Spotify just took a page out of YouTube's playbook.
The platform announced Creator Milestone Awards, giving podcasters plaques when they hit 100M, 250M, and 500M streams.
What Creators Get
- A physical plaque, hand-delivered
- Spotlights on Spotify’s social channels
The Joe Rogan Experience already got a gold trophy with 500M streams while shows like Stuff You Should Know earned silver at 250M.
Why It Matters
Spotify isn’t just handing out trophies — it’s playing the status game.
YouTube creators unbox their Play Buttons like it's an Oscar. Fans celebrate it. Brands take it seriously. And Spotify wants the same hype.
This also gives creators a reason to stay loyal. If you’re a podcaster, switching platforms now means losing a chance to flex...ahem, get a plaque.
The Big Difference...
Unlike YouTube’s Play Button, which rewards subscribers, Spotify chose a different metric to reward: streams.
Why? Because subscriber counts don’t tell the full story.
I saw it first-hand when I helped launch YouTube’s awards in 2012. It was our way of celebrating 40 creators (yes, 40) with 1M subscribers back then.
But can I be honest?
Subscribers aren't the best measure of success.
We considered changing it. But it was too late.
Creators got hooked on hitting that million-subscriber milestone like their careers depended on it.
Over a decade later, it conditioned us to care more about outputs like subscribers than inputs like our creative process.
Spotify is skipping the vanity metrics and rewarding what really matters: actual audience engagement.
Psst...Instagram: it's about time you launch one too.
When done right, I can tell you one thing from experience: physical awards have amazing ROI when it comes to keeping digital creators happy.