17 votes

Spotify has bought two podcast startups and it wants to buy more

7 comments

  1. [3]
    JXM
    Link
    It’s a bit worrisome that they plan on acquiring $500 million worth of podcasts/podcast companies per year. Let’s hope they don’t start doing “Spotify exclusive” podcasts.

    It’s a bit worrisome that they plan on acquiring $500 million worth of podcasts/podcast companies per year. Let’s hope they don’t start doing “Spotify exclusive” podcasts.

    6 votes
    1. [3]
      Comment deleted by author
      Link Parent
      1. [2]
        bun
        Link Parent
        Has Spotify made stuff from Gimlets podcasts exclusive? I thought that was only with the podcasts they produced themselves.

        Has Spotify made stuff from Gimlets podcasts exclusive? I thought that was only with the podcasts they produced themselves.

        1 vote
        1. [2]
          Comment deleted by author
          Link Parent
          1. JXM
            Link Parent
            Huh. I had actually gotten a few "previews" of Crimetown season 2 in my feed but I never actually saw the episodes. That explains why.

            Huh. I had actually gotten a few "previews" of Crimetown season 2 in my feed but I never actually saw the episodes. That explains why.

  2. [2]
    clerical_terrors
    (edited )
    Link
    Who wants to take a bet that Spotify is going to buy podcast startups by the dozen, make their content exclusive, and then slowly chip away all but the most listened to podcasts when they realize...

    Who wants to take a bet that Spotify is going to buy podcast startups by the dozen, make their content exclusive, and then slowly chip away all but the most listened to podcasts when they realize they can't actually make it profitable?

    4 votes
    1. JXM
      Link Parent
      Sounds about right. Or they’ll just add a whole bunch of analytics and dynamic ad insertion to monetize people.

      Sounds about right. Or they’ll just add a whole bunch of analytics and dynamic ad insertion to monetize people.

      2 votes
  3. [2]
    davidb
    Link
    It seems like they're following the Netflix model (buying rights to exclusive content), but that model doesn't seem like it's going to pay off for Netflix and seems even less likely to pay off for...

    It seems like they're following the Netflix model (buying rights to exclusive content), but that model doesn't seem like it's going to pay off for Netflix and seems even less likely to pay off for Spotify. Spotify and Hulu's coupled "premium" service offering seems like a better move for controlling retention than the "exclusive content" idea.

    I might be drinking too much of the decentralized/crypto kool-aid, but replacing these (eg: Spotify, iTunes, Netflix, YouTube, etc) content platforms with decentralized services seems very much to be the next step in the evolution of the internet. There's plenty of challenges in getting there and I'm sure there will still be value in the content production, aggregation, and filtering businesses, but I'm not long on any of these platforms thriving over the next 5-10 years.

    1. JXM
      Link Parent
      Agree. It’s obviously bad for consumers but good for them. Personally, I’m not willing to subscribe to something because they have “exclusive content” unless it’s a massive library. EDIT: Right...

      Agree. It’s obviously bad for consumers but good for them. Personally, I’m not willing to subscribe to something because they have “exclusive content” unless it’s a massive library.

      EDIT: Right after posting my comment, I saw this article about a start up doing the same thing.

      1 vote