For hosts
Podcast Co-Host Agreement
A co-host agreement is a short written record of who owns the show, who holds the accounts, how any money and costs are split and what happens if one of you leaves. Here is what one should cover, a plain-English template you can copy, and the podcast details generic partnership templates miss. It is a starting point, not legal advice.
8 min read
Most co-hosted podcasts start the same way: two people who enjoy talking to each other buy two microphones and record an episode. Nobody writes anything down, because nothing needs deciding yet.
Then something changes. A sponsor offers money and you disagree about the split. One of you does all the editing and starts to resent it. One of you moves, has a baby or takes a job that leaves no time. Or the friendship cools, and the question nobody asked at the start becomes the only question left: whose show is it?
A co-host agreement answers those questions while you still agree about them. It takes an evening, it does not need legal language, and the most important part of it is not about money at all. It is about who holds the logins to the feed.
What should a podcast co-host agreement cover?
Seven things: who owns the show, which accounts exist and whose name they are in, who does what, how costs are paid, how income is split, which decisions need both of you, and what happens when one of you leaves or you both stop.
Ownership and leaving are the two that matter most. The rest mostly exist so those two can be written clearly.
| Clause | What it says | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | Who owns the name, artwork, feed, published episodes and audience, and in what shares | Every other clause depends on it, and it is the one question friends never ask out loud |
| Accounts | Every account the show uses, whose email it is registered to, and that both of you keep admin access | Whoever controls the hosting account controls the feed, and the feed is how listeners reach the show |
| Roles and schedule | Who books guests, edits, publishes and talks to sponsors, and how often you publish | Uneven work is the usual reason one co-host quits, long before money is |
| Costs | Which costs are shared, in what shares, and who owns equipment bought for the show | Small unrecorded spending turns into a large unspoken grievance |
| Income | How sponsorship, ads and listener support are collected, split and reported | The first real payment is when most disagreements start |
| Decisions | What needs both of you (sponsors, format, a new co-host, selling the show) and how a deadlock ends | A show with two vetoes and no way to break a tie stops publishing |
| Leaving and ending | Notice, who keeps the show, any buyout, what happens to old episodes, and the handover of accounts | It is the clause you need most and are least likely to want to write |
An agreement does not have to be long. The template below fits on two pages, and a list of the show's accounts goes on the back.
A free podcast co-host agreement template
Copy this into a document, fill in everything in square brackets, and read it through together before either of you signs. Where the template offers two options separated by a slash, keep the one you mean and delete the other.
This template is a starting point and not legal advice. The law on partnerships, ownership and contracts differs between countries and between US states. If the show earns real money, has a sponsor contract, or one of you is putting in money the other is not, have a lawyer read your final version.
PODCAST CO-HOST AGREEMENT
Show: [Show Name] ("the Show")
Co-hosts: [Name 1] and [Name 2] ("the Co-hosts")
Start date: [date]
1. Ownership. The Show, meaning its name, artwork, RSS feed, published episodes, website, social accounts and mailing list, is owned [equally by the Co-hosts / by [Name 1], with [Name 2] taking part as a co-host under this agreement].
2. Accounts. Every account the Show uses is listed in Schedule A with the email it is registered to. Accounts are registered to the Show's shared email address, [show@example.com], not to either Co-host's personal address, and both Co-hosts keep admin access. Neither Co-host will change a shared password, remove the other's access, move or redirect the feed, or delete any account without the other's written agreement.
3. Roles and schedule. [Name 1] is responsible for [guest booking, sponsor contact and social media]. [Name 2] is responsible for [editing, publishing and show notes]. The Co-hosts aim to publish [one episode a week] and will tell each other as early as possible when they cannot keep to it.
4. Costs. Show costs, including hosting, software, paid editing and equipment bought for the Show, are agreed in advance and shared [equally / in the same shares as income]. Equipment bought with shared money belongs to [the Show / the Co-host who uses it].
5. Income. All Show income, including sponsorship, advertising and listener support, is paid into [a shared account / an account held by [Name]]. Agreed costs are paid first. The rest is split [equally / [X]% to [Name 1] and [Y]% to [Name 2]] and settled every [month / quarter], with a written statement both Co-hosts can see.
