My premium podcast subscription is getting great feedback from listeners across various ranks and even multiple countries beyond the UK. This growing suite of compelling CPD is helping police leaders and aspiring officers (and staff!) everywhere. Who wouldn’t want to maximise their time and develop themselves on the go, whether on a commute, in the gym, out for a run, or around the home?
As ever, I’m appreciative of those who got in touch to let me know how valuable they were, over and above all the free podcasts.
But not everyone is familiar with how podcast subscriptions. Several individuals got in touch with me asking how they can play my premium episodes, once signed up and paid for the subscription. While some had resolved it without my support, I’ve laid out a step-by-step walkthrough for you here.
I cover subscribing and accessing the content, both within Spotify or via a different podcasting platform, plus overcoming any technical issues. Let me know if there’s something I’ve not yet encountered!
UPDATE 2026: This also covers Spotify’s error on certain browsers (or if you have VPN) which says “Subscriptions are not available in your location. See supported countries.” In short, this notice is wrong and can be safely ignored, I’ve told Spotify about it. I’ve tested it with family and friends, and can confirm that ignoring this message and entering details anyway works; then when you select Country at the end, it works and and displays everything correctly again. See section 4 for more info.
While Spotify do give some information on how to activate your podcast subscription, it’s not in the most prominent place, and there’s no pictures to follow. I know from my own extensive policing career, there’s nothing worse than battling IT!
So let’s clear things up in 3 simple steps, complete with visual prompts. I’ve gone through all the steps myself to clearly demonstrate exactly how to subscribe and then access the content. This process applies whether you’re wanting to subscribe to premium content by Rank Success, or indeed from any other podcaster; it’s just how Spotify do things…
1. How to SUBSCRIBE to Premium Content
If you’ve decided to subscribe to my premium podcast, thank you for supporting my work. I’m sure it won’t disappoint! I explain more about this exclusive content here, but in summary just £4.99 per month will get you:
- Premium, subscriber-only episodes, updated regularly.
- Priority access to new free episodes before I publish them wider.
- Full access to the best of my back catalogue of nearly 200 episodes.
- Exclusive discount code (upon request) should you want to dive in to my comprehensive and structured police promotion toolkits.
New premium episodes already include CVF example evidence at the Sergeant and Inspector rank, a leadership book summary for your CPD, and key points from the extensive national wellbeing report.
Now here’s how you can get access to this exclusive content…
Once you’ve decided to subscribe and have clicked on the ‘Subscribe’ link, you’ll be prompted to enter some details. First, enter your name and email address on the first part of the form, then tap ‘Next’. Make sure to enter your email correctly!
I’ve highlighted the relevant sections of the form below in yellow, filled in with my details to demonstrate. Ignore the check box about ‘opting in to receive emails’; I won’t be gathering or using any email information from this and you won’t receive any emails and such from me unless you’ve explicitly signed up to my newsletter on my website.
Note: If you see the price in $ not £, and a message at the bottom saying “Subscriptions not available in your location…”, this is because Spotify isn’t recognising your location correctly. It’s an technical error easily overcome by entering details anyway and selecting your country from the drop-down in the payment section. I’ve notified Spotify asking if they can fix this! More details in Section 4 below.
You’ll then be presented with the other bit of this short form (screenshot below). Here, you can complete the transaction and get immediate access to premium content by entering your payment information, then tap the ‘Pay & Subscribe’ button. Make sure you’re happy with the T&Cs before clicking the button!
That’s it! You now have instant access to the Rank Success premium podcast content!
If you’re not sure how to now listen to the exclusive content, read on…
2. How to ACCESS the Premium Content
Straight after successful payment, you will get a confirmation screen like the screenshot below. This shows you’ve successfully subscribed to the podcast and provides you with the two ways to access it…
You can now either listen to the podcast on your Spotify account, or use the unique-to-you RSS feed link in your preferred podcast player (such as Apple Podcasts). You will also receive a confirmation email, conveying the same sort of message and the choice of two links.
