#99 invisible spotify trial

January 9, 2020Let’s start with the big picture. So what I’d like to do, instead, is reframe the approach and layout why I think this move would make a ton of sense for Spotify. Spicy questions all, but all slightly pointless at the moment, since a deal may not actually come through.

#99 invisible spotify trial

This is the kind of news dump that’s fertile for speculation: What’s the likelihood of this happening? Why was this report dropped on a Friday evening before a long weekend? Is it a trial balloon to see how folks would react? Was it a leak for leverage? What’s going to happen to the non-audio components of The Ringer? If the purchase does happen, will it definitely mean the end of The Ringer’s written-word operation - a segment that’s most fraught on the internet these days and one that the Swedish music streaming company has virtually no background in? Will we see The Bill Simmons Podcast go exclusive? Yada yada yaaadda. It’s a curious story, given the timing of the drop and the supposedly early nature of the talks. I didn’t drop an extra newsletter when the news came out - come on, it was Friday evening! let me live! - but I did write a short thing on the development for Vulture because apparently I don’t actually have a life. Spotify, for their part, declined to comment “on rumors and speculation” when contacted by CNN’s Kerry Flynn. Also worth flagging: a mention that Spotify is still in the hunt for more assets to pick up, and that The Ringer is one of many possibilities.

The key word here being “early,” with the Journal noting that sources close to the matter cautioned that these discussions may not ultimately result in a deal. On Friday evening, at the top of a long weekend - a time slot known in some cultures as “News Dump O’Clock” - The Wall Street Journal dropped a mighty curious story with considerable implications for Podcastland: Spotify, the story reported, appears to be in “early talks” to acquire The Ringer, the distinctly podcast-heavy digital media company founded by former ESPN personality Bill Simmons. This is issue 242, dated January 21, 2020. Welcome to Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts.