Spotify adding video learning courses

Spotify is venturing into the world of education with a new experiment offering online courses alongside its existing music, podcasts, and audiobooks. – but for now, only to users in the UK.

This experiment allows users to access courses from BBC Maestro, Skillshare, Thinkific, and PlayVirtuoso through Spotify’s mobile and desktop apps. While it’s unclear if the feature will expand globally, Spotify sees potential in educational content based on its user trends. According to a Spotify press release, nearly half of its Premium subscribers engage with podcasts focused on education or self-help.

Spotify’s VP product development Babar Zafar said in a press statement: “Testing video courses in the UK allows us to explore an exciting opportunity to better serve the needs of our users who have an active interest in learning. Many of our users engage with podcasts and audiobooks on a daily basis for 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 having built best-in-class personalized music and podcast offerings, we look forward to exploring the potential of video-based learning on Spotify.”

Spotify’s course selection goes beyond music creation. While there are numerous music production courses covering recording, songwriting, DJing, radio broadcasting, and even specific genres like rap, grime, and techno, the offerings extend far further. Users can also find courses on diverse topics like starting a business, cooking, personal finance, dance, fitness, mindfulness, video production, and even artistic techniques ranging from watercolor painting to photography and graphic design. All courses are broken down into four main categories: music creation, creativity, business, and healthy living. They can be accessed through a new pill-shaped icon on the Spotify mobile app home screen, search, and browse functions.

Following a freemium model similar to audiobooks, Spotify allows users (both free and premium) to access at least two video lessons per course for free. To unlock the entire course, a purchase is required and can be found here (courses.spotify.com/home).

Though the online course offering is currently a test, it sparks speculation about how learning might integrate with Spotify’s rumored “Supremium” tier. This potential subscription tier could bundle features like lossless-quality streaming (announced in 2021 but not yet released), extended audiobook listening hours, advanced mixing tools, and more track filtering options. Online course access could potentially be another perk to entice users to upgrade.

This post originally appeared on Unplugged from All Punked Up. If any images or media seem to be missing, then view the original post here.

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