Michelle and Barack Obama take away exclusivity to Spotify and are already looking for other platforms for their podcasts The Obamas are looking for ways to increase the reach of their productions using multiple platforms simultaneously.
By Entrepreneur Staff Edited by Eduardo Scheffler Zawadzki
This article was translated from our Spanish edition.
In 2019 , Michelle and Barack Obama announced that they had closed an alliance with Spotify to exclusively present a couple of podcasts on the platform that have been a success. The first of these is The Michelle Obama Podcast , in which Michelle talks with friends and family about the significant relationships that define us as people; the second, Renegades: Born in the USA , is presented by Barack and the legendary musician, Bruce Springsteen, and in it both men talk about their lives, music and love for their country, despite the challenges and difficulties they face.
The shows were produced by Higher Ground , the Obamas' production company, and the deal was worth nearly $25 million .
According to Bloomberg , the Obamas are looking for a new contract to transmit their podcasts with another company, since they are not satisfied with what Spotify gives them. The main concern is the restrictions that the exclusivity with the platform entails, since what they seek is to reach as many people as possible with their programs. The current deal with Spotify runs until November 2022 and everything indicates that it will not be renewed. Higher Ground and the Obamas are negotiating with other platforms such as Audible (a platform that belongs to Amazon) and iHeartMedia and will allegedly seek deals that allow them to be present on various platforms simultaneously; Spotify could continue to be one of them, but not exclusively.
Spotify's deal with the Obamas is just one of many that the music and audio streaming platform has made in an attempt to position itself as the go-to podcast listener. Among the figures with whom they have closed deals are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and Joe Rogan the podcaster with whom they closed an exclusivity contract for more than $100 million dollars.
Higher Ground and the Obamas also have an exclusive with Netflix , a platform where they exclusively stream their original documentaries, series and movies such as Fatherhood, Becoming and the 2020 Oscar-winning documentary American Factory for Best Documentary.
