Spotify

A high bar for growth, defying expectations, and more from Spotify to investors

Posted on by Brad Hill

In Spotify’s Q4 earnings call with investors, the word “podcast” was not spoken in the prepared remarks. Only when an investor asked about it in the Q&A portion did the company address its podcast business by name. In reply, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek numbered four ways in which value has been added to Spotify’s advertisers: “AI is one of those ways, video is obviously another one, podcasting is the third, audiobooks is the fourth.” Onekey point: Leaving the door open to charging for ad-supported listening. Click for key points and quotes from Spotify’s Q4 earnings call. Continue Reading →

Spotify “Super Premium” — hints become expectations for 2025

Posted on by Brad Hill

Spotify, the most popular music streaming service in the world, serving over 100 million tracks to 240 million monthly active users, does not have a high-resolution (“lossless”) audio option. That lack is an unusual lag for a dominant consumer service which leads the industry with many other consumer innovations. The missing piece could be plugged in soon. Continue Reading →

Spotify sunsets podcast attribution pioneer Chartable

Posted on by Brad Hill

Podcast analytics and attribution company Chartable will be closed by parent company Spotify. The streaming giant acquired Chartable in February, 2022. At the time, Chartable and the likewise acquired Podsights gave Spotify a formidable podcast tech stack. The sunsetting appears to be a simplification of internal brands and functions. Click for more info and announcement language. Continue Reading →