Spotify at it again. On October 24', 2020, Spotify announced a new "Platform" that will allow content creators to include music (From the Spotify catalog) within a podcast. For those of you who listen to or create podcasts, I am sure you aware of the major licensing and copyright complications this has caused in the past. Spotify's plan is truly great in concept as it does allow content creators to include an art form that has been missing from Podcasts.
However, two things immediately caught my eye:
1) This will create a ton of Spotify Exclusive “Shows,” I refuse to call them podcasts since they won’t be available on the free podcast platforms that we have all been familiar with. Also, the music that can be used on these shows must be part of the Spotify catalog. Thereby, forcing music content creators to post their music to Spotify in order for it to be included. It won't be possible to create specific versions of songs for these shows. If it isn't in the catalog, it can't be used.
2) The musicians, writers, producers, and other music professionals take yet another hit since Spotify pays fractions of pennies for each stream to the people who create the actual music. Some will say that these folks will potentially get wider exposure if they are included in these shows. While this may be true, it doesn't address the poor payment structure that musicians are dealing with as part of this streaming revolution.
If you truly want to support an independent artist, BUY their music....don’t stream it.
I'd love your comments.
Here is Spotify's announcement about the new platform utilizing Anchor: https://newsroom.spotify.com/2020-10-14/spotify-launches-new-audio-experience-combining-music-and-talk-content/