To join the Spotify Partner Program, your show has to be hosted on Spotify for Creators and you need a legal address in an eligible market, at least three published episodes, and, over the last 30 days, at least 2,000 consumption hours and an audience of at least 1,000 on Spotify. Hitting those numbers only lets you apply: Spotify then reviews the show against its monetization policies, and nothing is paid until you have set up Spotify Payouts.
The eligibility tracker
Copy this table into a spreadsheet and fill in the third column from your Monetize page. Every threshold is taken from Spotify's Spotify Partner Program help page as it read on 1 October 2026, except the content review, which follows the program's monetization policies.
| Metric | Spotify's threshold | Your number | Where to check | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Show hosted on Spotify for Creators (Megaphone shows ask their representative) | Yes / no | Your show's settings | Partner Program page |
| Legal address | In one of the eligible markets listed below | Country | Monetize page, where you confirm location and individual or business status | Partner Program page |
| Published episodes | At least 3, counted all time | [ ] | Episodes list | Partner Program page |
| Consumption hours | At least 2,000 on Spotify in the last 30 days | [ ] | Eligibility progress on the Monetize page | Partner Program page |
| Audience | At least 1,000 on Spotify in the last 30 days | [ ] | Eligibility progress on the Monetize page | Partner Program page |
| Content review | Passes the program's monetization policies and terms | Pass / fail | Email after you apply | Monetization policies |
| 2-step verification | Required once you earn US$1,000 or more within one month; payouts are held if it is not on within 30 days | Set up / not yet | Spotify Payouts account | Partner Program page |
| Staying active | In any 6-month period, publish an episode and earn at least $10 | Last episode date | Monetize overview | Partner Program page |
Spotify says the criteria may change at any time, so date your copy of the tracker and recheck the Monetize page rather than this table before you apply.
Eligible markets, including the 20 October expansion
Spotify's 17 September 2026 announcement said the program was coming to more than 35 new markets this fall. The help page puts the start date at 20 October 2026, and the two pages list the same countries.
| Region | Available on 1 October 2026 | Added on 20 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Europe | Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom | Andorra, Italy, Malta, Poland, San Marino, Spain |
| North America and the Caribbean | Canada, United States | Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago |
| South America | None yet | Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay |
| Oceania | Australia, New Zealand | None announced |
One caveat for smaller markets. The help page notes that in some eligible countries, including Andorra, The Bahamas, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta and Uruguay, Spotify for Creators does not yet serve ads to local listeners. Creators there can still earn from ads Spotify delivers when the show is consumed elsewhere, plus Premium video revenue, so a mostly local audience may earn less from ads than the program's headline suggests.
Two Spotify pages describe the hours bar differently
The dedicated program page asks for 2,000 consumption hours on Spotify and an audience count of 1,000 on Spotify. Spotify's broader monetization overview instead says 2,000 global consumption hours and 1,000 unique listeners or viewers on Spotify. The January announcement, Introducing the next era of monetization on Spotify, speaks of Spotify hours consumed. Two of the three sources count Spotify-only hours, so plan on that and treat the progress bar on your Monetize page as the deciding figure.
If you are reading an older guide, check its numbers against the 7 January 2026 newsroom post. It lowered the bars from 2,000 listeners to 1,000 engaged audience members, from 10,000 hours consumed to 2,000, and from 12 published episodes to 3. Anything still quoting the higher figures predates that change.
The audience bar and the revenue measure are also not the same thing. The January announcement defines Spotify audience as distinct people who actively watched or listened, measured by plays, and Spotify's analytics glossary counts a play from 30 seconds. Revenue and eligibility in the program use streams, which need 60 seconds. A show can therefore look closer to the audience bar in its analytics than its earning potential implies.
