Spotify launches into online learning

Spotify is testing the waters of online learning, with video courses launching today on the audio streaming platform.

Available only in the UK for now, Spotify’s video courses are the result of partnerships with educational platforms including sharing of skills, BBC Maestro, PLAYvirtuosoAnd Thoughtful. The courses cover four areas of learning, described by Spotify as “making music, being creative, learning business and living healthy.”

Much of the courses Spotify offers are aptly music-related, with tutorials on music recording and production, songwriting, DJing, radio broadcasting, and genre-specific courses including rap, grime, garage, drum and bass, house and techno. But there are also courses focused on a wider range of topics, including startups and business, cooking, money, dance, fitness, mindfulness, video production, and artistic techniques ranging from watercolor to photography and graphics.

Premium subscribers and free Spotify users will get two lessons per course for free, but will have to purchase the rest – similar to Spotify’s audiobook offering, which gives premium users 15 hours of free listening per month. after which you can purchase additional credit. . Spotify’s video lessons will be found in the app’s home and navigation tabs, or you can find them on the dedicated page of the platform.

It’s a bold but not-so-surprising move for Spotify, following the company’s massive investments in podcasts and audiobooks (although Spotify gutted its podcast workforce last year). In a blog post In announcing this feature, Spotify claims that “about half of Spotify Premium subscribers have engaged with educational or self-help-themed podcasts.” However, Spotify will have its work cut out for it here, as the online learning space is long-established and very crowded – from edX to FutureLearn, from Coursera to Khan Academy, online courses are big business.

Genre-specific courses are offered.
Credit: Spotify / Mashable screenshot

“Testing video courses in the UK allows us to explore an exciting opportunity to better meet the needs of our users who are actively interested in learning,” said Babar Zafar, vice president of product development at Spotify , in a press release.

“Many of our users use podcasts and audiobooks daily to meet their learning needs, and we believe this highly engaged community will be interested in accessing and purchasing quality content from video course creators . At Spotify, we’re constantly striving to create new offerings for our creators and users, and after creating the best personalized music and podcast offerings, we can’t wait to explore the potential of video learning on Spotify.

This is the latest feature being tested by Spotify in the UK, as the company aims to take an interesting part of YouTube by adding full-length music videos. This feature is only available in 11 countries, including the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, Colombia, Poland, Philippines, and Sweden, and no additional markets are yet planned, notably the United States.