Spotify Signs Podcast Production Deal with Barack and Michelle Obama

President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground, has announced a partnership deal with Spotify to produce podcasts exclusive to the platform.

Spotify and Higher Ground - newsroom.spotify.com

The announcement was made on the official website of Spotify.
 
Spotify Technology S.A. is a Swedish media-services provider founded in 2006 whose primary business is its audio streaming platform that provides DRM-protected music and podcasts from record labels and media companies.

According to the website, the Obamas formed Higher Ground to produce powerful stories to entertain, inform and inspire, and to lift up new, diverse voices in the entertainment industry. Spotify, which recently surpassed 100 million Premium subscribers and has more than 217 million monthly active users, will distribute the podcasts to audiences across the globe.

Under the Higher Ground partnership, President and Mrs. Obama will develop, produce, and lend their voices to select podcasts, connecting them to listeners around the world on wide-ranging topics. The multi-year agreement will be with Higher Ground Audio, an expansion of the Higher Ground production company that will oversee the move into podcasts.

When President and Mrs. Obama launched Higher Ground in 2018 with an initial partnership with Netflix, their goal was to create compelling content that entertains and inspires viewers. Recognizing that content is consumed in many forms, this new partnership will give them the ability to expand the conversation, educating and engaging Spotify’s diverse and extensive audience.

In President Obama's word,

“We’ve always believed in the value of entertaining, thought-provoking conversation,” 

According to Michelle Obama,

“It helps us build connections with each other and open ourselves up to new ideas. We’re excited about Higher Ground Audio because podcasts offer an extraordinary opportunity to foster productive dialogue, make people smile and make people think, and, hopefully, bring us all a little closer together.”

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to amplify voices that are too often ignored or silenced altogether, and through Spotify, we can share those stories with the world.”