6. Decisions. These need both Co-hosts' written agreement, and email is enough: accepting a sponsor or advertiser, changing the Show's name or format, adding a co-host, joining a network, and selling or licensing the Show. Decisions about a single episode rest with [the Co-host producing it]. If the Co-hosts cannot agree, they will [talk it through within [14] days and then ask someone they both trust to mediate].
7. Leaving. A Co-host who wants to leave gives [30] days' written notice and records any episodes already scheduled or promised to a sponsor. When a Co-host leaves:
(a) [the remaining Co-host keeps the Show and its name / the Show ends and its archive stays published];
(b) the leaving Co-host receives their share of income earned up to the date they leave[, plus [the agreed buyout]];
(c) published episodes stay published, and the Show may keep distributing and promoting them, but will not use the leaving Co-host's name to promote new episodes;
(d) account access is handed over, and passwords changed, within [7] days.
8. Ending the Show. If both Co-hosts stop, the feed and archive [stay published / are taken down], any sponsor commitments are finished or cancelled by agreement, and remaining income and costs are settled as in section 5.
9. Other work. Each Co-host may appear on other shows and run their own projects, but will not start a show with the same name or take one of the Show's sponsors elsewhere while this agreement is in force.
10. Changes. This agreement can be changed only in writing signed by both Co-hosts. The Co-hosts will reread it together [once a year] and again when the Show first earns income.
Signed: [Name 1] ______________________ Date: __________
Signed: [Name 2] ______________________ Date: __________
SCHEDULE A: THE SHOW'S ACCOUNTS
Hosting (the RSS feed): [company], registered to [email]
Apple Podcasts listing: [email]
Spotify listing: [email]
YouTube channel: [channel], [email]
Website and domain: [registrar], [email]
Social accounts: [handles], [email]
Mailing list: [service], [email]
Bank or payment account: [provider], [names on the account]The clause generic templates miss: the feed and the logins
A podcast is not really its name or its episodes. It is its RSS feed: the address every podcast app checks for new episodes. Listeners follow the feed, not the people on it, and the feed lives inside one hosting account. Whoever holds that login can rename the show, redirect the feed to a new host, or delete it, and every subscriber goes wherever the feed goes.
That is why the most common co-host dispute is not about money. It is one person discovering that the other set up every account on a personal email address years ago, and that "our show" is, in every way a platform can see, theirs.
- Make a shared email address for the show and register every account to it: hosting, the Apple Podcasts and Spotify listings, YouTube, the domain, social accounts and the mailing list.
- Give both co-hosts admin access everywhere, and keep the passwords in a password manager you both use rather than in one person's head.
- Write the list down (Schedule A in the template) and update it whenever you open a new account. A list nobody maintains is how an account gets forgotten.
- Write down the feed address itself, which your hosting dashboard shows. If the show ever moves to a new hosting company, the old account is where the feed is redirected so subscribers follow it.
How to split ownership, costs and income
There is no correct split, only one you both agreed to with your eyes open. Three shapes cover most co-hosted shows, and the useful thing is to notice that ownership and income do not have to match.
These are examples to choose between, not a measurement of what shows do.
| Shape | How it works | Suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equal partners | Both own half, share costs and income equally, and need each other's agreement on big decisions | Two people who started the show together and do similar amounts of work | A deadlock, so write down how a tie is broken |
| Founder and co-host | One person owns the show; the co-host is paid a share of income while they are on it and owns nothing | A show that existed before the co-host joined | Say plainly that the co-host does not own the name or the feed, or they will reasonably assume they do |
| Split by role | One person takes a fixed fee for a job (usually editing) before the rest is split | Shows where one co-host does far more of the production | Agree the fee before income arrives, not after |
- Decide costs before income. Hosting and software cost money from the first episode; income may never come. Agree who pays now, and whether it is repaid from future income.
- Say what "income" means: after platform fees and agreed costs, or before. A split of the wrong number is still an argument.
- Keep one statement both of you can see. Every sponsor payment and every expense, in one shared sheet, settled on a set date.
Decide the exit while you still like each other
Every co-hosted show ends one of three ways: one person keeps it, it is sold or handed on, or it stops. The agreement's job is to say in advance which it will be, because the day someone leaves is the worst possible day to negotiate it.
- Who keeps the show. In an equal partnership, a common answer is that whoever wants to continue may buy the other out; in a founder show, the founder keeps it. If neither of you could continue it alone, say that the show ends and the archive stays up.
