Premium Podcasting Content

PowerPress offers premium podcasting capabilities to podcast channels or post-type podcasting feeds. Without any other plugins or extra code, a podcaster can quickly password protect custom podcast feeds with only a few clicks.

By default the default podcast feed and blog post categories must be public. All other custom channels/post types can be configured as premium podcasts. Podcast channels and custom post types can be secured, where-as the default podcast and categories could provide the premium content to the public. Normal blog posts are vulnerable to view when the wrong combination of plugins are enabled or disabled. Custom podcast channels and post types prevent such vulnerabilities.

How Premium Podcasting Works in PowerPress

PowerPress can protect custom podcast feeds (via podcast channels or post type podcasting). The main podcast feed and category feeds cannot be 100% protected. For this reason the option to make those feeds into premium podcasts is not available.

PowerPress, by default, adds a new role called “Premium Subscriber” and one new capability called “Premium Content” for your convenience.

Premium podcast feeds are protected by authenticating a valid local WordPress user and password. A protected podcast channel or post type will use a WordPress “capability” in order to confirm if the WordPress user specified may have access to the premium podcast. This capability may be assigned to one or more capabilities that you can manage with a roles and capabilities plugin. Users in WordPress are assigned a specific role (e.g. Premium Subscriber). As long as the specified capability is added to the Premium Subscriber role, users assigned the “Premium Subscriber” role will have access to the premium podcast.

WordPress Roles and Capabilities are complicated. If at any time you are confused by how they work, simply use the provided “Premium Subscriber” role for users and “Premium Content” capability for your protected feeds.

Enabling Premium Podcasting in PowerPress

Go to the Podcast Channels menu under PowerPres in the sidebar.  Edit the channel you wish to enable. ** note:  you must have a channel other than the default channel.   Go to the “other” menu in the channel settings and you will find  “Password Protect Podcast Channel”. Check the box and save changes.

Adding plugins for Premium Podcasting

The following types of plugins may be added to further manage and add capabilities with Blubrry PowerPress premium podcasting.

  • Roles and Capabilities plugin (to customize roles and capabilities)
  • Membership plugin (to automate membership)

Roles and Capabilities Plugins

If you are satisfied with the role and capability added by PowerPress, there is no need to install a separate roles and capabilities management plugin.

Any roles and capabilities plugin that allows you to manage roles and capabilities should work. We recommend the User Role Editor plugin.

Membership Plugins

A membership plugin can provide an automated way for members to sign up and gain access to a premium podcast. If you are managing users directly or you do not wish to provide an automated way for users to sign up to your show, then a membership plugin is not necessary.

There are many membership plugins available that work with PowerPress. Any membership plugin that uses roles and capabilities for user membership management can be used seamlessly with PowerPress. Below is a quick list of the popular membership plugins available for WordPress that are known to work with PowerPress.

  • MemberPress  – premium service tied to plugin, details provided below
  • Wishlist Member – premium service tied to plugin, details provided below
  • S2Member – free plugin with many paid add-ons available
  • Paid Memberships Pro – free plugin with many free add-ons
  • WooCommerce – premium service tied to multiple plugins, details provided below

There are many more membership plugins available, free and paid. If you have successfully configured PowerPress with a specific membership plugin, please contact us with details and we will add it to the list above.

**NOTE:  Blubrry Podcasting Support can not help with Membership Plugin related support issues.  Please contact the plugin developer for the plugin you are using.

Setting Up a Premium Podcast Without a Membership Plugin

Setting up a premium podcast in PowerPress without a membership plugin is easy.

  1. Go to the PowerPress menu > Tools sub-menu found on the left navigation bar of WordPress. Under tools, click the option “Add Password Protection Capabilities for Control of Which Users can Access Your Podcasts” to enable.
  2. Create a new (or edit an existing) custom podcast channel. Go to the last tab titled “Other Settings” to find the “Password Protect Podcast Channel” section. Here you can set the capability to “Premium Content” (default capability PowerPress adds to get you started). You can set other attributes of the password protected podcast feed here as well.
  3. In the WordPress Users menu, edit the account(s) to have access to your premium podcast. Under the “Role” drop down, select “Premium Subscriber.” The user(s) will now have access to the password protected podcast feed by using their WordPress username and password.

Specific Instructions for Third Party Membership and Single Sign-on Plugins

Important Notes about Premium Podcasting

Premium (password protected) podcast feeds are, by their nature, private. Because of this, these podcast feeds cannot be submitted to podcast directories such as Apple Podcasts. We recommend a strategy where you provide free supplemental content to submit to podcast directories including Apple Podcasts as a way to promote your premium podcast. The free podcast could be a five-minute sample from each premium episode or simply a short format version of your premium extended format.

Podcast apps that support premium podcasting

The following list comprise confirmed podcast apps that support premium podcasting. This is not an exclusive list, there may be more applications that support premium podcasting.

  • Apple Podcasts (iOS/macOS)
  • iTunes Desktop (Windows)
  • Overcast (iOS)
  • Downcast (iOS)
  • Pocket Casts (iOS/Android) [Paid App]
  • Podcast Addict (Android)
  • Podcast Republic (Android)
  • BeyondPod (Android)
  • DoggCatcher (Android)

Podcast Apps That do NOT Support Premium Podcasting

These applications typically require the podcast to be listed on their directory, which would make them public and no longer exclusive to specific users.

  • Google Podcasts
  • iHeartRadio
  • Spotify
  • Player.FM