In the past, you would go to one place for music, another for education, and so on. However, in an effort to stay in business, many organizations are now trying to become jacks of all crafts. Spotify is the most recent example; it just revealed a test for courses that use videos as instruction. The portal now offers audiobooks, podcasts, and music in addition to this new capability.
Spotify has formed partnerships with Thinkific Labs Inc., Skillshare, PLAYvirtuoso, BBC Maestro, and other content providers. They provide information in four primary areas: studying business, creating art, creating music, and leading a healthy lifestyle. “With this offer, we are exploring a potential opportunity to provide educational creators with a new audience who can access their video content, reaching a bigger potential swath of engaged Spotify users while expanding our catalog,” Spotify said in its press release. According to the platform, about 50% of users have “engaged” with instructional or self-help podcasts.
The test courses are available only to UK users, with free and premium subscribers receiving at least two free lessons per course. The series will range in price from £20 ($25) to £80 ($101), regardless of a person’s subscription tier. Users can access them on mobile or desktop. Exact pricing and availability might change if the feature moves past the test phase.
This forays into video-based courses follows shortly after Spotify introduced music videos in beta. They’re available on select tracks and, like the classes, aren’t available to US subscribers (the UK is among the 11 countries with access).
