I think it has to do with the RSS standard. As a podcaster ("Eyes of Reason") I like Spotify because I can see things like the age, gender and location of where my listeners are coming from as well as see things like how long they listened. If we can update the RSS Protocol to have these features then it would prevent this sort of Payola and agglomeration from happening.
RSS fundamentally can’t have those features. Feeds are fetched over HTTP, and the server only has access to what details the client wishes to provide—and web browsers and their users have rebelled against revealing information far less detailed than that which you’re desiring. Location via IP address is the most along those lines that you’re going to get.
Any attempt to demand more information (e.g. respond 403 Forbidden if certain HTTP headers are lacking) would fundamentally fail, and/or fragment the ecosystem: existing clients would be broken on such sites, due to not sending the demanded headers; new independent client software will implement these demanded headers with spurious values, because they’re representing users more than the creators or advertisers, and almost no users want to provide such invasive details. It’s only client software from companies like Spotify that will genuinely attempt to provide the correct details.
You have to weigh up the value of such data against the privacy wishes of all podcast listeners. It is not clear to me at all how knowing the gender of your audience could improve the product you’re producing.
