As a coach, consultant, or online course creator, you put your heart and soul into creating engaging content.
You can’t wait for your audience to discover your course and send positive feedback your way. Naturally, you can’t wait to earn revenue from it, either.
However, sometimes, reaching your target audience isn’t as easy as it sounds. With so many courses published on the Internet, many courses get lost amid the noise—no matter how informative and valuable they are.
Without the right platform, even the best content can go unnoticed, leaving your potential untapped.
Thinkfic’s new partnership with Spotify aims to bridge this gap by offering Thinkific creators a platform with over 550 million monthly users worldwide.
If this sounds like an exciting opportunity, this article is for you. We discuss everything there is to know about the partnership between Thinkific and Spotifiy.
And, if you need a TL;DR, you can also skip to the FAQs section to get a quick overview.
Let’s dive in.
Overview: How the Partnership Between Thinkific and Spotify Works
Thinkific is partnering with Spotify to create a groundbreaking opportunity for creators.
This collaboration opens a new chapter in online education, offering exciting possibilities for both Thinkific creators and Spotify users.
The partnership between Thinkific and Spotify allows Thinkific users to sell educational courses directly on Spotify. Thinkific is a platform where individuals can create, market, and sell their own online courses, while Spotify is one of the world’s leading audio streaming platforms.
This collaboration opens doors for creators, allowing them to tap into a new channel for distributing and monetizing educational content. This allows them to grow their small business by reaching a wider audience worldwide. Spotify boasts about 550 million monthly users worldwide, so you can imagine the type of exposure and outreach creators can expect.
This also allows Spotify to diversify its content and become a central hub for audio and video education. It’s an extension of their existing model, which includes music and podcasts, and is now extending to educational content.
Integrating educational courses also helps Spotify increase user engagement and potentially boost subscription revenue.
If you want to learn more about Thinkific in detail and see how it can help you grow your online business, read our detailed Thinkific review.
Steps for Creators: Create Your Course on Thinkific, Sell on Spotify
Step 1. Apply to Spotify Courses
The first step before you create your course on Thinkific is to apply to Spotify Courses from your Thinkific dashboard.
Since the Spotify Courses program is still in the pilot phase and accessible to only a few creators in the United Kingdom, you have to submit your application from the Thinkific Admin Dashboard.
Once submitted, Thinkific will monitor and accept your course creation application on a case-by-case basis.
Step 2. Create Your Spotify Profile
Your Spotify profile will be the first point of contact between you and your target audience. It will give them and Spotify an idea about the creator and the course.
Here’s what a content creator’s profile on Spotify typically looks like:
However, make sure you create your Spotify profile before creating and submitting your course. You won’t be able to edit your profile after submitting your course to Spotify, so complete it before that.
Step 3. Develop Your Course on Thinkific
Once your application to create content gets accepted, Thinkific’s Partnership and Onboarding team will contact you to walk you through the process.
That said, there are some standard steps you’ll still need to follow when developing your course.
Here’s a quick overview:
- Course Creation: Start by creating your course on Thinkific. This involves developing content that is primarily video-based since the goal is to list it on Spotify, and this is the format Spotify supports. Ensure your videos are high-quality (1080p recommended) and engaging, especially the first two lessons, which are available for free trial on Spotify, to entice users to purchase the full course.
- Align Content with Spotify’s Themes: Spotify’s learning categories range from music and creativity to business and healthy living. Align your course with these themes to maximize its relevance to Spotify’s audience. Here are the course categories Spotify allows:
- Art & Design
- Business & Marketing
- Finance
- Health & Fitness
- Language
- Lifestyle
- Music and Audio
- Personal Development
- Photo & Videography
- Technology
- Spotify Course Requirements: Your course should meet all Spotify standards. Make sure you pay heed to Spotify’s guidelines while creating your course, including:
- The first two lessons should be free.
- Spotify only supports video-based content—don’t add text-based content.
- The first two free course lessons shouldn’t merely introduce your course, they should deliver tangible course content.
- Your course should have a minimum of four lessons.
- Avoid using emojis and all capital letters in your lesson title.
Thinkific and Spotify’s teams also suggested using visual and engaging audio elements to entice the audience from the start.
Don’t forget that most of Spotify’s user base consists of mobile audiences, so optimizing your course for mobile devices is paramount.
You can also read our step-by-step guide for how to create your first course on Thinkific here (thought note this isn’t for Spotify).
