Spotify is clearly expanding its offerings beyond music, especially after massive layoffs it had last year. It did that with podcasting, extending the deal with Joe Rogan but closing two of its major shows along the way. Then it pushed audiobooks and even launched an audiobook-only subscription. Now, the streaming platform dives into videos, teasing a test of video courses that will teach you many things—from music making to healthy living. The variety of categories is pretty broad.
The streaming giant joined forces with educational tech companies to launch those courses, which are in the test phase so far. Among the edtech partners, Spotify names BBC Maestro, PLAYvirtuoso, Skillshare, and Thinkific. According to Spotify, the companies will help "bring video content directly to Spotify users."
Users from the UK will be able to buy courses together with music, podcasts, and audiobooks. During the test, UK free and Premium users will be able to try at least two lessons per course free of charge before buying more lessons.
"Testing video courses in the U.K. allows us to explore an exciting opportunity to better serve the needs of our users who have an active interest in learning," said Babar Zafar, VP Product Development at Spotify in the announcement. "Many of our users engage with podcasts and audiobooks on a daily basis for their learning needs, and we believe this highly engaged community will be interested in accessing and purchasing quality content from video course creators. At Spotify, we’re constantly striving to create new offerings for our creators and users, and having built best-in-class personalized music and podcast offerings, we look forward to exploring the potential of video-based learning on Spotify."
What's the rationale? Do Spotify's ambitions now include competing with a multitude of edtech companies and their courses? These are numerous, mind that.
Spotify explains that with this offer, they "are exploring a potential opportunity to provide educational creators with a new audience who can access their video content, reaching a bigger potential swath of engaged Spotify users while expanding our catalog. About half of Spotify Premium subscribers have engaged in education or self-help-themed podcasts."
If you're from the UK, you can already try the video lessons. Here's how:
- Open the Spotify mobile app and head over to the home or browse tabs—you can find educational videos there.
- Click through to find available courses (currently in four categories). You can purchase the courses on desktop, and after you do, they'll appear on your mobile.
Spotify seems to be investing into video content in 2024. Earlier this month, the streamer announced it now has its own music catalogue with tracks of local artists and world-renowned stars. The music catalogue is also in a beta so far.
