Spotify’s up to something, and it doesn’t (just) involve music.
The Swedish company’s plans do involve podcasts however, which we already know, because Spotify boss Daniel Ek (pictured) laid out the company’s ‘Audio First’ content strategy in February.
Since then, Spotify has acquired thee podcast companies, Anchor and Gimlet Media for $343 million combined and also Parcast, a company that specializes in true-crime programs.
Later that month we were given an interesting insight into the company’s wider original audio content ambitions, when a job ad spotted by MBW revealed that Spotify was planning to launch a “sports content portfolio” based around audio podcasts.
We now know the next area of audio content that Spotify hopes to get a foothold in: news.
Friend of MBW Cherie Hu has spotted a job ad for a New York-based News & Documentary Podcast Producer who will be part of a team “focused on developing a diverse slate of original news and documentary podcast programming”.
Spotify already has its ‘We Need To Talk About…’ current affairs podcast, in which comedians and journalists give sideways takes on recent headlines.
But now it appears as if Ek’s company is getting a bit more serious about its news coverage.
“Under the News & Culture Lead in the Studios organization, this role will serve as the producer for all elements of pre-production, production, and distribution of Spotify’s internal News-focused podcast,” according to the job post.
This successful candidate will report into Natalie Tulloch.
One of the most interesting elements of the role is that it includes “managing and producing content for publication on all platforms”.
By launching its own original news offering, Spotify would be taking on some of the biggest names in news media with some of the best-established podcasts in the ‘genre’, for example the BBC, with its Global News Podcast, The New York Times which produces The Daily and of course The Guardian, with its Today In Focus program.
Not to mention, that by launching a personalized playlist for the car that combines music and news, Spotify is also taking on the current king of the road SiriusXM in one fell swoop.Music Business Worldwide
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