Step 4. Course Submission.
Finally, once the course is ready and meets the requirements, you can submit it for review and eventual listing on Spotify.
Step 5: Launch and Market Your Course
Utilize both Spotify’s promotional channels and your own marketing strategies to reach a broader audience.
Spotify’s powerful discovery algorithms can help promote your courses to targeted users who are most likely to be interested in your content.
Remember – this is a new and evolving program, so specific details and eligibility criteria may change over time. However, by following these steps and staying informed about Thinkific’s updates, you can leverage this partnership and reach a wider audience with your Thinkific courses.
Potential Benefits for Thinkific Creators
This partnership between Thinkific and Spotify not only opens a new revenue stream for creators but also dramatically increases their exposure.
Let’s see all the major benefits this partnership accrues for Thinkific course creators.
1. Better Audience Outreach:
From the perspective of content creators, this collaboration opens a new channel for creators to monetize their expertise through Spotify’s vast user base.
Spotify’s UK audience base consists of more than 25 million people with millions of dedicated podcast listeners.
Considering Spotify’s strong presence in diverse markets, it can help educational content creators expand their audience significantly.
2. Enhances Monetization Options:
Until now, as a creator, you could only use the monetization options available to you via Thinkific. With this new partnership between Spotify and Thinkific, you now have another way to distribute and sell your online courses.
Creators stand to gain from a new revenue stream through the sale of their courses on Spotify.
However, not that there’s a revenue-sharing model you’ll have to follow, which deducts a significant portion of your course revenue. Spotify takes a 50% platform fee, Thinkific takes 10%, and the creator gets the remaining 40%.
That said, the sheer volume of potential sales driven by Spotify’s global reach could nonetheless mean tangible earnings for creators
Note: Your final platform fee will be deducted from your net course sales and paid out through your connected Stripe Express account.
3. Reduced Marketing Burden:
Marketing can be exceedingly costly, especially for a new course creator who’s just getting started and is in the process of growing their business.
Enters Thinkific’s new partnership with Spotify.
Promoting courses through its established channels reduces the marketing load on creators. It’s a win-win! Spotify taps into a whole new avenue while course creators market their courses on an already-established platform.
This alleviates the need for extensive and often costly marketing campaigns.
The best part? Course creators can now also leverage Spotify’s sophisticated recommendation algorithms, which match courses with the right audience. This is similar to Spotify’s revolutionary music discovery algorithm model.
4. Added Credibility for Creators:
Since Spotify doesn’t give just about anyone a chance to feature their course on their platform—especially at this stage in the partnership—it enhances the credibility of Thinkific creators.
It’s like a stamp of approval or a trust signal for potential customers, making them more likely to invest in a course when they see it offered through a familiar and respected platform.
5. Networking and Collaboration Opportunities:
Finally, the partnership might open doors for further collaborations and networking with other high-profile content creators and educators in the Spotify ecosystem.
This could lead to co-created courses, guest lectures, and other collaborative projects that can enhance your creator profiles and offer audiences more value.
6. Diversification of Learning Formats
Ever noticed how some educational content just doesn’t click with everyone? That’s because we all learn differently—some prefer watching, while others might learn better by listening. That’s where the Thinkific and Spotify partnership shines.
It mixes up the usual just-text approach by boosting the use of videos and audio. This means whether you like to watch tutorials at your own pace or listen to lessons on the go, learning becomes more accessible and engaging.
This strategy could encourage the whole online education industry to adopt more varied and inclusive content formats, making learning not just more effective but also more enjoyable for everyone.
Potential Benefits for the Online Educational Course Industry:
When big-name digital streaming platforms enter the online education market, it bodes well for innovation within the industry.
As one mainstream platform prepares to merge online streaming with educational content, we could see other platforms following suit, potentially leading to a richer and more diversified online education market.
Another upside is that when a renowned company like Spotify embraces educational content, it helps legitimize online learning in the eyes of the general public. This could increase acceptance and trust in online education platforms, potentially attracting more learners who previously preferred traditional learning environments. Again, this is a massive opportunity for creators in the industry.
How to Participate (Geographic Availability)
Currently, the Thinkific and Spotify partnership is in its pilot phase and is specifically available only to creators in the United Kingdom.
Launching in the UK might seem limited, but there might be a strategic reason behind it. The UK has a massive online learning market and a high digital content consumption penetration rate, making it an ideal testing ground for new digital programs.