See example screenshot below of how the confirmation email looks. If you can’t initially find it, be sure to check your ‘junk’ folder in case it slipped in there.
Need further explanation on how to do this exactly, or don’t have a Spotify account already in place? Then keep reading for the final steps…
3a. What if I Don’t HAVE a Spotify Account?
If you don’t have a Spotify account, that’s no problem, it’s easy to set one up.
You can download the Spotify app for example on your phone or tablet to create an account there. Alternatively, go to Spotify’s website and sign up there in your web browser. The ‘Open on Spotify’ button (as shown in the previous section) also gives you the option of setting up an account if you don’t already have one.
I’d recommend using the same email you used for becoming a premium Rank Success content subscriber. I’ve not had any issues identified to me with this, but it seems sensible just in case! When you’re done and you have an account, come back to your confirmation email and click ‘Open in Spotify’ button to access all the premium content.
3b. What if I Don’t WANT a Spotify Account? I Prefer Apple!
Now you might prefer to not create a Spotify account at all. Particularly for example if you like to listen to your podcasts neatly through a single place (e.g. Apple Podcasts), and don’t want to be jumping between the two. This is fine.
The option here is using your ‘Private RSS Link’ within your preferred podcast player. You do this by copying the link shown on the confirmation message / email (as shown in step 2), then pasting it into the library settings area within your preferred podcast player.
The precise place to paste this link depends on which podcast play you’re using, because each podcast company offers different platform user interfaces. So, here’s a helpful article compiling how exactly to do this across multiple prominent podcast players, like Apple and Google.
Other than Spotify, most people use Apple Podcasts to listen to their favourite podcasts. So by way of example, here is how to use a unique RSS link to listen within Apple Podcasts player…
- Navigate to your ‘Library’.
- In the top right corner, tap the three dots ( … ) for more options.
- Select the option which says “Follow a Show by URL…”
- Paste your unique ‘Private RSS Link’ (copied from the confirmation email or window, specific to your subscription) into the space provided for a podcast URL.
This now unlocks all Rank Success podcast content for you, with the show available in your library.
4. Error: “Subscriptions Are Not Available in Your Location”
There is an error in Spotify highlighted to me recently (April 2026) that doesn’t automatically recognise what country someone is in from their browser. So it defaults presenting a price in $ and puts a false notification underneath the form (see screenshot below). I’ve asked Spotify to fix this because clearly most of my customers are in the UK and the UK is definitely on Spotify’s allowed locations for subscriptions!
In any case, below is what the error looks like and how to resolve. In short, just ignore it and carry on with your subscription and it works fine.
Initially Spotify says to users with certain browsers (or possibly linked to their VPN settings) that “Subscriptions are not available in your location”, because it’s not recognising your country automatically. It also wrongly presents the price in $ Dollars not £ Pounds. But enter your name and email as normal, click next, and you can safely proceed.
You’ll notice after clicking ‘Next’ and choosing country from the drop-down menu, this clears everything up and you can proceed with the transaction.
Sorry for the inconvenience, thank you for your persistence, and be assured I’ve asked Spotify to fix this asap!
Let Me Know How It Goes!
I hope you’ve found this explainer and troubleshooting blog helpful. You can use these steps to access any premium podcast shows on Spotify, not just Rank Success. It’s just how Spotify do things.
Having run through the process myself and tested with people I know, I’m confident the steps in this article will help connect all listeners successfully with the premium content after subscribing.
Please let me know in the comments or via email if there’s anything else you need support with to access the content, or if you’re encountering some different issue not described here. I will revisit this article with amendments should there be any other specific problems people encounter.
Kind Regards, Steve
Want to go further right now? Hit the ground running with your promotion preparation. Get your personal digital promotion toolkit, and/or my Police Promotion Masterclass. You can also contact me to arrange personal coaching support.