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Happy Tuesday! I have a super stocked edition of Hot Pod today for everyone. First, I’ll take a look at the lengthy new blog post from Spotify’s Chief Public Affairs Officer about Apple’s App Store policies. Additionally, Apple’s iOS 17 will bring episode art to Apple Podcasts. What does that mean for podcasters?
Before I hit the news, a few new developments. First off, Freakonomics Radio today unveiled a new premium subscription called Freakonomics Radio Plus. Members pay $4.99 per month for a number of benefits, including ad-free episodes of every podcast in the Freakonomics Radio Network. This includes Freakonomics radio, No stupid questions, People I (mostly) admire, The economics of everyday thingsAnd The Freakonomics Radio Book Club.
Finally, Traffic lightsby Max Tani Posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Sony Music is laying off employees in its global podcast division.
Apple Podcasts finally enables episode art with iOS 17
Individual episode art is now supported on Apple Podcasts as part of the iOS 17 update. Podcasters who add a unique image to each episode through their podcast’s RSS feed will see it displayed in Apple’s podcast player. The episode image appears everywhere in Apple Podcasts, including Now Playing, Queue, the watch pages on your device’s lock screen, and Up Next. Whenever you send, email, or share a link to an individual podcast episode on iMessage on social media, the episode’s image will appear in the link previews. For an even more visually oriented experience, podcasters can also include chapter-specific art, which will be shown at specific points in each episode.
Per Apple guidelines, creators are advised to avoid repeating the episode title in their episode artwork, keep “visual branding” separate from the show and channel graphics, and use a colorful background that allows white UI text to show through is. Creators can view Apple Podcasts’ templates for both episode artwork and chapter-specific artwork here.
While this is a nice development for podcasts that already create episode art (Spotify, YouTube, and a number of other podcast players already support it), the update likely won’t mean much to podcasts that have opted out of episode art entirely. Producing new art for each episode takes extra time and labor, and not every podcast finds this necessary. Most podcasts on the Vox Media Podcast Network (disclosure: Hot Pod is part of Vox Media), such as Explained today, The weed, This is Love, and others, do not contain individual episode art. Other podcasts will use it on a case-by-case basis or to distinguish special episodes, for example: The Vergecast recently rolled out new episode art for the AI miniseries.
Creating custom artwork for individual episodes can be a confusing process, especially since not all hosts and players followed the same standard. While Spotify, Castbox and Podcast Addict support episode art via a podcast’s RSS feed, other players such as Pocket Casts and Overcast only support it when embedded in an MP3 file.
Before Apple Podcasts, iTunes had the ability for podcasters to include episode artwork. Alex Goldman, a former host of Answer all, recalled that while the podcast occasionally experimented with custom art, it “never seemed that useful” unless, for example, it appeared as part of an iTunes banner. Apple’s guidelines for podcast art didn’t make life easier for some creators. The Answer all team would submit art to Apple, only to be rejected – sometimes multiple times.
“It always ended up being too expensive and not worth the return on investment,” Goldman wrote in a direct message Hot Pod.
But for other podcasts, the art of individual episodes is an essential part of their branding. Podcasts with a highly visual subject matter, such as those that focus on art, may find it easier to come up with new material for each episode. A good example is Vulture and Vox Media Podcast Network Pop enableda pop music podcast with custom artwork of the musicians or music discussed in each episode, from SZA to Taylor Swift to the music behind the film Barbie.
For shows that go to the trouble of creating individual episode artwork, an eye-catching image is just one more piece of information that can help with podcast discoverability — along with program descriptions, episode titles, show notes, and other details. Although images such as show art and episode art are not searchable on podcast players, they can grab the listener’s attention or even complement the episode itself.
Episode art, of course, is a different game on YouTube, where a decent thumbnail can rack up thousands of views. Most YouTube-focused podcasters consider episode art an essential part of their publishing process, not just an option. Some even hire dedicated thumbnail artists and spend time A/B testing thumbnails. Nathan Ragland, the host of the Postmodern art podcast (featuring interviews with illustrators, animators and other visual artists), includes a custom thumbnail for each guest, often by the artists themselves. Ragland offers to have the miniature commissioned by the guest, or (if he or she doesn’t have the time) he will commission another artist to produce it. This thumbnail also appears as an episode image wherever the audio version of the podcast is available, such as on Spotify and (now) Apple Podcasts.
Ragland compared podcast delivery art to YouTube thumbnails. “Sometimes the thumbnail catches the audience’s attention and makes the person want to look. Likewise, if the episode art shows something or someone that someone wants to know more about, they might be more inclined to listen in,” he wrote in a message to Hot Pod.
Spotify fires a few more shots at Apple over its App Store policies
Spotify’s Chief Public Affairs Officer, Dustee Jenkins, provided a status update on the streaming service’s years-long battle for global regulatory action against Apple’s restrictive App Store policies – which began in 2018. The Swedish company has accused Apple of “stifling” competition with its 30 percent tax on in-app transactions, which it says has specifically hurt its new audiobooks business.
While Jenkins acknowledged that “there has been some momentum” in the European Union, more progress was needed globally. “Apple has continued to enjoy – and profit from – the status quo, while everything else in the world has seemingly moved on. In the absence of meaningful government action, Apple is given free rein to do whatever it wants and consumers pay the price,” Jenkins wrote.
Spotify’s years-long battle against Apple and time spent lobbying multiple governments have led to one big victory: the EU’s tough new Digital Markets Act regulations, which classify Apple as a gatekeeper, would require the company to it also includes third-party app stores. The EU curtailed an investigation into Apple in February, eliminating charges related to Apple’s in-app payment system. But depending on how the DMA is enforced (which goes into effect in May 2024), Apple’s in-app payment policy could face a new roadblock.
Apple declined to provide a comment attributable to a named spokesperson.
Just this summer, a US appeals court ruled in favor of Apple in the Epic lawsuit challenging these restrictions – with the caveat that developers can link to third-party payment options. There are some rumors of legislative moves in Britain and the US. That includes the possibility that a bill known as the Open Apps Markets Act in the US (which would require Apple and Google to allow competing app stores) will go before a more sympathetic House panel, according to Politically pro. But the chances of the bill passing both houses of Congress still appear slim.