Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020) • Hacker News Board

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#101

Post by atupis » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

mrweasel wrote: post #35

Do Spotify actually manage to sell any significant number of subscriptions due to podcasts? Personally when ever I hear about an interesting podcast, and it's followed by "available on Spotify/Podimo, whatever", my reaction is always: Okay, never mind then. There are so many great podcasts on the open web. Those available on platforms like Spotify always seems to be people with existing celebrity status trying to "ca…

I think cars are reason. Spotify wants in cars. Daniel Ek has said this thing like many times now. If Spotify can corner podcast market then car companies has to do deals with Spotify and they cannot just use custom build apps or some other competitors.

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#102

Post by digikata » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

ThisIsTheWay wrote: post #42

klelatti wrote: post #33

Joe who? Seriously, I think that there are a number of reasons why this won't pan out as predicted: - There aren't really any tent-pole, must listen podcasts. They thought Joe Rogan was one but I'm hearing a lot of people have stopped listening to him on Spotify (I have). - Spotify (and others) don't have the money to buy out the whole podcast ecosystem and many podcast makers I think would resist going Spotify exclu…

I'll admit I'm a podcast novice, but what player are you using and what does it offer beyond Spotify? I find, download, and play podcasts through Spotify without issues, and the few features I need (speed adjustment, offline access, and show notes/links) are all available on Spotify. If there is a better way to listen, I'd love to hear about it.

I've been using iCatcher on ios for years now. It has all the things you mention but also a nice set of sorting logic to choose from as well as other per-podcast options like prioritization and number of episodes to download/display etc.

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#103

Post by BitwiseFool » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 5:07 PM UTC

redisman wrote: post #88

klelatti wrote: post #33

Joe who? Seriously, I think that there are a number of reasons why this won't pan out as predicted: - There aren't really any tent-pole, must listen podcasts. They thought Joe Rogan was one but I'm hearing a lot of people have stopped listening to him on Spotify (I have). - Spotify (and others) don't have the money to buy out the whole podcast ecosystem and many podcast makers I think would resist going Spotify exclu…

Rogan is fine (if dumb) light entertainment to have in the background. I haven’t listened to a single episode since the move now that it’s not on YouTube anymore. Spotify is also totally awful for podcasts as the UX is for a music player. Besides Lex now fills that hole with a lot more intelligence

I've heard Joe Rogan jokingly refered to as "Oprah for middle aged white dudes".

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#104

Post by Zelphyr » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

intpx wrote: post #4

This post is essentially a funding pitch for Spotify. I talks a lot about they are going to try and kill the open podcast ecosystem but no evidence that they are making any progress. The podcast ecosystem is very different from other media markets-- it started open, it grew up open, and people are actually willing to directly pay content producers either for bonus content, to avoid ad reads, or just to keep the train…

If what they have done to the Joe Rogan Experience is any indication, they will fail at this endeavor. How they have handled it is so bad that it can only be explained by incompetence.

Over six months after switching to Spotify, when I venture back in to try to listen to an episode, it'll randomly stop playing for no apparent reason. It'll jump to another episode for no apparent reason. It'll pause playing and then resume anywhere from 5-30 seconds later. And why they insist on displaying total playing time as "mm:ss" instead of "hh:mm:ss" is beyond me.

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#105

Post by rchaud » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

brandonmenc wrote: post #7

I don't really consider these things "podcasts" anymore. There are a couple (imo, "real") podcasts I subscribe to and pay for, but I pay the creators directly and they generally self-host the files. Any other business model is just a network-exclusive TV or radio show, not a podcast.

> Any other business model is just a network-exclusive TV or radio show, not a podcast.

That's where the money is. Spotify isn't a tech company, it's a radio station that exists to sell subscriptions plus ads.

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#106

Post by zild3d » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 5:10 PM UTC

Spotify also made podcast ads as terrible as TV/radio.

I was never bothered by podcast ads since it was coming straight from the podcaster. E.g. Tim Ferriss - for the most part I trusted he actually supported the products. Comedians, the ad reads are often pretty funny

Spotify instead interrupts the podcast whenever they want with "HEY! "

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#107

Post by lolive » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 5:11 PM UTC

I searched for my favorite podcasts on Spotify. No result found.

So as a first approach, for me, this is a fail.

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#108

Post by function_seven » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

pixxel wrote: post #32

dna_polymerase wrote: post #12

I guess I don't know the right podcasts, but in my opinion, most of them are lazy marketing efforts by large corporations. I don't want to listen to native ads. And this is basically everything Spotify seems to suggest to me in the podcast section. I fled Soundcloud because they couldn't get their shit together, it seems Spotify won't be competing forever as well. Their app has random stutters on modern hardware, and…

>I liked JRE, but even as a Spotify user, I don't listen to him anymore. Same. I don't know why that is though. Perhaps because he sold out open podcasting? Especially as he has had Adam Curry on a couple of times. But then I defy anyone to turn down such a payday (I wouldn't). Perhaps it's the abandoning of a very large community (YT comments). That doesn't affect me personally but I know it affects others. A subcon…

Couple reasons for me:

Mainly, when I'm looking for something to listen to, I go to my podcast app. There's a list of latest episodes. I browse and pick one. JRE never appears on that list, so out of sight, out of mind.

But also, his show has taken a nosedive in quality in the last 6 months. Feels like discussions are always (a) COVID mask rules are dumb (or maybe they're not?, depends on the guest), (b) The Comedy Cellar was hella tight back in the day, (c) Texas is awesome, California is basically a dystopian hellhole.

None of those points bother me that much. Whatever. But when they're recycled ad nauseam on every episode, it's just boring.

So now I just don't bother. I have the Spotify app. But it's not something I think about for podcasting.

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#109

Post by manigandham » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

Interestingly Apple just launched paid subscriptions in Apple Podcasts: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-leads-the-next-...

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#110

Post by iscrewyou » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

Lendal wrote: post #76

mrweasel wrote: post #35

Do Spotify actually manage to sell any significant number of subscriptions due to podcasts? Personally when ever I hear about an interesting podcast, and it's followed by "available on Spotify/Podimo, whatever", my reaction is always: Okay, never mind then. There are so many great podcasts on the open web. Those available on platforms like Spotify always seems to be people with existing celebrity status trying to "ca…

No, but they could lose subscribers due to Podcasts. See, I pay for Spotify because of their playlists. Playlists have nothing to do with podcasts. I listen to my podcasts using a different app. Yet Spotify keeps throwing its podcasts in my face. Spotify is not good at podcasts. That's why I use a different app for that. I'm getting tired of scrolling past all the podcast spam in my Spotify UI, and yet Spotify provid…

Lately, I've even been scared of listening to music other than my usual taste (e.g. a radio hit, a foreign song, song in one of those instagram videos) because their algorithm seems to amplify my "smart" playlists with anything that's different.

There should be an option to turn off simple things like that: turn off podcasts, pause learning from my music for then next 30 minutes, etc.

I always thought the advantage of standalone apps like Spotify(updated anytime) vs something like Apple Music(updated on big iOS releases) is that they can iterate faster. But seems like they are throwing more eggs in content creation basket than UX.