My episode failed to publish

An episode that failed to publish and stayed in Draft cannot be recovered. Delete it, upload it again, and publish the new one. Changing the settings on the failed episode does not release it, so re-uploading is the only way to get that episode out.

Note: You may still receive an email saying your episode was published. If the episode is still showing as Draft in your dashboard, it did not go out.

Get the episode out

1. Delete the episode that failed.
2. Create the episode again and upload your audio.
3. Leave it as a regular episode and publish.

A regular episode does not go through Apple Podcasts Connect, so it publishes normally and reaches every platform. You can go back to premium episodes once Apple has what it needs from you.

Why it failed

In most cases it is the episode's Apple Podcasts setting. An episode marked Ad-free, Early Access or Subscriber-only is sent to Apple Podcasts Connect at the moment you publish. If Apple turns it down, the publish stops there and the episode reaches no platform at all, not only Apple.

The most common reason Apple turns these episodes down is an undeclared trader status on your Apple Podcasts Connect account. Your regular episodes are not affected by this. They reach Apple Podcasts through your RSS.com feed as usual.

If you want to publish premium episodes

Two things have to be complete in Apple Podcasts Connect before Apple accepts a premium episode, and they are separate steps:

• Your subscription is approved by Apple.
• Your trader status is declared, under Business and then Complete Compliance Requirements.

A subscription can be approved while the declaration is still outstanding, and premium episodes keep failing until both are done. Setting up Apple Podcasts Subscriptions covers the full setup, including adding your Apple Podcasts API key, and What is the difference between Early Access, Exclusive, and Ad-Free? explains the three episode types.

If the episode has no Apple setting

Then something else stopped it. Send us the link to the episode from your dashboard and we will check what happened on our side. Include the error message you saw, if there was one.