Spotify is rolling out “Memberships,” a new feature that lets podcast creators sell exclusive content and perks directly to fans in exchange for recurring payments.

First previewed at Spotify’s “Investor Day” in May, the feature lets fans subscribe to a show’s Membership from its Spotify page and get immediate access to exclusive content in a few taps. Creators can package bonus episodes, exclusive audio and video, fewer ads, and early access across multiple tiers and price points. Spotify is also building in discovery and retention tools, including targeted promotions, free trials, and analytics on how listeners convert into paying members, with member badges and welcome clips coming later.

Creators keep 90% of Membership revenue, according to Spotify. That rate is higher than Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, which pays creators 70% of subscription revenue, rising to 85% after a subscriber’s first year. It is roughly in line with Patreon’s standard 10% platform fee, though Patreon separately charges payment-processing and payout fees on top of that cut.

Memberships launches in 34 markets. Eligibility is built to include smaller shows: any show hosted on Spotify for Creators or Megaphone with at least 100 consumption hours, 100 listeners or viewers, and three published episodes can qualify.

Spotify frames Memberships as one more revenue stream alongside advertising and the Spotify Partner Program, and says creators will keep control of the relationship, with direct subscriber access and the ability to import and export their audience data. The company is also preserving an alternate path for creators already running subscriptions elsewhere: Spotify Open Access lets them bring existing paid content onto the platform without migrating their membership business.

The launch follows a pattern from Spotify’s Q2 earnings call, where executives said podcasting and audio are shifting from single-player to multiplayer and from recommendation to generation, pointing to features like Messages, Jam, and Personal Podcasts as evidence. Memberships extends that push into direct monetization, giving podcast creators a tool that has existed on YouTube, Patreon, and Twitch, but has been largely unavailable natively within Spotify itself.

Image source: Spotify

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