Spotify’s Podcast Aggregation Play

Spotify seems to be trying to build out control of advertising and distribution of podcasting. With gatekeeping power over listeners through its streaming service, and gatekeeping power over ad revenue through its advertising network, Spotify will eventually be able to force podcasters to live in its ecosystem. It won’t be impossible to get listene... See more

If Spotify gains enough market share then it will effectively become the de facto gatekeeper of podcasts (similar to how Google Play is the de facto gatekeeper of Android apps despite side loading and alternative app stores). Once that happens many of the benefits of podcasts will be destroyed. Creators will no longer have full creative freedom as ... See more

What happens in this scenario is that a few giants, not just Spotify, ultimately become dominant vertically integrated podcast, distribution and advertising platforms. These will then cut deals with each other, and cartelize the industry into a land of giants, much as Disney is doing in Hollywood. (In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see these two ... See more

And so what you've ended up with, not surprisingly, is a few key players that happen to own the majority of the IP that is kind of a must have in this industry to have a product offering and a handful of distributors that have gotten scale on distribution of great user experiences like a Spotify, Amazon, a YouTube, whoever you might want to think a... See more