Work & Business
Big Things Popping For Spotify
Spotify made two huge announcements last week that have taken the audio streaming world by storm:
- It finally is profitable.
- It is venturing into the podcast industry, and it already bought two podcast companies.
If you’re unfamiliar with Spotify, you might remember a story we did on Spotify’s Swedish roots. If you happen to be one of the 207 million worldwide users of Spotify, then you’ll be pleased to know that your music app is rebranding as an audio app.
The two companies Spotify bought are Gimlet, a content creator that already offers popular podcasts like “Homecoming” and “Reply All,” and Anchor, a cutting-edge podcast recording platform that hosted 15 billion hours of content in the last quarter of 2018 alone. Spotify CEO and cofounder Daniel Ek described the company’s decision in a blog post on Feb. 6: “These companies are best-in-class and together we will offer differentiated and original content. Gimlet and Anchor will position us to become the leading platform for podcast creators around the world and the leading producer of podcasts.”
Becoming profitable certainly is a milestone for the company, but will the profitability last? VentureBeat reports that Spotify plans to spend up to $500 million in 2019 to further develop their podcast platform.
There are big things happening with our favorite Swedish streaming service. If you use Spotify already, you can look forward to a revamped and energized array of podcasts to listen to.
