Spotify Flow
Integration with Spotify's premium podcast system.
It is possible to listen to locked podcast episodes in Spotify by linking a Spotify account with a Spotify Partner account.
How It Works
If there is any locked content in Spotify that the user doesn't have access to, they will see a padlock icon in the Spotify app.
When a user unlocks a premium podcast in the Spotify app, they will be redirected to the Sesamy login page. After logging in, Sesamy validates whether the user has a valid subscription. If they do, the user is redirected back to the Spotify app and can listen to the premium podcast.
If the user does not have a valid subscription, they will either be:
- Redirected to a checkout page
- Redirected to the publisher's website
- Offered the option to purchase the episode as a single purchase
The behavior depends on the settings you've configured.
Subscription-Based Access
Connect your podcast to an existing subscription. When users authenticate, Sesamy will check if they have a valid subscription through your platform and grant access automatically.
Single Purchase / Bundles
You don't have to connect your podcasts to an existing subscription. You can make content available as a one-off payment by linking directly to the Sesamy checkout when users tap on the padlock icon.
You can choose whether the checkout should offer:
- A single purchase option only
- Multiple alternatives such as season passes or bundles
Synced Feeds
Podcasts distributed through Spotify are hosted directly by Spotify, not your podcast hosting service. This means that when using the standard Spotify passthrough integration, your podcast hosting service will not receive playback statistics for Spotify listeners. Additionally, Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) will not work for Spotify listeners since the audio is served from Spotify's infrastructure.
The Problem with Passthrough
With passthrough, Spotify fetches your feed and hosts the audio themselves. Your hosting service has no visibility into plays that happen within Spotify, which means:
- Listener statistics from Spotify won't appear in your podcast host's dashboard
- DAI campaigns won't reach Spotify listeners
- Your total play counts will be underreported in your hosting analytics
Using Synced Feeds
The solution for these cases is to use synced feeds. With synced feeds:
- Your podcast hosting service provides the public feed (the feed Spotify indexes and hosts from)
- Sesamy provides the premium feed (containing only the locked/premium episodes)
- The two feeds are matched in Spotify so premium listeners get access to the premium content
Because Sesamy's feed is matched against your hosting service's feed, the feed Sesamy provides to Spotify contains only the premium episodes—not the public episodes that are already available through your hosting service's feed. This differs from the feed provided to other RSS clients, which includes all episodes a user has access to.
Contact your Sesamy account manager to set up synced feeds if you require statistics or DAI support for Spotify listeners.
Spotify Partner Accounts
Sesamy creates a Spotify Partner account for each publisher, which makes it possible to customize and brand the user experience for your audience.
Setup Requirements
To enable Spotify integration, you'll need:
- A Sesamy vendor account
- A Spotify for Podcasters account
- Premium podcast content in your RSS feed
- Configuration in the Sesamy dashboard
Contact your Sesamy account manager to set up the Spotify Partner account integration.