Podcasting

To publish your podcast online, you need to:

• Upload the audio file(s) online.
• Generate an RSS feed. If you don't know how, setting up a Wordpress blog is a simple option (see below).
• Submit your RSS feed to podcast catalogues, in particular Apple Podcasts (iTunes) and Spotify.
  • Google Podcast indexes podcasts automatically as their bots crawl the web.
  • Most other podcast catalogues usually mirror the Apple Podcasts catalogue, so you should be fine without submitting to everyone.

Some dedicated podcast hosting services (see below) do all this automatically.

Apple Podcasts has a technical guide on how to publish on their platform, including tips that are valid everywhere.

The following hosting services are generally recommended by podcast guides. We have tried sorting them in descending order based on online reviews. Their pricing covers very different services and functionalities, so they are not so easy to compare. While some of them offer cheaper or even free options, we decided to first list the cheapest "large enough" (sometimes unlimited) option for each hosting service:

• Anchor is free. Single files are limited to a size of 250 MB (usually not a problem). Your podcasts will be affiliated on their account on iTunes but that can be manually changed.
• Podbean is unlimited starting at USD 14 $ per month (108 $ yearly), but offers more advanced tools for higher prices.
• Buzzsprout is the most widely recommended platform. For 12 $ per month, upload up to 3 hours each month. Everything else is unlimited.
• Spreaker offers a total of 100 hours of storage for USD 6 $ per month (59 $ yearly).
• Libsyn really starts at USD 15 $ per month for a 250 MB monthly upload (2-8 hours depending on compression).
• SoundCloud has an unlimited model for about USD 13 $ per month (about 113 $ yearly).
• Blubrry really starts at USD 20 $ per month for a 250 MB monthly upload.
• Transistor is unlimited starting at USD 19 $ per month (190 $ yearly) for up to 5000 monthly downloads. It also allows 2 user accounts and multiple shows.
• Pippa starts at USD 240 $ annually for unlimited episodes.
• Audioboom seems to be large enough starting at USD 10$ per month (5 episodes & 10'000 plays per month).

What can you get for free?

• Anchor is free. Single files are limited to a size of 250 MB (usually not a problem). Your podcasts will be affiliated on their account on iTunes but that can be manually changed.
• Podbean gives you 5 hours of storage space and limits you to 100 GB downloads per month. It can also be integrated with Hindenburg Journalist.
• Spreaker gives you 5 hours of storage space.
• SoundCloud gives you 3 hours of storage.
• Buzzsprout allows you to upload 2 hours per month, but deletes episodes after 90 days and embeds advertisements in your files.
• Libsyn does not offer a free plan, but starts at 5$ per month for 50MB of monthly storage allowance (less than 2 hours).
• Blubrry, Transistor, Pippa, and Audioboom do not offer a free plan.

Any Wordpress blog (even with a free Wordpress.com account) can be used to generate your RSS feed.

1. Create a post category for your podcast (you could call it... "podcast")

2. In your editor panel, Settings.

3. On the right, go to Writing, then scroll down to "Podcasting". Click on "Manage details".

4. Edit the details of your podcast to make the feed valid for Podcast catalogues - note that your podcast icon should be at least 1400x1400 pixels.

5. Once your first episode is up, submit your feed to iTunes and Spotify.