchor has been very easy to work with. Not making any $ off it at the moment and probably won't as my subject matter doesn't attract big sponsors. What do others find wrong with Anchor?

Starting a podcast. I signed up with Anchor. I liked that it’s easy to invite guests to calls and it’s easy to edit on their platform.

Curious if there is anything I should take into consideration before committing to Anchor?

Luminary the $100 million podcast app startup launched today and Spotify has removed all Anchor shows from being able to be played on it.

Keep in mind Luminary is 2 things, 1 a free podcast player, and 2 a paid subscription service to access exclusive podcasts.

If I were an Anchor user I would be angry Spotify is actively blocking my show from being played on this platform. The first step in marketing is to be available everywhere where people listen to podcasts.

But what are your thoughts on this?

What are the negative things I need to know?