Barack and Michelle Obama are ending their exclusive podcast deal with Spotify.
The former First Couple are now in talks with other audio distributors regarding a deal worth tens of millions of dollars, according to Bloomberg. Amongst the bidders is Amazon’s Audible and iHeartMedia.
Spotify was involved in negotiations but chose not to make an offer for the rights to new Obama-led material. This was likely due to the nature of the fresh deal: the Obamas are reportedly seeking to make multiple shows and have them released on several platforms concurrently.
This doesn’t exactly work for Spotify, given their history of exclusive deals, like a certain $100 million partnership with podcaster Joe Rogan, who caused a slew of controversy earlier this year.
The partnership between Spotify and Higher Ground, the Obamas’ media company, was announced in 2019, with the pair set to develop, produce, and voice podcasts for the platform. This included The Michelle Obama Podcast, which was Spotify’s top podcast of summer 2020, with millions streaming the former First Lady having conversations with friends and loved ones about relationships.
Their high-profile deal will come to a close by the end of 2022, with a final series from Higher Ground set to be released around then.
The Obamas are also in the midst of a major creative partnership with Netflix, so in the interim, we won’t have to go very far for their content.
