Why Spotify's Shows With Music Is A Big Deal Beyond Podcasting [S3E48]

Recently, Spotify removed a seemingly unmovable object that some say has plagued podcasting since the beginning of podcasting: music licensing. From the start, podcasters have wanted to play licensed commercial music - the songs you hear on the radio or have in your personal music library - on their shows. But that has been verboten thanks to the complexity of music licensing rights and hefty fines for copyright violation. Spotify made all of those troubles go away. Leaving aside the fact that Spotify somehow managed to find a term that’s less sexy than podcasting, some new “shows with music” are available in Spotify’s app right now. I listened to all of the currently available shows with music last night and I quite enjoyed the experience! Some appealed to me more than others, but all of them were great. More importantly (to Spotify and the conceit of this article): All of those shows with music were examples of excellent content. Content that I cannot get anywhere else. This is the first spinoff from podcasting that I can think of that’s demonstrably something different. Sure, we’ve seen lots of efforts tangentially related to podcasting, but none of them have really gained any traction with either creators or listeners on a big scale. I’m taking a risk betting on the success of a public announcement that’s less than 24-hours old and has a whopping seven shows showcased, but I think we’re in Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok territory here.  I think more people want to be DJs than want to be talk show hosts. And people listen to WAY more music than they do spoken word, and Spotify is betting that many of them will want to curate their favorite music content on a regular basis, sharing their tastes with the world. And I’m confident Spotify is right in this assumption.  Spotify’s shows with music will be an influencer magnet. Spotify’s shows with music will allow for a much easier path to monetization, fame, and everything else influencers crave. As influencers flock - and yes, I truly believe they will flock - to this new offering, the appeal of “hey, I should start my own podcast” will switch to “hey, I should start my own show with music”. Anchor will push new users in this direction, as it’s beneficial for everyone involved - from show creator to music rights holder to Spotify - when Anchor makes it easy to become a real influencer on their platform and within Spotify. And as the real influencers go, so do the would-be influencers, hopefully abandoning (and removing from podcasting directories) their half-baked efforts at podcasting in the process. I desperately want my good friend and WDIY (https://www.wdiy.org/). And I want her next-door neighbor and podcaster George Hrab of The Geologic Podcast. (http://www.geologicpodcast.com/) George to make a Spotify-only version of his 13 Songs live video series, this time with the official music track presented along with all of Geo’s deep gushing of musical knowledge setting up each and providing commentary in between. That would be so fantastic. Here’s the best news to those who don’t care about shows with music: Spotify’s’ shows with music have no negative implications for working podcasters like you and me. There are, however, many positive implications. Some (many?) podcasters will find great benefit by having a Spotify show with music to accompany their podcast, much in the same way that many podcasters find benefit in having Instagram, Snapchat, and Tiktok accounts.  As a reminder, Evo’s long winter’s nap starts in a few weeks, with no new episodes during November and December. Well… no new episodes from me. I am allowing others to do their own pontificating right here during my absence. If that sounds like something you’ve like to do (and seriously, the size of your audience isn’t at all important to me, only the ideas you’d like to share), please get in touch with me: evo@simpler.media (mailto:evo@simpler.media). ----- Read the full article... Support this podcast