Earlier today, in an airplane hangar-esque building on Manhattan’s far West Side, music streaming service Spotify revealed its next move in a quest for long-term profitability: a plan to move beyond music streaming.
Spotify founder Daniel Ek stepped to the stage in front of dozens of reporters and photographers and explained that his company would be pushing into the world of podcasts and video, even as it continues to increase its market share in music.
“Life with Spotify will never be the same,” said Ek, clad in dark jeans and a t-shirt. “It will just be better.”
The company has already partnered with a vast range of media companies, many of them—including NBC, Vice, WNYC, Slate and
As evidence of this new direction, Ek treated the audience to a clip from the popular show Broad City, and then summoned creators Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer to the stage.
“If I’m being honest with myself, it’s one of my best friends,” said Jacobson of Spotify. Added Glazer: “We are getting to collaborate with one of our best friends.”
Spotify isn’t the only deep-pocketed European music streaming service placing bets on non-music content. Deezer, which claims 16 million users worldwide and recently made its U.S. debut, announced this week that it would add more than 20,000 podcasts and radio shows from the likes of NPR and the Financial Times.
“This move signals our commitment to leading innovation, with a vision of becoming a single destination for audio, tailor-made for each listener,” said Deezer chief Hans-Holger Albrecht in a statement. “We’ll continue to roll out new programming in additional regions throughout the year.”
The news from Spotify and Deezer comes just as more light is being shed on the murky workings of the relationships between streaming services, record labels and artists.
As FORBES explained in the recent magazine feature “Revenge Of The Record Labels,” the majors—which own large stakes in both Spotify and Deezer—continue to extract hefty advances from the services in exchange for the right to use their catalogues. A recent report by The Verge, citing a leaked
Yet it seems there are too many hands in the pot to make everyone happy: the streaming services haven't achieved profitability, the majors are still grasping for a path toward long-term viability, and artists continue to complain that they’re not getting paid.
Perhaps this is part of the reason Spotify and Deezer are exploring new types of content, with the former taking aim at YouTube's model and the latter challenging traditional radio. It’s also worth noting that both are likely beefing up their content strategies in advance of the long-awaited relaunch of
Of course, music still remains front and center, as Spotify underscored today. A new emphasis on playlists was followed by the revelation of a tool that will automatically find music with a beats-per-minute rate to match a runner’s stride.
“By personalizing the playlist promotion along with creating a unique workout experience, users will interact with playlists more than they ever have,” says Jay Frank, chief of digital marketing outfit DigMark. “It also signals the beginning round of the playlist wars that will define each streaming service.”
As if to reaffirm Spotify’s commitment to music, Ek closed the morning’s events by announcing a surprise performance featuring D’Angelo and Questlove.
“After years of decline, music is ready to grow again,” said Ek, just before a door slid open to reveal his musical guests. “Streaming is the growth in music, and Spotify is the growth in streaming. And that means so much to us.”
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