Spotify Falls as Paid Podcasts to Counter Apple Shows Fight Ahead By Investing.com

By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) shares were trading weaker by more than 2% as its launch of a paid subscription platform for podcasts to counter a similar service by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reflected the competitive intensity the company faces.

Including today’s fall, Spotify shares are down 25% from their 52-week high of $387.19.

Podcasters will be able to mark episodes as subscriber-only and publish them on Spotify and other podcast listening platforms, the company said in a statement.

Spotify, the world’s most popular paid music streaming service, said it won’t take a commission from podcast creators’ subscriber revenue for the next two years, and planned to charge a 5% fee starting in 2023.

Apple ceded the top spot to Spotify after pioneering podcasts but is now serious on reclaiming it. Towards that aim, it last week launched a paid subscription service which allows users to unlock new content and enjoy ad-free listening.