When you create a podcast on Substack, you'll need to upload an image. You can think of this logo like branding for your podcast that'll appear in podcast players like Apple and Spotify.
The default image is a microphone but this can be changed anytime on your Podcast Settings page. Select "Change" to upload a logo that matches your brand.
Where does my podcast artwork come from?
Your podcast artwork can appear on different parts of your publication like your homepage and the episode page.
However, podcast artwork isn't limited to just your podcast logo and different images may appear.
Images can be pulled from various places:
- Podcast artwork: This is the main logo for your podcast set on the Podcast Settings page.
- Podcast artwork for paid episodes: If you have payments enabled, you can set additional artwork for paid episodes in the Advanced settings section on the Podcast Settings page. This artwork will be shown for both paid podcast episodes and as the artwork in a paid subscriber's podcast feed. This means that paid feeds will show the artwork you set here instead of your primary podcast art on Substack and in podcast players. You can use this to help listeners differentiate between a free feed and a paid feed.
- Social preview: The image you set on the Post Settings page.
- Images from your post: Images that you include in the body of your post can appear as your podcast artwork.
- Imported podcast artwork: If a podcast episode was imported to Substack, we'll use that podcast artwork as your Substack artwork.
- The default Substack microphone: If an image is required, we'll sometimes use the default Substack podcast microphone. If you upload your own podcast logo, we will never use the default.
Note: The order or precedence of the above can vary.
Where can listeners see my podcast artwork?
At the top of an episode page, we show an image which is the same image we use in podcast players that support individual episode images (like Spotify).
The order is:
- Podcast artwork for paid episodes (if the episode is paid).
- Podcast artwork.
- Image from the body of the post.
- The default Substack microphone.
On your publication homepage, we pick the podcast artwork last and will never use the default Substack microphone.
The order is:
- The social preview image.
- Image from the body of the post.
- Podcast artwork for paid episodes.
- Podcast artwork (unless you have the default Substack microphone as a logo).
- If none of the above are available and we need to show an image, a gray box will appear.
Things to note:
- If you import a podcast to Substack, the podcast artwork will not transfer over.
- If Apple Podcasts doesn't update any artwork changes, we recommend following Apple's troubleshooting steps here, and reaching out to them using the "Contact us" link in the article if those steps don't resolve the issue.