Apparently, podcasts can spread through not just with RSS links, but with expensive distribution agreements as well. With that said, Spotify will be distributing 26 of NPR's shows internationally.

Here's the full list of shows now available to a potential audience of 320 million Spotify users around the globe:

The deal follows on from another inked in 2018 that allowed select programs from the public radio networks to stream within the U.S. on Spotify — in addition to traditional open market methods, NPR relies on its broadcast reach and its NPR One app and web portal to reach podcast listeners. So far, its hourly "NPR News Now" newscasts are the most listened-to product on the platform followed by the "TED Radio Hour," "Up First," "Short Wave," and "Planet Money."

Spotify has been building a walled garden of podcasts and the marketing around them with its acquisitions of production houses and vending firms and signing exclusive carriage agreements with externally-made shows. What NPR gets out of that distribution, well, we'd certainly like to see for ourselves.

Source: Spotify