Show an ad over header. AMP

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek does a podcast on the future of podcasts

28 July 2021
Dan Ackermann

Spotify on Wednesday reported significant ad revenue growth from its podcast business, as part of its quarterly earnings disclosure.

Take a listen: Company founder and CEO Daniel Ek appeared on the Axios Re:Cap podcast to discuss how the podcast business model is changing, why he's spending big on exclusive shows and his personal favorites in both podcasting and music.

Highlights...

Audience: Ek tells Axios that podcast listeners are stickier than music listeners, even though there had been industry concerns that increased podcast content would cannibalize music attention share.

  • He doesn't believe that podcast audience will ever overtake music audience, pointing out that music continues to dominate terrestrial radio.

Exclusives: He does not believe Spotify has editorial responsibility for what is said on its podcasts, including "The Joe Rogan Experience."

  • "We have a lot of really well-paid rappers on Spotify too, that make tens of millions of dollars, if not more, each year from Spotify. And we don't dictate what they're putting in their songs, either."
  • Spotify last year signed an exclusive deal with Kim Kardashian to launch a podcast on criminal justice, and Ek says he hopes it will begin airing "later in the year."

Creators: Ek does not believe that podcast creators will be paid per-stream royalties, as Spotify pays to music creators. He does, however, believe there will be a broadening and acceleration of podcast monetization options.

Rivals: Ek, whose company has accused Apple of anticompetitive practices, says that Apple has an understandable head start in podcasting — pointing out that the very word owes its existence to Apple's iPod devices.

Playlist: One of Ek's favorite podcasts right now is, "Invest Like The Best," hosted by Patrick O'Shaughnessy, while one of his favorite musical artists is African dance hall star Burna Boy.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.