Proposal: <podcast:booking> tag

[Alex-Sanfilippo]

OVERVIEW:

The <podcast:booking> tag is simple, with only one function: to let podcasters clearly define how they want to receive guest pitches (or whether they don't want to receive them at all). The goal is to provide potential guests with a clear path to follow at the RSS level, reducing spam outreach to podcasters.

PROBLEM:

At the RSS level, podcasters have no clear way to specify how potential guests should contact them, or whether they want to be contacted at all. Because of this, potential podcast guests resort to scraping tools, contact databases, cold emailing, and direct messages on social media, which often bypasses the podcaster’s preferred process.

SOLUTION:

Offer a clear, singular instruction for podcasters to include in their RSS feed that directs potential guests to follow their preferred path/system for booking-related outreach, giving podcasters control over communication! (See proposal below)

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PROPOSAL:

This proposal is being submitted for adoption with an implementation plan already in place. (See Implementation Commitments section below)

What the Booking Tag Does:
The Booking tag lets a podcaster visit their hosting provider’s dashboard settings page and indicate whether they want to receive guest pitches for their podcast. If “yes” is selected, the podcaster can add a properly formatted URL. If “no” is selected, the hosting provider publishes the following fixed refusal string: This podcast does not accept guest pitches. Then it is displayed on their RSS feed so that any person, organization, or scraping tool can honor the host’s preferences. (If no selection is made, the Booking tag is not displayed in the RSS feed.)

Booking Tag Details:

• This tag is optional. If no value is provided, the tag is not published in the RSS feed.
• This tag is channel-level only.
• Parent = <channel>
• Count = Single
• Attributes = None
  Value = One of the following:

• A properly formatted URL
• The exact fixed refusal string: This podcast does not accept guest pitches. (The refusal string is intentionally fixed so the negative state remains consistent across feeds and platforms.)
• If the podcaster selects "Yes," the hosting provider publishes a valid URL.
• If the podcaster selects "No," the hosting provider publishes the exact fixed refusal string above.
• If nothing is selected or entered, the tag is not published.
• This proposal is intentionally structured this way so apps and platforms can parse the value consistently.

Please Note:

• This proposal is NOT trying to create a contact system.
• This proposal is NOT for listener feedback, press inquiries, sponsorship requests, abuse reporting, ownership verification, etc.

Booking Tag Examples:

<podcast:booking>https://podcast-website.com/booking-link</podcast:booking>
<podcast:booking>This podcast does not accept guest pitches.</podcast:booking>

Booking Tag Implementation Guidance:
This is simply my suggested UI behavior. The most important point here is that the RSS spec itself defines only the <podcast:booking> tag.

1. Hosting providers should include the Booking tag on the podcasters' settings page.
2. During onboarding and whenever visiting the settings page, podcasters can change their preferences.
3. Podcasters can toggle Yes/No to the question, "Accepting Guest Pitches?"
4. If yes, they can enter a properly formatted URL.
5. If no, the hosting provider publishes the exact fixed refusal string: "This podcast does not accept guest pitches."
6. If nothing is selected or entered, the Booking tag is not published in the RSS feed.

EXAMPLE MOCKUP ON HOSTING PROVIDER DASHBOARD:

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SUPPORT FOR THE BOOKING TAG:

During a Town Hall gathering among podcasting industry experts on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026, the Booking tag was fully explained and then proposed in two formats.

First, an on-screen live poll with the following results:

184 voters at 86% in favor of adding the Booking tag. 

Second, a petition was created and signed by 35 podcasting coaches, production companies, and booking agencies. (List available upon request, some noteworthy signees listed below).

- Adam Curry
- Brenden Mulligan
- Chris Krimitsos
- Courtney Elmer
- Dave Jackson
- Demetrius Bagley
- Joe Casabona
- Mike Dell
- Ryan Estes
- Seth Silvers
- Vinnie Potestivo

END RESULT:

The Booking tag gives the podcaster control over inbound inquiries from potential guests. It allows the podcaster to say, "This is how I want you to contact me (or not contact me) if you want to be a guest." Ultimately, podcasters will receive less random/spam outreach across all mediums (email and direct messages) and be able to develop a system they can manage!

[Alex-Sanfilippo]

I hate that I feel I have to mention this, but it's the world we live in... No AI was used or harmed in the creation of this proposal. (Haha) It was written manually by me, Alex Sanfilippo. Looking forward to chatting about it with everyone! :)

[picard102]

Haven't we removed emails from RSS feeds at this point? What are they scraping to do cold emails?

[theDanielJLewis]

Plenty of podcast-hosting and publishing tools still display the email addresses.

[theDanielJLewis]

To be blunt, I think it's the wrong approach to make a single-purpose tag just for booking information. I was hoping we could agree on incorporating the booking needs into <podcast:contact> (#770).

[picard102]

Agreed.

[matthewruzzi]

I think that it could be helpful if it had a machine readable boolean value for whether or not the podcast accepts guests so that all podcasts that don't accept guests could easily be filtered out. This is one thing that the <podcast:contact> tag doesn't currently support. The <podcast:acceptsGuests> proposal did have this.

[picard102]

This seems like it would be far to narrow of a use case to support a new tag. The only people that benefit from this are third party services, and scrapers. Listeners don't really have a use for this, and the podcasters would likely prefer guest submissions to not be mass pitches.

[Alex-Sanfilippo]

@theDanielJLewis #770 is a GREAT idea. I think what I have here is a good idea, glad you were able to come up with this. I'm putting my efforts over with you on that tag. I'm glad this one had some good thoughts that were able to inform the next one! :)