Spotify, the reigning platform for music streaming with over 600 million users, is going to add a new type of content to its catalog. In addition to streaming music, podcasts, and audiobooks, Spotify has decided to fully immerse itself in the world of online learning in an experiment in the United Kingdom.
The streaming service has partnered with educational technology companies such as BBC Maestro, Skillshare, and Thinkific to sell video courses through its app. Initially, Spotify will offer courses in four categories: music, creativity, business, and healthy living.
Spotify believes that offering educational courses through its platform will provide creators with a larger audience for their video content. Users residing in the United Kingdom can try two lessons of a course for free, regardless of whether they are free or Premium subscribers, and can purchase the complete course afterwards if they wish.
If you decide to purchase a course from the Spotify app for Android, you will receive a link by email to make the payment. In the case of iPhone, you will have to use Spotify on the web to make the purchase. The company does not offer the in-app purchase option to avoid paying commissions to Google and Apple for each course sold. As an alternative, you can directly browse the Spotify courses website and log in with your account to start testing or purchasing courses.
For now, Spotify offers these courses as an experiment, based on the listening habits of its users for podcasts and audiobooks. Depending on their success, the company may decide to expand the availability of courses to more countries.
Just like with audiobooks, Spotify could offer a few hours or the first lessons of courses for free as part of their Premium plan. The company already does something similar with audiobooks, offering up to 15 hours of free monthly access in their paid plans.
