Podcast Distribution Checklist: Every Step to Launch

The complete checklist from finished episode to listed-everywhere.

The landscape

When it comes to the launch sequence, ordered, the details matter. Here's what the evidence and practitioner experience point to:

• Step 1 — feed validation: RSS is valid, artwork 3000×3000, author email monitored, at least one published episode with working enclosure.
• Step 2 — Apple Podcasts Connect: submit feed, wait 1–5 days; the anchor directory.

What actually works

When it comes to the launch sequence, ordered, the details matter. Here's what the evidence and practitioner experience point to:

• Step 3 — Spotify for Creators: paste feed, verify via feed email; minutes-to-hours approval.
• Step 4 — Amazon Music + YouTube Studio: same RSS submission flow; YouTube ingests episodes as static-video posts.

Putting it into practice

When it comes to the launch sequence, ordered, the details matter. Here's what the evidence and practitioner experience point to:

• Step 5 — long tail: Podcast Index, Pocket Casts, TuneIn, Castbox — incremental reach for 10 minutes each.
• Step 6 — verify: check each directory lists the show correctly; set a monthly calendar reminder to spot-check feed health.

Key takeaways

• Step 1 — feed validation: RSS is valid, artwork 3000×3000, author email monitored, at least one published episode with working enclosure.
• Step 4 — Amazon Music + YouTube Studio: same RSS submission flow; YouTube ingests episodes as static-video posts.
• Step 6 — verify: check each directory lists the show correctly; set a monthly calendar reminder to spot-check feed health.

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