Spotify is testing new tools that will allow you to record, edit and publish podcasts directly from the company’s main app. The company introduced this feature in New Zealand last month. This will remove the need of having a separate app — like Spotify-owned Anchor — to record and publish a quick take for podcasts.
Outgoing Spotify executive and Anchor co-founder Michael Mignano noted the launch of this feature and said this will allow users to make an episode with “no extra tools or hardware needed”. He joined the audio streaming company after it acquired Anchor in 2019.
We started @anchor with a mission to democratize audio.
So perhaps it’s only fitting that as I wrap up my time @spotify, we launch this:
Starting in NZ, now any Spotify user can make a podcast episode within the Spotify app, no extra tools or hardware needed. https://t.co/1ZV3yzefEh
— Michael Mignano (@mignano) June 17, 2022
The video posted by Spotify New Zealand gives us a lot of ideas about what kind of features we can expect with in-app podcast recording on Spotify. It shows that if you have the feature, you’ll see a + button next to “Your Library” in the bottom bar on the home screen. If you tap on it, you have options to “Record podcast” or “Create playlist”.
Once you tap on the Record podcast option, you’ll see a landing screen, and a record button to start recording a clip. You can record audio in one take or hit the pause button to take breaks. Once you finish the recording, you can edit the clip and add background music through a preset of available tracks. After editing, you can assign a title, put a description of the episode, tag another podcast or a song and publish it.
Spotify said that once you record the podcast, you’ll be able to access the number of streams through a section of published episodes under your profile.
“At Spotify, we are always looking for ways to enhance our users’ experience on our platform, and we regularly test features that we believe will bring value to listeners and creators. We are currently running a limited test of in-app audio creation, but have no further details to share at this time,” the company said in a statement.
The company had previously launched some Anchor-led features in the main app, like paid podcast subscriptions and video podcasts. However, these new podcast creation tools are probably the tightest integration of Anchor’s features to date.
Spotify tested another “Create podcast” button in 2019, but rather than providing in-app tools, it prompted users to download Anchor at that time.
Last month, during its investor day event, CEO Daniel Ek said that while the company is in investment mode for podcasts, it believes the vertical has potential for a 40-50% gross margin. The company said it registered $215 million in revenue in podcasting last year, after investing more than $1 billion in the sector over the last few years.
Update July 5, 4.50 PM IST: Updated the story with additional inputs from Spotify.
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