The podcasting app Pocket Casts is carving a new narrative for the future of podcasts in a way that’s almost hard to believe. As of Tuesday (March 1) Pocket Casts has eradicated its basic subscription tier for its web and desktop apps, meaning that you can listen to all of the best podcasts completely free of charge, marking a rather significant move towards making podcasts more accessible and, most importantly, more affordable.
Pocket Casts’ decision to revert to an open access platform reflects its long-standing principles of maintaining an open podcasting ecosystem that’s not overruled by paywalled services, all while eradicating algorithm-controlled discovery features. “By making our Web Player available to everyone, we’re reinforcing our belief that podcasts belong to the people, not corporations”, it stated in its announcement.
This is a rather reassuring statement to read, and one that I hope will spark further conversation about where we draw the line when it comes to paying for audio content like podcasts. And it’s hard for me to believe that Pocket Casts is pulling our legs here, as it promises to offer features that every podcast enthusiast should be entitled to, including multi-device playback syncing, seamless podcast queue management, and subscription savings and preferences - all just by signing up for free.
Even before it was acquired by Automatiic in 2021, Pocket Casts has existed as an open podcasting service (on its mobile version, at least), operating on open technology and allowing users to create, share, and download podcasts to their heart’s content. But since podcasts have migrated to paywalled platforms such as Spotify and YouTube, we've seen some culling of accessible podcasting. That's at least one reason why Pocket Casts has made this rare move.
Pocket Casts has no shame in shading Spotify
“The future of podcasting shouldn’t be locked behind walled gardens. It should be free, open, and available to everyone - on any device, without restrictions”. Pocket Casts shared this statement in their announcement, and I can smell the resentment for Spotify from a mile away.
It’s quite clear that Pocket Casts isn’t all too happy with the way that other audio platforms have taken advantage of the profitability of podcasts, especially when it comes to restricted podcasts within these apps that require an additional fee on top of your Spotify Premium or YouTube Premium monthly charge. Over the past year, there’s been a noticeable shift in the way that these other audio streaming services have been switching up their podcast strategies. It’s not a surprise that Pocket Casts is making such bold decisions.
Last summer, Apple opened the gates of its own walled garden making it easier for non-Apple users to stream Apple Podcasts from a web browser, and Spotify has been meticulous with the business side of its podcasts by launching ad-free video podcasts in January. It’ll take a lot for Pocket Casts to build up a popularity status that can match its competitors, but this rare move will not only open more doors for podcast access, but it may turn the heads of loyal subscribers of Spotify and other major audio platforms.
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