Pro and Powerhouse users can set a Date-Based feed to only deliver episodes that are dated after a listener's start date. Meaning, they can't listen to your back catalogue of content that was published before they were given access to the feed.

This is usefully for membership sites that only allow access to future content, not the past history.

In a Date-Based feed, you'll find the setting as shown below. Check the box for "Listener only receives episodes published after their start date" under "Restrict Access to Past Episodes". We colloquially refer to this as "Membership Style".

Some apps like Overcast and Google Podcasts will show an error and not allow subscribing if there are no episode present. Because of this, you'll need to select one episode to be available for all listeners no matter their start date. We consider it a welcome episode.

Feel free to pick an already-existing episode, or you can record a very short message for those just joining your feed.

The welcome episode must have a date in the past. Meaning, it can't be an upcoming "Scheduled" episode.