Spotify is still undisputedly the most popular music streaming service right now but lately, they’ve been investing a lot of their marketing and resources on podcasts. And it looks like they’re pushing it even more as a new survey that they’re sending out a market survey to users is asking how much they would be willing to pay for a podcast subscription service. Of course a service doesn’t mean it’s final but it’s a logical next step for the music streaming giant to take.
XDA Developers posted that a survey sent out to Spotify users was spotted and shared and based on the questions, they are in the exploratory stages of having a podcast subscription service. They seem to be looking at having four different tiers with the price ranging from $3 to $8 per month. This will of course be on top of an existing Spotify Premium music subscription which is already at $9.99 per month.
The survey shows what inclusions will be included in the subscription and asks the respondent to choose which would be more appealing and if they would sign up for such a package. The most expensive one has exclusive content, early access to episodes of some shows, and best of all, no ads. The most affordable one will also have exclusive content and episodes but you’ll be interrupted every once in a while by advertisements, which Spotify free tier users will be familiar with already.
Spotify says that the survey doesn’t necessarily mean that they will be releasing the product anytime soon or at all. They say they routinely do this and sometimes the result is more about learning their users’ behavior and “paving the path for our broader user experience”. In other words, they’re testing out the waters if this is something that will be welcomed by the public given that they can access a lot of podcasts for free or as part of their music subscription already.
But given that this is a way for Spotify to monetize this without having to pay for licensing fees, it seems like a logical next step for them. The question would be how the profit sharing with producers would go. Let’s see if we get some answers a few months from now.