Spotify controls a significant market share in the music streaming space. The Sweden-based company also presents numerous exclusive podcasts.
A new report by Variety claims Spotify plans to lay off 200 employees in the streamer’s podcast division. This move will come after the audio content platform cut 6% of its overall staff earlier this year.
“We are expanding our partnership efforts with leading podcasters from across the globe with a tailored approach optimized for each show and creator,” said Spotify VP Sahar Elhabashi in a memo sent out on Monday.
Elhabashi added, “We have made the difficult but necessary decision to make a strategic realignment of our group and reduce our global podcast vertical and other functions by approximately 200 people, or 2% of Spotify’s workforce.”
Spotify has been home to podcasts such as Call Her Daddy and The Joe Rogan Experience. Hip Hop media personality DJ Akademiks also launched his Off The Record show on the streaming app in September 2021.
Last week, news broke that former ESPN on-air talent Jemele Hill plans to move her Unbothered podcast off Spotify later this summer. The two sides reportedly failed to reach a new deal for Hill’s The Unbothered Network.
Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground left Spotify for Amazon’s Audible in 2022. Plus, retired emcee Joe Budden infamously parted ways with the streaming giant in a business breakup that included accusations of smear campaigns.
“I’m not saying we will not do business in the future because we may. Please do not take this as a deterrent to Spotify. All that I’m telling you right now is that our views of where podcasting is taking us for the next five years are not aligned,” Joe Budden told his audience at the time of the 2020 split.