- What the leaver gets. At minimum, their share of income already earned. A buyout can be a fixed sum, a share of sponsor contracts already signed, or a share of income for a set number of months. Pick a formula, not a number: you cannot know today what the show will be worth.
- The old episodes. The leaver's voice is on every episode you made together. Agree that published episodes stay published and can still be promoted, and that the leaver's name is not used to sell new ones. It protects the show's archive and the leaver's reputation at the same time.
- The handover. Account access and passwords change hands within a set number of days, and the leaver finishes anything already promised to a sponsor.
Hi [name], I'm really enjoying making [Show Name] with you, and before it gets any bigger I'd like us to write down a few things we've never said out loud: who owns what, how we'd split money if any comes in, and what happens if one of us ever needs to step away. Not because I'm planning to. It's just the conversation that's easy now and hard later. I've found a short template. Could we go through it over coffee [this week]? I'll bring a copy with my suggestions in brackets, and you can change anything. [Your name]
Sending it as a suggestion, with your own proposals marked as proposals, keeps it from reading as a demand. If the conversation about the agreement goes badly, that tells you something useful about the partnership too.
Before you sign: audition a co-host as a guest
An agreement fixes a partnership in writing, so it is worth knowing the partnership works first. The cheapest audition is an episode: invite the person you have in mind on as a guest, then do it again. Two or three conversations on the record tell you more about chemistry, preparation and reliability than any number of coffees.
It also gives your audience a say. If listeners respond to a guest who keeps coming back, that is the strongest case for making it permanent, and the right moment to write the agreement is before the third episode together, not after the thirtieth.
Until they sign a co-host agreement, a recurring guest is a guest: they should sign a guest release like anyone else. For a plain-English template, read the podcast guest release form.
Five co-host agreement mistakes
- Waiting for money. The first sponsor is the worst moment to decide the split, because there is now a real number to argue about. Write it before the money exists.
- Registering accounts to one person. It happens by accident, it is the single most common source of "whose show is it" fights, and it takes an afternoon to fix.
- Leaving out the exit. Couples write wills for the same reason co-hosts should write a leaving clause: not because they expect the worst, but because deciding it later is much harder.
- Confusing ownership with income. A co-host can share the money without owning the show, and vice versa. Say which, in words.
- Never rereading it. A show two years in is not the show you started. Reread the agreement once a year, and whenever the show first earns money or adds a person.
Frequently asked questions
Do podcast co-hosts need a written agreement?+
Nothing forces you to have one, and plenty of shows run for years without. But in many places, two people who run something together for profit can be treated as partners even when nothing is written down, and then the answers to who owns the show and how money is split depend on the facts and the local law rather than on what you meant. A short written agreement records what you actually intend. It is not legal advice, so have a lawyer review it if the show earns real money.
Who owns a podcast with two hosts?+
Whoever you agree owns it, if you write it down. Without an agreement, the answer can depend on who created the show, whose name the accounts are in, who paid for what and where you live, which is exactly the uncertainty an agreement removes. In practice, whoever controls the hosting account controls the feed, so register every account to a shared show address whatever you decide about ownership.
How should podcast co-hosts split income?+
Equally is the most common starting point for two people who started a show together, but it is not the only fair answer. A founder can pay a co-host a share of income without giving them ownership, and a co-host who does the editing can take an agreed fee before the rest is split. Whatever you choose, agree it before income arrives, say whether the split is before or after costs, and keep one statement you can both see.
What happens to a podcast when a co-host leaves?+
Whatever your agreement says. Without one, it is a negotiation at the worst possible moment. A leaving clause usually sets a notice period, says who keeps the show or whether it ends, pays the leaver their share of income already earned plus any agreed buyout, keeps the published episodes online, and hands over account access within a set number of days.
Can a co-host who leaves make you delete old episodes?+
They can always ask, and whether you have to agree depends on what you both signed and the law where you are. An agreement that says published episodes stay published, and that the leaver's name will not be used to promote new episodes, answers the question in advance and protects both of you.
Keep reading
Audition co-hosts the easy way: book them as guests
List your show and say what you are looking for. Guests who fit your topic come to you with a pitch, a one-sheet and the link they want credited, and the best of them might be the voice you have been looking for.