Revenue streams by listener type
Which stream an episode earns depends on who plays it and in what format. This table restates the one in Spotify's January announcement.
| Who is playing the episode | Video episode on Spotify | Audio episode |
|---|---|---|
| Premium subscriber in a select market | Premium video revenue, with no dynamic ads | Share of Spotify-sold ads |
| Premium subscriber in any other market | Share of Spotify-sold ads | Share of Spotify-sold ads |
| Free Spotify listener | Share of Spotify-sold ads | Share of Spotify-sold ads |
| Listener in another podcast app | Not applicable | Share of Spotify-sold ads in the downloaded file |
The ad share is 50% of the revenue Spotify recognizes, and an episode earns nothing from ads until it has at least one ad break. Spotify's ad break guide allows up to five breaks per episode with up to five ads in each, warns that a break in the first 10 seconds may not play, and says ads are delivered only in the Spotify desktop, iOS and Android apps, not the web player, smart speakers, cars or TVs. You can let Spotify place breaks automatically using a Standard, Moderate, Minimal or Custom strategy and exclude ad categories you do not want.
Premium video revenue also needs at least one ad break in the video episode. Spotify says its formula weighs qualifying consumption time, the market where Premium users are registered, how many unique Premium users watch, and total eligible video consumed. Program members can also manage host-read video sponsorships through the Sponsorships tool, which charges no transaction fee, allows up to two sponsorship locations per episode and none in the first 30 seconds; the September announcement says creators keep all the revenue from those sponsorships. Our host-read ad script template covers writing and disclosing those reads.
After approval: Payouts, tax details and 2-step verification
Approval points you to two setup tasks, 2-step verification and Spotify Payouts, and Spotify says you cannot start earning until your Payouts bank details are in. Work through the whole sequence in this order:
- Create your Spotify Payouts account from the Monetize page, choosing individual or business. Spotify's Payouts setup page asks individuals for a legal name, home address and tax number, and businesses for a legal name, type, address, tax number and VAT or GST number.
- Complete the tax certification: a W-9 if you are a US person, or a W-8 if you are not. The same page says earnings from US consumption may face US withholding of between 0 and 30% depending on your documents, and payouts stay on hold until the certification is processed.
- Turn on 2-step verification now rather than waiting for the US$1,000 month that makes it mandatory.
- Note the timing. Spotify's payout schedule starts with a 30-day onboarding wait, then pays monthly, usually in the last two weeks of the month, once your balance reaches $10, to a bank account only.
- File the paperwork Spotify sends. Its Payouts tax page says US earnings are paid by Spotify USA Inc and other markets by Spotify AB in Sweden, which reports certain payments to the Swedish Tax Agency on a KU70 form without withholding tax; non-US creators also receive a 1042-S for US-sourced income.
Spotify says it cannot assess whether you owe tax in Sweden and will not answer questions about your personal tax position, so take these forms to a registered tax agent or accountant.
Staying in the program
- Keep publishing and earning. Each 6-month window needs at least one new episode and $10 of earnings.
- Pause with care. Pausing stops ads and Premium video revenue, can take up to 10 business days to take effect in other apps, and a pause longer than six consecutive months may see the show removed.
- Watch the sponsor load. The monetization policies exclude from Premium video revenue any video whose audio is mainly non-speech sound and any video with a disproportionate host-read ad or sponsorship load.
- Check smart ad breaks around your own reads. Spotify recommends reviewing automatic breaks if you bake in sponsorships, because a break can land inside your read.
- Expect enforcement on abuse. Spotify reserves the right to remove access, withhold accrued earnings or remove content if it suspects abuse or rule-breaking.
If your show is hosted somewhere else
Hosting on Spotify for Creators is the only route the help page confirms. Megaphone users are told to ask their representative, and shows on other hosts to ask their provider. The January announcement also introduced a Spotify Distribution API, naming Acast, Audioboom, Libsyn, Omny and Podigee as launch partners, so that creators on those hosts can publish video to Spotify and take part in the program without moving; availability depends on your host switching it on. Moving hosts just for the program is a bigger decision than it looks, because your RSS redirect, analytics history and any marketplace contract all move with it. Our podcast monetization route comparison sets the program against the alternatives, and the podcast media kit template explains how to present Spotify figures to sponsors without mixing up plays, streams and downloads.
Limitations of this tracker
Everything here reflects Spotify's pages on 1 October 2026, nineteen days before the market expansion, so the country lists and any country-specific details may shift after it lands. Spotify publishes no earnings rates for the program, and its program analytics page describes ad impressions and earnings as estimates that can differ from payouts, so this guide makes no income projections. The tax notes describe what Spotify asks for, not what you owe. Your Monetize page, the program terms you accept and advice from a qualified professional outrank this summary.