Spotify's move to Riverside totally sinks their own USP (And the podcasters who use it!)

[80sMixtaper]

So, a while ago, someone up in the ivory tower of Spotify made the decision to advertise the fact that you too, joe public, could make a podcast and because it was Spotify (here comes the big USP), PLAY SONGS! This was hyped to the point that actual podcasters like Rob Harvilla were advertising it in their trailers!

So there we all went, traipsing over to Spotify. I for my sins set up a whole podcast celebrating the 80s music scene called I Completed 80s Music. It was perfect, the ability to play songs which otherwise would require a license. And while there are a some podcasts who clearly break the law, this would solve that issue.....just as long as your podcast was ONLY on Spotify....ho hum... I mean that probably reduces my non existent audience share by 7/8ths, but okay. With hard graft, determination and a lot of social media I'm sure I can build a following.....

Then Spotify turned off advertising for the UK, oh but we can offer a subscription service... but only after we got over 100 listens on a specific timescale. We grind our teeth and say......."okaaaeeey"... And get on with the hard yards of building a fanbase.

Then early this year, the new message "Oh hey, as of July this year we're moving platform to Riverside, it's better, honest!"

And so we come to today. I go on Riverside, lots of hype and recording options, basically an audio and video hosting platform.... but what's this, no link to actual .....Spotify?! Sure, you can import stuff from your own PC, but no actual linking to proper licensed songs....

I kick off two conversations one with Riverside and one with Spotify. Thank goodness I did both at the same time as otherwise I'd have wasted my entire morning rather than just 90 minutes.

After 40 minutes and trying to explain to the Spotify Chat person that no I didnt want a bed of music but actually I wanted to play music, the response I got after being told to wait several times over those 40 minutes was "Go talk to Riverside". In other words "Oh daymm, we diuhhnt fink ov dat!" So just to confirm, Spotify's own people dont realise that a key feature of their own platform is music and MAYBEEE just maybe, that's what some podcasters use if for, otherwise, why the **bleep** would anyone be on Spotify's platform, we may as well (and now should) just go off to Acast or Podomatic or whereever.

And then I speak to a nice engineer at Riverside who freely admits this:

"Thank you for providing more context about your podcast format. I completely understand the importance of being able to seamlessly integrate songs into your episodes, and I can see how losing this functionality would significantly impact your podcast.
 
As of the moment, adding Spotify music directly to the studio is not a feature available. However, I truly appreciate your feedback on this matter, and I will forward your concerns to our product development team for future consideration."

Just... wow....

I have grafted, as I'm sure many others have to create an audience. Small, perfectly formed. After 8 months I have 100 followers on the platform. I was getting somewhere. Throughout these key problems I have put the hours in.

1. No advertising and therefore no revenue.

2. Extremely limited reach due to the song licensing issue.

I took all of that in my stride as the very fact I could play songs, meant it was all worth it.

And now that's gone.

There are two possibilities here:

1. The same exec who went "Hey! Lets advertise the face that people can play music" has either been fired or it wasnt the winner they thought it was and now they're backtracking - WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE AUDIENCE FELLAS!

OR

2. They totally forgot. They in their strident wisdom in Dollarsign Towers California just went "The podcast platform isnt great, Riverside looks better, people just want to podcast, good content will just be found (lol Bill Simmons). Lets just move it. And only now, on an actual podcaster pointing out, why someone might actually podcast on Spotify is it sinking in that they've removed the actual USP they sold in on in the first place - OHHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHH!

Either way, Spotify has become either Stopify or Slopify.

To say I'm annoyed about this just doesnt quite do it justice, the expletive rant I'd reeeeally like to go on right now would have this pose removed. I've put my heart and soul into my pod and it feels like I and I'm sure many others have been totally rolled over without consideration as to "WHY" you might use the platform in the first place. 8 months of my time have now been wasted due to this and ultimately it shows Spotify in a very poor light.

I look forward to hearing people's thoughts, most notibly Spotifys.

[MindfulFrontiers]

My issue with the switch to Riverside is that I just can't log into it through my Spotify podcast platform. There is something going on with my Chrome browser that prevents me from opening Riverside. I consistently get the message that I'm in incognito mode even though I'm not and Riverside can't use incognito mode. I'm **bleep**. Can't record and create a single episode. Don't know what to do next. Riverside and Spotify have no idea why I can't open up my dashboard in Riverside. I've enabled third-party cookies, restarted, etc. and still can't add an episode. I'm really bummed. 

[Lorellehb]

I had no trouble importing my old podcasts from spotify to podbean, but can't get my intro music that came from spotify to riverside to add to the new episode. I really want my old music and don't want to change it. Does anyone know where i can find all those music choices spotify had available for podcasters?

[marcusak]

I get that continually. I was previously able to log in and record, but now keep getting the same message.