President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher
Ground, today announced a partnership with Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) to
produce podcasts exclusive to the platform. 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.
“We’ve always believed in the value of entertaining, thought-provoking
conversation,” President Obama said. “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,” Michelle Obama said. “Our hope is that
through compelling, inspirational storytelling, Higher Ground Audio will
not only produce engaging podcasts, but help people connect emotionally
and open up their minds—and their hearts.”
“President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are two of the world’s most
important voices and it is a privilege to be working with them to
identify and share stories that will inspire our global audience, which
looks to Spotify for unique, breakthrough content,” said Spotify Chief
Content Officer, Dawn Ostroff. “Connecting people with original and
thoughtful creators — especially those with the ability to highlight
underrepresented and indispensable narratives — is at the core of our
mission and we are thrilled that not only will the Obamas be producing
content, but that they will be lending their voices to this effort.”
About Higher Ground
Higher Ground is a production company formed by President Barack Obama
and Michelle Obama dedicated to producing powerful stories to entertain,
inform and inspire, and to lifting up new, diverse voices in the
entertainment industry. Higher Ground Productions has a multi-year deal
with Netflix to produce a wide range of scripted, unscripted and
documentary-style series, as well as feature-length narrative and
documentary films. Higher Ground Audio has a multi-year deal with
Spotify to produce a diverse slate of original podcasts.
About Spotify
Spotify transformed music listening forever when we launched in 2008.
Our mission is to unlock the potential of human creativity by giving a
million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and
billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by these
creators. Everything we do is driven by our love for music.
Discover, manage, and share over 50 million tracks for free, or upgrade
to Spotify Premium to access exclusive features including offline mode,
improved sound quality, Spotify Connect and ad-free listening.
Today, we are the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription
service with a community of more than 217 million users, including 100
million Spotify Premium subscribers, across 79 markets.
For more information, images, or to contact the press team, please head
over to our press page at https://newsroom.spotify.com/.
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