Spotify appears to be considering a podcast subscription service

Spotify appears to be playing with the idea of ​​launching a subscription package for its podcast content where users would pay a monthly fee to listen to original shows or exclusive episodes. Not to be confused with its existing ad-free paid tier, Spotify Premium, no, this would be a separate subscription fee solely for podcasts.

Since the company has shelled out More of $ 600 million over the years to bolster his podcast repertoire, it’s no surprise that his executives are now trying to slap a paywall on it. Indecent, of course, especially since listening to podcasts is currently free (with ads, if you don’t have Premium). But that’s not surprising.

As Variety’s Andrew Wallenstein shared on Twitter This week, Spotify recently released a survey to select users through its mobile app to evaluate opinions on several potential subscription formats ranging from $ 3 to $ 8 per month. The cheapest plan would do that characteristic “Access to exclusive interviews and episodes available only to subscribers,“But include the ads anyway. The more expensive plan would eliminate the ads and give subscribers early access to some content, as well as” access to high-quality original content. “And, of course, the cost of one of these packages. it doesn’t seem to include access to Spotify’s premium music subscription service, which presumably would still be $ 10 a month more.

It should be noted that Spotify is only emitting antennas with this poll, so none of this is set in stone. A company spokesperson made this clear in a statement a the Verge:

“At Spotify, we regularly conduct a series of surveys in an effort to improve our user experience. Some of these end up paving the way for our wider user experience and others serve only as important lessons. We have no more news to share about future plans. Right now. “

True, companies continually question users about the potential changes they are preparing. There is no guarantee that the specific plans listed in the survey will be realized, but launching any kind of dedicated subscription package would make sense considering Spotify’s aggressive push into the podcast sphere. Over the past couple of years, the company has knocked down beaucoup bucks to gather several major podcast producers, including the Ringer (nearly $ 200 million), Joe Rogan’s experience ($ 100 million), as well as the Gimlet and the anchor networks (about 340 million dollars).

Man, this all sounds eerily similar to streaming wars, except it’s somehow even more frustrating. If I’m already paying Spotify a subscription fee, why should I shell out another one just for podcasts? Would video podcasts be included in this as well (the survey makes no mention of them) or would it be yet another reward? I understand that Spotify is trying to make money his money back after sinking millions of dollars, but he also earned more than $ 2 billion in income in only the last quarter, so forgive me if my sympathy is flat.