Spotify is testing new tools that let you record, edit, and publish podcasts right from the company’s main app. Company introduced this feature in New Zealand last month. This eliminates the need for a separate app, such as Anchor owned by Spotify, to record and publish a quick recording for podcasts.
The outgoing Spotify executive and Anchor co-founder Michael Mignano noted the launch of this feature and said it will allow users to create an episode without the need for additional tools or hardware. He joined the audio streaming company after it acquired Anchor in 2019.
The video posted by Spotify New Zealand gives us a lot of ideas about what kind of features we can expect with in-app podcast recording on Spotify. It shows that if you have the feature, you will see a + button next to “Your Library” in the bottom bar on the home screen. Tapping it will give you options to “record podcast” or “create a playlist”.
Image Credits: Spotify New Zealand (Opens in a new window)
Once you tap on the record podcast option, you will see a landing screen and a record button to record a clip. You can record audio in one take or press the pause button to take breaks. Once you’re done recording, you can edit the clip and add background music via a preset of available tracks. After editing, you can assign a title, post an episode description, tag another podcast or song and publish it.
Image Credits: Spotify New Zealand (Opens in a new window)
At the moment there are no details as to whether this tool is available to users in other markets and how to access it analytics for your podcast† We’ve asked Spotify for more details and we’ll update the story if we hear anything.
The company had previously launched some Anchor-led features in the main app, such as paid podcast subscriptions and video podcasts. However, these new podcast creation tools are probably the closest integration of Anchor’s features to date.
Spotify tested another “create podcast” button in 2019, but instead of providing in-app tools, it asked users to download Anchor at the time.
Last month, CEO Daniel Ek said at his investor day event that while the company is in podcast investing mode, it believes the vertical has potential for 40-50% gross margin. The company said it posted $215 million in podcasting revenue last year, after investments over $1 billion in the industry in recent years†