Do I have to submit my podcast to itunes?

This article may have some useful information:
https://create.blubrry.com/resources/powerpress/advanced-tools-and-options/premium-podcasting-content/

Thanks!

It looks like my main podcast has to be on iTunes, and then a sub-podcast can be left out from iTunes.

Is it possible to set up my plugin without connecting it to iTunes?

Thanks!

Let me chime in and explain the problem…

If you are creating podcast content and you only want it to syndicate to select few who know a username and password, then do not use the default podcast channel.

The default podcast channel extends the default podcast functionality that is built into WordPress. What this means is podcast content that uses the default podcast channel can also be found within other parts of your WordPress site, specifically within your main blog’s feed, category feeds (if you use categories) and tag feeds (if you use tags). You can submit any one of these feeds to iTunes. The podcast only feed is optimal to submit to iTunes simply because it does not mix blog posts with the episodes.

In other words, the default podcast cannot be protected because the episodes will also show up in your main blog’s feed, category and tag feeds.

If you want 100% guarantee that only members of your blog can access your podcast feed, then you must use custom podcast channels.

Does that clear up the confusion?

Thanks!

So my question is – I’m configuring the plugin for the first time, and it makes me submit all sorts of iTunes information. I don’t have an iTunes account or anything – is there any way around that? Then I can use a separate feed for my podcast.

That is a good question!

The settings apply to the iTunes tags that are added to the RSS feed. These tags are, though designed by Apple, what almost all podcast applications rely on. For example, the itunes Subtitle field populates the <itunes:subtitle> tag in the feed. Though it is an “itunes” tag, just about every podcast application will read this information and display it in the app. Essentially, iTunes settings are really Podcast specific settings that just so happen to be specified by Apple iTunes.

In the beginning (June of 2005) the iTunes tags only worked with iTunes. It did not take long though for other podcasting apps to rely upon those tags as well.

By the way, a good way to guarantee that your podcast cannot be submitted to iTunes (or Google Play for that matter) is to not enter your email address in the iTunes Email field. All of the other settings including the artwork should be filled out that way podcast applications can display them.