It’s not the first time something like this has happened. For example, many tech innovations are historically tested in smaller, tech-savvy markets before a broader rollout.
For example, the BBC iPlayer, a major innovation in streaming, was also first rolled out in the UK before it became a global standard.
The success and positive reception in the UK paved the way for its expansion to other countries. Today, the BBC iPlayer is one of the most recognized streaming platforms worldwide.
What’s Next?
If the pilot phase is successful in the UK, Spotify and Thinkific are likely to expand the program globally.
This rollout will help them understand their target audience and their preferences better. Once they know precisely what their audiences are looking for, they’ll be better positioned to fine-tune the Thinkific and Spotify collaboration.
It will also tell them whether they can handle different types of content and learning styles from various cultures and regions. The goal is to make educational content as accessible and diverse as Spotify’s music and podcast-based content—good news for edupreneurs.
Thinkific’s partnership with Spotify FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions about the Thinkific and Spotify partnership that can help clarify how it works and what it involves for creators:
What is the Thinkific-Spotify partnership?
The partnership between Thinkific and Spotify allows Thinkific course creators to sell their video-based courses directly on Spotify. This collaboration between the top streaming platform and course creation platform will help creators tap into a massive global audience. It also provides a new platform for educational content, expanding potential revenue streams.
Who can participate in this partnership?
Currently, the partnership is in its pilot phase and only available to Thinkific creators in the UK. Creators need to have a paid Thinkific account and an existing course suitable for the Spotify audience, primarily focusing on high-quality video content.
How do I apply to be part of this partnership?
To distribute and sell your Thinkific course on Spotify, you’ll have to apply for this pilot program through your Thinkific dashboard. There is a specific section dedicated to the Spotify partnership where you can submit your application and course for review
What types of courses are suitable for Spotify?
While your courses will largely be similar to those you’d typically create on Thinkific, you’ll still have to ensure they’re geared toward Spotify.
Spotify is looking for courses that are rich in video content with clear audio and high-definition visuals. The courses should be engaging from the start and designed to cater to a broad audience, with topics ranging from art and music to business and technology.
Will Spotify take a cut from the total course revenue under this partnership?
Yes, both Thinkific and Spotify will deduct a portion of your total sales revenue as their commission. Spotify charges a 50% platform fee, Thinkific takes a 10% fee, and the remaining 40% goes to the creator
What happens if my application is not accepted?
If your application to the pilot program gets rejected, they might place you on a waitlist for potential future openings. Thinkific and Spotify may expand the number of participants based on the success of the pilot phase.
Are there any specific content restrictions for courses on Spotify?
Yes, courses submitted to Spotify must adhere to specific guidelines. They should avoid sexually explicit, obscene, or religious content, and they should not offer medical advice or include sensitive information. The courses should also be suitable for a broad audience and comply with Spotify’s content standards.
Can I use my existing Thinkific courses on Spotify?
Yes, you can use your existing Thinkific courses if they meet Spotify’s requirements. However, you might need to make some adjustments to ensure they align with Spotify’s format and quality standards, including offering the first two lessons for free as part of a trial for new users.
How will I receive my payout?
You should have a Stripe Express account to receive your Spotify course payouts. Also, note that this Stripe Express account is separate from your current Thikific Payments and Stripe accounts.
What support does Thinkific provide to creators for adapting courses for Spotify?
Thinkific offers detailed guidance and support through its help center and onboarding team. They help creators adjust their course content, meet Spotify’s technical requirements, and optimize their courses for the best user experience on Spotify.
Thinkific and Spotify Partnership: A Golden Opportunity for Course Creators
From detailed step-by-step guides on applying to the program to expert tips on making your content Spotify-ready, this article covered everything to help you understand this partnership between Spotify and Thinkific.
While it heralds a welcome change in the education industry, it also opens doors for creators to promote their courses and boost their revenues. Want to learn more about the ongoings and best practices to succeed in the ever-changing education industry? Visit the Learning Revolution blog, a go-to resource for educational entrepreneurs like you.
Jeff Cobb, Founder of Learning Revolution
Jeff Cobb is an expert in online education and the business of adult lifelong learning. Over the past 20+ years he has built a thriving career based on that expertise – as an entrepreneur, a consultant, an author, and a speaker. Learning Revolution is a place where Jeff curates tips, insights, and resources to help you build a thriving expertise-based business. Learn more about Jeff Cobb here.
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