Spotify cancels 2 high-profile podcasts, adding to a list of cutbacks that also includes its third round of job cuts this year

Each will full their present seasons, the corporate stated Monday. The producers can be free to buy the exhibits afterward.

“We’re extraordinarily pleased with the groups who’ve supported these proficient storytellers,” Spotify stated in a press release. “We are going to work with the present creators to make sure a clean transition for wherever these collection go subsequent.”

Each exhibits got here out of Spotify’s Gimlet Media studio, which regularly targeted on restricted collection. Heavyweight, hosted by Jonathan Goldstein, helps visitors relieve themselves of emotional burdens, whereas Stolen, hosted by Connie Walker, has instructed tales centered on Indigenous folks over two seasons.

Each exhibits obtained crucial acclaim. Stolen’s most up-to-date season about Canada’s residential faculties for Indigenous folks gained a Pulitzer Prize and a Peabody Award. Heavyweight, which premiered its most up-to-date season in October, was simply listed as a finest podcast of 2023 by the New York Occasions.

The cancellations coincide with jobs cuts at Spotify Monday that eradicated 17% of the streaming firm’s employees, or round 1,500 folks. Spotify has undertaken a number of rounds of job cuts since October 2022. 

Spotify is narrowing its focus to licensed exhibits that run year-round, like The Joe Rogan Expertise and Something Goes With Emma Chamberlain. It has broadly backed away from podcasting after spending greater than $1 billion to stake out a declare within the area.