The New York Times will now charge for past episodes of its popular podcasts

The Daily, The Ezra Klein Show, Hard Fork, and Modern Love are some of The New York Times' most popular podcasts - and next month, only the most recent two or three episodes of each show will be free of charge. The Times announced today that it'll now offer a podcast subscription service through Spotify and Apple for $6 a month, or $50 per year, but it's also erecting a paywall for all archived episodes.

While The New York Times says "the most recent episodes of most of our shows" will remain free, Axios reports that, in most cases, that means the most recent two episodes will be freely accessible; in the case of The Daily, it will offer three episodes at no cost.

To access additional episodes, you can buy a subscription through Spotify, Apple, or the Times itself, and it says those who pay for All Access or Home Delivery subscriptions to The New York Times can continue to access episodes without paying anything more.

"The goal" is to reinvest the new subscription revenue back into "more journalism and more shows," Times director of audio Paula Szuchman tells The Hollywood Reporter.

In that interview, Times head of subscription growth Ben Cotton also suggested the "only the most recent episodes are free" model might evolve:

With Serial we feel like the way someone's naturally going to listen to that show is a little bit different, where if you've listened to an episode, you're really going to want to want to find out what happens next. So there, it feels like you want to give someone the chance to listen to the beginning of the show, but then be charging for what comes after that.

Speaking of Serial, subscribers will also be the first to hear new shows from the podcast studio that created it, which the Times purchased in 2020.

If you want to listen through Spotify or Apple, there will be a way to connect your accounts on the Times' podcast page itself; if users are subscribed to the Times in the publication's own iOS app, it should automatically connect "the next time they open Apple Podcasts."