Spotify, a Swedish audio streaming and media services provider, is planning to release live audio recordings. The platform is already renowned as a music and podcast streaming service. Spotify recently revealed to acquire Betty Labs, the developer of the well-known sports audio application ‘Locker Room’.
How will the acquisition of Betty Labs benefit Spotify?
The Chief Research and Development officer at Spotify, Gustav Söderström believes that the acquisition of Betty Labs shall enhance the reach and capabilities of Spotify. Now the platform will be able to give a tough competition to the existing live audio applications including Twitter Spaces, Clubhouse, and Discord.
According to Gustav Söderström, chief R&D officer at Spotify, “But who knows, maybe we’ll integrate some of these features or all of these features in the future”.
What new features will Spotify get after acquiring Betty Labs?
Despite the acquisition of Betty Labs, the ‘Locker Room’ application will remain in the App Store rebranded a different name. The company is also planning to extend the ‘Locker Room’ application to the Android platform. The audio application shall primarily focus on topics like sports, music, and culture.
According to Spotify, anyone interested shall be able to host conversations and not just approved creators. The live audio service will work perfectly for creators who need a wider audience in real-time to promote their new music album or wish to deliver a social networking strategy. The company will also try various monetisation features bringing some paid chats pertaining to the exclusive content.
How will the new features of Spotify benefit live audio-streamers?
According to Gustav Söderström, chief R&D officer at Spotify, the new features of Spotify will not be new to the live audio-streamers. They are already used to recording and uploading their chats on platforms like Spaces and Clubhouse. Spotify will offer a much convenient and popular platform to them.
He further added, “We might want to make that more seamless”.
Download Clubhouse on the App Store
Why does Spotify want to release a live-audio application?
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has also given a boost to the podcast industry. People have learnt to utilise the power of the internet and podcast are one of the most significant means in this direction. Podcasts are convenient to use and are a rich source of information. As soon as you subscribe to a podcast feed, new content is automatically saved on your computer based on availability.
Recently, podcast streaming has become quite popular with big firms investing in live audio as well as podcast content. Last year, Amazon, an American multinational technology company, acquired a podcast network named Wondery. Facebook, the leading social media tech company, is also planning to design a live audio feature.
Although Spotify mainly focuses on music streaming and podcasts, it has begun to promote live audio recording as well. Bringing different formats will help the company attract a wider and more diverse pool of listeners.
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