Spotify’s new tools ‘democratizes’ use, says top executive

DUBAI: Spotify announced a host of changes including new tools for artists, songwriters and podcast creators at its annual Stream On event last month, with a leading executive telling Arab News it is now much easier to use, especially for those in emerging markets.
One of the biggest announcements was Spotify for Podcasters, meant to be a one-stop shop that combines all of Spotify’s podcasting tools and capabilities into one platform.
In 2019, Spotify acquired podcast-hosting platform Anchor, also aimed at making its offering more user-friendly.
“The original idea with Anchor was being able to innovate on the format of podcasting; really democratize the creation, especially for creators in emerging markets who didn’t previously have access to the tools and ability to podcast,” Maya Prohovnik, head of the firm’s podcast products, told Arab News.
“Spotify has made several podcast acquisitions that have resulted in a pretty disjointed experience for creators, which is normal,” she added.
During the event, Prohovnik said: “Even within the Spotify ecosystem, you’ve had to make and upload episodes with one tool, monetize them with another, and track your data with a third. It’s just too complicated and it means that some of you haven’t had access to everything you need.”
Now, creators “still have free hosting and easy distribution everywhere, but they also have better access to everything that Spotify has to offer, in terms of things like audience growth and discovery, monetization, and interacting with their fans,” Prohovnik said.
In addition to free hosting and distribution, the new integrated platform also provides creators with access to interactive features like Q&A and polls, and advanced analytics to track a show’s growth, including streaming numbers and audience demographic data.
Spotify has also revamped its home feed, a move aimed at encouraging discovery and audience growth. The new feed will feature podcast previews and highlights from shows.
“It’s a much more visual feed for discovery and the idea is that we’re really trying to drive more discovery for all creators,” said Prohovnik.
Podcast creators can now also segment each episode into chapters with time stamps allowing listeners to browse through an episode by topic or section.
The company also announced the launch of Spotify Labs, which are currently located in Los Angeles, London, New York and Stockholm with more locations to be unveiled over the coming months.
Spotify Labs will function both as a space and service for more creators to record in Spotify’s studios as well as get access to the company’s experts and other podcasters and artists on the platform.
The platform has witnessed “a lot of growth” in emerging markets like the Middle East and southeast Asia, in terms of both creation and consumption, Prohovnik said.
In the MENA region, for example, podcast hours streamed on Spotify increased by more than 190 percent year-on-year in 2022.
Spotify has always been interested in “democratizing podcasting and making sure that everyone has access to create and find an audience, and to make money,” which is the company’s “future vision” as well, she added.
“Now that we have this foundation, it’s really going to enable us to start innovating on the format at scale, which is what we’ve always wanted to be able to do,” Prohovnik said.
The focus for Spotify is now on two key areas: rolling out access to all the different features for all creators — not just those who are hosted on Spotify — and creating more solutions for audience growth and discovery.
Prohovnik said: “Everything Spotify does is for creators.”
Spotify had over 500 million monthly active users, including 205 million paying subscribers, with 10 million creators, at the end of 2022, the company said.

Spotify’s new tools ‘democratizes’ use, says top executive