Spotify Wants Everyone to Create a Podcast
Spotify is starting tests on streamlining podcast creation with a “Create Podcast” button on its app. This could represent the company’s next step in building a more interactive platform, beyond just streaming and curating audio content.
Podcast Button
Spotify is testing “Create podcast” button to funnel their app users to Anchor, a podcast creation platform that Spotify recently acquired
It’s interesting there is a Brazil version of the Anchor promo page pic.twitter.com/0dJz7GoOYK
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) August 27, 2019
Software researcher Jane Manchun Wong first shared the evidence of the create podcast button this week after discovering it in the app’s software. The feature is found within the Spotify podcast library, which Spotify made a much more prominent part of its app in a redesign earlier this year. When pressed, the button opens or sends the user to the download page for podcasting hosting and creation platform Anchor. Spotify acquired Anchor at the beginning of 2019, at the same time it bought popular podcast network Gimlet Media.
Spotify hasn’t made any announcements about the button or what it means for its near-term plans. However, there are plenty of signals that podcasting is at the heart of Spotify’s strategy, and the new create podcast button just adds to the body of evidence.
Spotify as Podcast Central
Spotify spends a huge percentage of its budget on royalty agreements, as much as three-quarters of its revenue goes to the four largest record labels. Creating its own content, and setting up users to make their own content on its platform, is a much more profitable approach. Spotify already owns a high-end podcast creation platform called Soundtrap, aimed at professional, studio-level podcast making. Anchor meanwhile, opens up podcast-making to more numerous, casual creators.
Anchor’s software is a relatively user-friendly way to make a podcast, with a visual interface and straightforward recording and editing tools. When it was acquired nearly a year ago, Anchor was already supporting nearly half of downloadable podcasts. Combine that with its sponsorships monetization program and it’s easy to see why Spotify would integrate Anchor into its podcast plans.
On Spotify’s end, the sheer volume of data it has collected on its 180 million active users could provide a lot of insight into how to target homemade podcasts, and their ads, to millions of listeners. With constant podcast creation, the greater the chance of viral hits . Spotify already knows a lot about curating and directing audio content, podcast creation at the tap of a button could give it a lot of new sounds that it turn into profit.
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