Remove ads, unlock a dark mode theme, and get other perks by upgrading your account. Experience the website the way it's meant to be.

Spotify’s Podcast Aggregation Play

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Feb 7, 2019.

  1. Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    Ben Thompson, writing at Stratechery:


    Basically, the wall that Spotify can put up around podcasts is much stronger than the one it can put up around music, and podcasters have fewer alternatives. Or, to put it another way, podcasts are a market where Spotify — to the extent they are willing to pay — actually has power over supply. […]

    To put it another way, Anchor is a means of generating supply, and it is supply that has always stood in the way of Spotify’s ambitions to be an Aggregator. Aggregators bring suppliers onto the platform on their terms; Spotify, on the other hand, has had to scratch and claw to get labels to give them the music they needed to be viable. And again, the acquisition of Gimlet Media, while better from a long-term leverage perspective, is not a big improvement: Spotify almost certainly overpaid if the only goal was to obtain supply.

    This is, as always, a very smart take.

     
  2. copey

    Regular

    User time spent on podcasts is time Spotify can monetize without it costing them in royalty payments.
     
    Raku likes this.
  3. I always forget Spotify has podcasts.
     
    Raku likes this.
  4. mescalineeyes

    disappear among the sea of butterflies Prestigious

    Ben is one of the smartest minds in tech.
     
    Jason Tate likes this.