Here's why Barack and Michelle Obama have dropped their podcast deal with Spotify
Barack and Michelle Obama's time with Spotify is ending soon. The former US President's family's production company Higher Grounds will not be renewing its contract with the audio platform. According to reports, the company is in talks with other distributors like Amazon's Audible and iHeartMedia about a deal for tens of millions of dollars, which will be one of the most profitable in the podcast business.
Higher Ground Productions appears to want to be able to produce numerous programs and distribute them on different platforms at the same time, which goes against Spotify's usual exclusives-based approach.
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'The Michelle Obama Podcast,' which was launched in mid-2020, was at one point the most popular Spotify podcasts. It was also Higher Ground's debut podcast on Spotify. 'Renegades: Born in the USA,' a show that featured discussions between Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen, was one of the popular shows on the audio platform. It has been reported that certain broadcasting rights to 'The Michelle Obama Podcast' and other Higher Ground broadcasts will be retained by Spotify in perpetuity. Furthermore, wherever the Obamas land their next podcast arrangement, those new ventures are very certainly going to be published on Spotify on a nonexclusive basis.
Higher Ground has a deal with Netflix to develop films and TV episodes exclusively for the streaming service.
Meanwhile, Spotify has spent billions to position itself as a leading podcast destination, including a $200 million contract with controversial presenter Joe Rogan to exclusively broadcast his famous podcast and a $60 million arrangement with 'Call Her Daddy' host Alex Cooper. Gimlet Media, Parcast, The Ringer, and Megaphone are among the podcast content and technology firms that Spotify has bought.
Spotify also has an exclusive agreement with Archewell, the firm founded by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, which stated earlier this year that the pair had pushed the business to make adjustments to prevent "severe consequences" from Covid-19 misinformation on its platform. That seemed to be a dig at Rogan, who was the subject of a Spotify boycott led by Neil Young and followed by other performers and celebrities in protest over Covid-19 misinformation on 'The Joe Rogan Experience.' Archewell said that it will move through with plans to publish Markle's first Spotify podcast, 'Archetypes,' after the pair were persuaded by discussions with Spotify executives about their worries.