These days Spotify is all about the podcasts, we know that. It's all podcasts this and podcasts that whenever the Spotify team are in the house. I even heard that Spotify boss Daniel Ek starts every meeting these days by screaming "fuck your fucking music, play me a fucking podcast". Or maybe I just dreamt that. But the point is, Spotify loves its podcasts.
Except, we should note, the podcasts How To Save A Planet, Crime Show, Every Little Thing, Medical Murders, Female Criminals, Crimes Of Passion, Dictators, Mythology, Haunted Places, Urban Legends and Horoscope Today.
They're all made by Spotify-owned podcast producers Parcast and Gimlet, and they've all been axed. Which - given Spotify's love affair with podcasting - will presumably come as a something of a shock to each of those programme's loyal listeners. Except the listeners of Horoscope Today. Presumably they saw it coming.
Spotify's in-house podcasting production operations do currently make around 500 shows in total, so the winding down of eleven isn't that big a deal, I guess. Although it will reportedly affect up to 5% of the firm's podcasting team, some of whom might be made redundant, which is no fun at all.
Sources say that the downsizing is part of a plan to focus more energy on the company's most successful podcast brands.
Or maybe it's an early sign that these days Spotify is all about the audiobooks. It's all audiobooks this and audiobooks that whenever the Spotify team are in the house. I even heard that Spotify boss Daniel Ek starts every meeting these days by screaming "fuck your fucking podcasts, please won't somebody somewhere find me a format that we can actually make some profit on?" It was quite the dream.