Spotify monetization

This page explains, in plain words, how Spotify ads work for shows Rebel Audio distributes to Spotify, and what you get from them. It restates section 8 of the Terms (version 2026-10-20-v3). It is a guide, not part of the Terms: where the two differ, the Terms apply.

1. How it works

When you turn Spotify on for a show, Rebel Audio lists it under Rebel Audio's own Spotify distribution account and sends each new episode there for you. Rebel Audio is a Spotify distribution partner and takes part in the Spotify Partner Program for the shows it distributes. For every eligible show, we turn on Spotify ads and place ad breaks in its episodes. Spotify plays ads at those breaks and may also pay for Premium video plays.

Spotify pays these earnings to Rebel Audio, not to you. We pay you 90% of what Spotify reports for your show and keep 10% (section 5 below).

2. Which shows can earn

Spotify decides which shows are eligible, sets the rules and can change them. Today, for shows we distribute, a show needs:

• at least three episodes on Spotify;
• an ad break in each episode that can carry ads;
• to pass Spotify's brand-safety review.

Its owner must also have accepted our Terms. Once a show meets all of these, we turn Spotify ads on for it automatically. We never turn them on for a show made for children (section 7).

3. Ad breaks

We place ad breaks in your episodes and you can review and move them in the app. Where you have not saved any breaks of your own, we place default ones: at the start, at natural pauses in the middle, and at the end.

4. The ads

Spotify alone chooses and sells the ads that play at your ad breaks on Spotify. You cannot see or approve them first. You can block categories of advertisers for a show in the app, but Spotify does not promise that every ad in a blocked category is kept out. You may still read your own sponsorships inside your episodes.

5. Your 90% share

• We pay you 90% of the amount Spotify reports for your show for a month in its statement to us, after anything Spotify deducts, withholds or offsets for that show, in US dollars. We keep 10%, and we do not take our payment-processing costs out of your share.
• When Spotify's statement for a month reaches us, we record your share of that month in our earnings ledger, and you can then see it in the app. Amounts shown before a month is finalised are estimates and can change.
• If Spotify later reduces or takes back an amount, we may deduct your share of that from later payments.
• Your recorded share is money we owe you. It is not held in trust or in a separate account, and it does not earn interest.
• We pay it through Stripe once you have set up payouts in the app. Payouts are not open yet; we tell you in the app and by email when they open for your account. How payouts and their taxes work: Payouts and taxes.

6. Turning Spotify ads off

You can ask us to turn Spotify ads off for a show at any time: write to engineering@rebelaudio.ai from the email on your account. We switch the show's monetization off and tell you when it is off. From then on the show earns nothing from Spotify ads.

7. What a show with ads must not do

• Be made for children. Spotify does not allow ads on shows made for children, so we never turn them on for a show in Spotify's Kids & Family category (its subcategories, such as Education for Kids, included).
• Be mostly music. A monetized show must not be mostly music, DJ mixes or other sound without speech. Spotify does not allow music tracks or DJ mixes in podcasts.
• Use artificial plays. Its plays, listeners or streams must not be raised by bots, paid traffic or any other artificial means.
• Hide paid promotion. Tell listeners clearly when part of an episode is paid promotion. In video episodes on Spotify, the only promotion allowed is a sponsorship you read or build into the episode yourself.

8. Holds, clawbacks and takedowns

• If Spotify finds artificial activity, or a rights holder claims music in an episode, Spotify may hold or take back earnings for the show, and we may hold or deduct your share in the same way.
• We may hold your share of earnings from an episode that is subject to a copyright notice or another rights claim until it is resolved. We do not pay a share of earnings from content you did not have the right to publish.
• If Spotify or a rights holder asks us to take an episode off Spotify, we may do so at once and switch off its ads, and we tell you when we do.
• We may switch monetization off for a show, for example if Spotify asks us to or the show breaks the Terms.

9. Leaving Spotify or Rebel Audio

• Because Rebel Audio holds the Spotify distribution relationship for these shows, you cannot set up or change Spotify monetization for them yourself, for example through Spotify for Creators. If you move an existing Spotify show to Rebel Audio, any monetization you had set up for it with Spotify ends, and the show has to qualify again under Rebel Audio.
• If you leave Rebel Audio, take your show off Spotify or delete the show, we pay you your share of every month that Spotify finalised while the show was monetized through us. For a month Spotify had not finalised by then, we pay your share of what Spotify later pays us for it if you write to engineering@rebelaudio.ai within 12 months.
• If Spotify ends the program or our part in it, Spotify ads stop for every show. We pay your share of what Spotify pays us for the months before that. If Spotify does not pay us for a month, we owe you nothing for that month.

10. Spotify's own terms

Spotify publishes these documents for its own creator programs. They show the rules Spotify applies to podcasts with ads; for shows we distribute, section 8 of the Terms says how they apply to you.

• Spotify Partner Program Terms: Spotify alone places and sells the ads; earnings are a share of what Spotify recognises and can be held or taken back for invalid activity or music claims; no ads on content made for children; Spotify can end the program.
• Spotify Partner Program help page: How the program works for creators who join it directly through Spotify.
• Spotify Partner Program Monetization Policies: Spotify reviews shows before they earn; mostly non-speech content does not earn from video; on abuse Spotify may hold earnings or remove content.
• Spotify for Creators Terms: The licence Spotify takes in a show, the rights you promise you hold, and marking promotional content.
• Ads Terms: Ads in podcasts: no revenue guarantee, no ads aimed at children, earnings can be taken back.
• Music policy: No music tracks or DJ mixes in podcasts.
• Promotional content guidelines: In video, only sponsorships the creator reads or builds into the episode.

11. Questions

Write to engineering@rebelaudio.ai.