You might have forked out your money for a Spotify subscription to listen to Joe Rogan’s blockbuster podcast before shelling out your spare change to access an audiobook from the platform. Now the music streaming giant is betting that you’ll be tempted to shell out for pricey training courses on everything from starting a startup to becoming a DJ.
Spotify has launched training courses on its platform on a trial basis in the UK as part of its latest strategy to diversify beyond music streaming.
The courses appear to be inspired by MasterClass, where celebrities reveal industry secrets, and video learning platforms such as EdEx, LinkedIn Learning and Udemy.
CEO’s Diary Presenter Stephen Bartlett teaches a course on starting and scaling a “multi-million dollar business.” Meanwhile, Take That singer Gary Barlow is teaching a 29-lesson course on songwriting.
Both courses will cost you £48.90 ($61.81).
However, these amounts seem like a relative bargain compared to the cost of music lessons. Introductory piano and acoustic guitar courses will cost £92.90 ($117.44).
As you progress, the list of courses becomes more and more confusing. Users can pay £35 ($44) to access a dog body language lesson, or pay a higher fee of £71.90 ($90.85) to teach a dog to find antlers during shedding season. The last course lasts only 30 minutes.
The courses operate on a freemium model, with the first few sessions of each course offered for free before users are asked to pay for the rest.
It’s unclear how Spotify structured payments for these courses, such as whether they use a revenue-sharing model with creators or whether they paid specific high-profile creators up front to create content.
Spotify Latest Earning Plan
The move into video courses is the latest sign that Spotify is diversifying its offering beyond the low-margin music streaming business, where the platform pays record labels exponential amounts to license music.
Spotify first tried to diversify into podcasting, paying huge sums for pricey exclusives from Joe Rogan, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
However, the group struggled mightily in that division and have since lost their prized stars while maintaining an exclusive deal with Rogan.
Spotify says it was part of a strategy to attract listeners it didn’t previously have on the platform, rather than being a profitable model itself, and CEO Daniel Ek expects the podcast division to turn a profit this year.
The company has also turned to audiobooks, offering a similar freemium model, in which some audiobooks come free with a premium subscription, while others require payment.
Spotify believes the number of users interested in educational podcasts and audiobooks means the market is ripe for growth.
“Many of our users use podcasts and audiobooks daily to meet their educational needs, and we believe this highly engaged community will be interested in accessing and purchasing quality content from video course creators,” said Babar Zafar, vice president of product development at Spotify company.
Apple troubles
The music streamer has historically faced challenges marketing these paid extras on its app due to Apple’s fees, which have escalated into a years-long regulatory battle.
Spotify avoids allowing users to pay for subscriptions and make in-app purchases in its iOS app to avoid paying Apple a 30% commission on those purchases. Instead, clients had to be redirected to a web browser at the direction of the streaming platform.
This is set to change in the EU following the passage of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), under which Spotify plans to reconfigure its app to make it easier to sell additional features to users.
Daniel Ek said the group has “significant growth potential” with increased ability to sell its features directly to customers through the app.