Apple helping podcasters make money is great

But as a reminder, any move that promotes exclusivity of content restricted to specific pod apps is bad for listeners and bad for the pod ecosystem long term https://apple.news/A94CLArVtRe6Cg-e44Yow9g

Before spotify really dug its heels in and invested heavily in exclusive content, Apple made a few troubling decisions that seemed to promote walled gardens (the antithesis of the open pod ecosystem). One being not adding host/guest id to rss specs so any app could use/display

The ability for listeners to pay to listen to ad free podcasts is interesting too, but if it’s implemented not as a protocol and just an exclusive feature from Apple, that is also not good for the ecosystem long term unless all pod apps find a way to implement it cost effectively

large platforms will throw lots of $$$ at exclusive wedges and use them as a crutch, rather than competing on the axes most relevant to the consumer: better discovery and lower friction experience with access to all content in one place