How to Submit Your Podcast to Apple, Spotify and More

Once your podcast has a feed, you can list it in every major app. You do this once per directory. After that, each new episode you publish reaches all of them without any extra work. Here is what to prepare and where to go.

What to have ready

• Your feed address, from your podcast host.
• Cover art that meets the size rules, which we cover in our guide to cover art.
• A clear title and description that say what the show is and who it is for.
• A category and a language.
• The explicit setting set correctly.
• At least one published episode. Many podcasters publish three before submitting, so a new listener has something to start with.
• An owner email you can open. Directories send a verification code there, and some ask you to reply from it.

Apple Podcasts

Apple is the biggest directory, and many smaller apps copy its list. You submit through Apple Podcasts Connect using an Apple Account. Choose to add a show with an RSS feed, paste your feed address, and Apple checks it. If the check finds a problem, it tells you what to fix. Once the feed passes, you submit it and wait for review, which can take anywhere from a few hours to several days.

Spotify

Spotify takes submissions through Spotify for Creators. Sign in, choose to add an existing podcast, and paste your feed address. Spotify sends a verification code to your owner email. Enter the code, choose your country, language and category, and submit. New shows often appear within a day, though it can be longer.

YouTube Music

YouTube takes podcasts through YouTube Studio. You add a new podcast, choose the option to submit an RSS feed, paste your feed address and verify ownership with the email it sends. Once approved, your episodes appear in YouTube Music and in the podcasts section of YouTube.

Amazon Music

Amazon takes podcasts through Amazon Music for Podcasters. Add your show with its feed address, confirm the owner email, and Amazon reviews it. Once it is approved, your show is available in Amazon Music.

Podcast Index and the smaller apps

The Podcast Index is a free, open directory, and several independent apps are built on top of it. Adding your show takes a minute: paste your feed address into the Podcast Index website. Overcast and Pocket Casts pick up shows from the larger directories and from the Podcast Index, so you usually do not have to submit to them yourself. iHeart has its own submission process if you want to be listed there too.

Keep track as you go

It helps to note which directories you have submitted to, when, and the link to your listing once it is live. OnlyCasts has a guide for each directory on the Distribution page of your show, and you can save your submitted and live links there so you can see at a glance what is done.

If a directory rejects your feed

1. Read the message. It almost always names the exact problem, such as missing artwork or an unreadable owner email.
2. Fix it in your host, not by editing the feed by hand.
3. Open your feed address in a browser to make sure the change shows.
4. Submit again.

You do not need to resubmit when you publish new episodes. The directory keeps checking your feed on its own.