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Alexa, play “Tasty Licks Only” playlist on Spotify. Spotify is ready to have itself one hell of a weekend after its shares climbed 15% and reached an all-time on some big-time talent news.
For starters, Spotify inked a deal with DC Comics to produce podcasts. You mean like the superheroes? Exactly, Batman is about to get his “Serial” on. Superheroes and villains in the DC universe will be sharing their backstories in podcast form, while DC will also be testing out new storylines (…which it can take to the silver screen) and creating original content for the platform. So it’s true, everyone does have a podcast.
In addition to fictional heroes, IRL heroes will also have a chance to make some new content, as Spotify also closed a deal with Kim Kardashian. OK, now everybody has a podcast.
Kim K’s podcast will cover criminal-justice, because of course it will. Specifically, it will revisit the case of Kevin Keith, who was convicted of three murders in 1994.
Gotta spend money to make money
Spotify is serious about its foray into podcasting. The streaming service has spent more than $600M buying up production studios and content over the last year. At least $100M of that went to Joe Rogan, who had previously turned Spotify down and focused his efforts on YouTube videos. Eight figures can buy a lot of DMT and Traeger Grills.
Spotify is digging into the podcast game, looking to push for exclusives to set itself apart from Apple, where most of the podcasts you listen to lived at the birth of podcasts. Since shifting its focus to podcasts this year, Spotify shares have gained more than 50%.
The bottom line…
Using podcasts to test movie plots is a pretty brilliant play on both sides. DC gets to test out its stories before going to the silver screen, while Spotify opens itself up to other major studios testing scripted content via its podcast platform. As of last year, DC was making around $244M per film, so being able to bump its numbers up will certainly help its cause. Green Lantern doesn’t count.
Kim K also gets to do some testing. Whether or not she can take her talents beyond ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ and her shapewear company, ‘Skims.’ Not a great name, but at least she changed it from Kimono.
Water Cooler Talking Point(s)
💧“If Kim can get Kanye on just one, unscripted episode to see what happens, I’ll gladly sign up for a Spotify subscription.” (AJ, The Water Coolest HQ)
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