Final summer time, Selection printed an article in regards to the impact Alex Cooper’s Name Her Daddy podcast has on boosting the streams of her musician friends. In accordance with Spotify, Anitta’s streams elevated by 155%, Madison Beer’s by 130%, John Legend’s by 200%, and John Mayer’s by 350% after every artist appeared on Cooper’s present.

Regardless of being essentially the most clear DSP in the marketplace (a minimum of when it comes to publicising music information), Spotify doesn’t make mixture consumption information available to the general public. So, when Spotify is willingly offering any such information to a information outlet, there may be probably a strategic cause for doing so. With a brand new Selection article asserting that Joe Rogan’s podcast boosted visitor Gary Clark Jr.’s streams by 500% final month, Spotify is once more bringing consideration to the profit that their largest podcasts deliver to massive artists. 

An untapped advertising and marketing vertical

Completely different audio codecs are more and more accessible on the identical platforms however format crossovers are rarer than you’d count on, regardless of the overlap between music and podcast audiences. In  February, MIDiA dissected precisely why music and podcast crossovers are few and much between — specifically, due to licensing hurdles. Although this explains why we don’t hear in style music on podcasts, it doesn’t absolutely clarify why document labels have but to include podcast advertisements into digital advertising and marketing campaigns.

There are probably numerous causes podcast promoting has not reached essential mass within the music trade. An absence of training, funds, and sources  actually contribute to minimal use of podcast promoting throughout an album cycle, however the main roadblock is the dearth of proof of idea. Till document labels see real-world examples of podcasts transferring the needle for featured artists, podcast promoting will stay a minimal a part of music advertising and marketing campaigns. As an alternative, because the Name Her Daddy lineup displays, music entrepreneurs and publicists have discovered it extra fruitful to safe visitor slots on in style reveals. In fact, this solely advantages the most important artists — to date, podcasts have been largely a software to re-ignite fanbases for established artists, relatively than a software for rising artist discovery.  

Spotify’s proof of idea

2023 was a transitional 12 months for Spotify. Layoffs, podcast cancellations, the introduction of audiobooks, and new music royalty payout thresholds all symbolize the platform shifting into a brand new gear in pursuit of profitability. Whereas Spotify’s main income supply stays premium subscriptions, rising different income streams (e.g., promoting and ecommerce) whereas slicing working prices is the surest strategy to enhance income.

In early February, we coated how Spotify’s high-profile podcast offers match into their bigger enterprise technique. With exclusivity initially serving to to herald new customers, advert income sharing with these beforehand unique podcasts implies that  it’s now in Spotify’s finest curiosity for the music trade to see podcasts as advertising and marketing drivers for artists. There’s additionally the extra mundane reasoning that Spotify could also be placating music rightsholders’ considerations that the corporate is focusing an excessive amount of on podcasts and audiobooks on the expense of music.

By demonstrating that artists profit from being featured on a Spotify podcast, it  not solely encourages extra document labels to contemplate podcast appearances as viable press alternatives, but in addition entices digital advertising and marketing groups to allocate a few of their funds towards promoting on these podcasts. In concept, this technique sends extra customers to each codecs on Spotify whereas additionally producing extra promoting income for the platform. Given that could be a win-win state of affairs, why would Spotify not share its streaming metrics with the press?