Spotify is thinking about launching a podcast subscription service

Spotify already has a massively popular music subscription service... so why wouldn’t it start a podcast subscription service next?

That may very well be what’s in the works according to a recent survey being sent to Spotify’s users.

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Variety’s Andrew Wallenstein recently shared screenshots of a Spotify survey he was presented with when opening the music app. The survey floats four different podcast subscription options ranging from $2.99 to $7.99 per month. Each plan would provide different levels of access to exclusive podcast content on Spotify -- lower-priced plans would provide bonus interviews, higher-tier plans would give paying subscribers entire exclusive episodes without ads.

Most notable, however, is that the survey was asking strictly about podcast subscriptions, completely unconnected to Spotify’s music service. The streaming music plans would not be included in these podcast subscriptions.

Of course, company routinely sends out these sorts of surveys to gauge interest in future products. Spotify even said as much to The Verge when they reached out. The company told the outlet it had “no further news to share” at this time regarding podcast subscriptions.

With that said though, Spotify has been investing heavily in podcasting over the past few years. In 2019, the music streaming giant acquired the popular podcast producer Gimlet Media Inc. as well as Anchor, a growing platform that helps people easily set up, create, and distribute their podcasts.

Spotify also announced exclusive podcasts and partnerships with arguably the biggest name in podcasting, Joe Rogan.

However, it hasn’t all been positive for Spotify. Since Rogan’s extremely popular show has moved exclusively to Spotify, the company has had to battle a number of PR nightmares regarding the content on his show.

For example, Rogan hosted the controversial far right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in October. Even though Spotify banned Jones’ own InfoWars show from its platform in 2018. Furthermore, the company has even faced blowback from its own employees over Rogan’s transphobic content since the show became a Spotify exclusive.

If the idea for a podcast subscription service goes forward, Spotify will likely find many subscribers. It’ll also likely face a boycott as it seems improbable that they’d launch without its most popular yet most controversial show host as the face of the service.