Luminary is a podcast app where people can listen to podcasts that they know and love for free. It also offers a Premium service that is ad free and that gives listeners access to over 40 exclusive podcasts. It is coming soon to web, iOS and Android.

At the time I am writing this post, Luminary has yet to launch. Those who want to be the first to know when it launches can give Luminary their email address.

The New York Times says that Luminary is set to arrive by June of 2019, and that it will focus on subscriptions. The Premium subscription costs $8 a month.

“We want to become synonymous with podcasting in the same way Netflix has become synonymous with streaming,” Matt Sacks, Luminary’s co-founder and chief executive, said in an interview. “I know how ambitious that sounds. We think it can be done, and some of the top creators in the space agree.”

According to The New York Times, Luminary is offering large upfront payment guarantees to creators, in exchange for exclusive rights to distribute their work. Luminary will also pay creators bonuses if their shows reach certain listening thresholds.

Obviously, podcast creators who choose to post their work exclusively on Luminary lose the right to post their shows anywhere else. Individual podcasters will have to decide for themselves whether the risk of limiting their listeners to those who use the Luminary app is worth the amount of money they might receive for doing so.