(RepublicanInformer.com)- Former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are considering shopping around to get a new podcast with another company when their current contract with Spotify ends.
The Obamas landed an exclusive 3-year deal with Spotify back in June 2019 that is estimated to be somewhere in the ballpark of nine figures.
But according to “podcast industry sources,” the Obamas’ “Higher Ground Audio” company has found that it’s been a struggle getting a green light from Spotify for some of its podcast ideas.
Apparently, the Obamas don’t want to host the podcasts themselves. Instead, they want to use “young new voices” to carry the shows. And this isn’t what Spotify was paying for.
In short, the Obamas aren’t considering leaving Spotify because of the controversy over Joe Rogan. They want to leave because Spotify won’t let the lazy duo outsource their podcasts to others.
Under the existing nine-figure deal, Barack co-hosted an 8-episode podcast called “Renegades: Born in the USA” with has-been singer Bruce Springstein that premiered in April 2021.
Also part of the deal was a show hosted by his shrewish wife Michelle. In July 2020, the “Michelle Obama Podcast” debuted with her husband Barack as her first guest. The last episode of Michelle’s podcast aired over a year ago on September 16, 2020.
The Obamas produced a few other podcasts, including “Tell Them, I am,” featuring stories from Muslim voices, and “The Big Hit Show” that premiered in January.
One of these “podcast industry” sources said the lofty ambitions of Higher Ground Audio aren’t always in line with Spotify’s interest in popular shows that reach a wide audience.
That’s just a fancy way of saying the Obama’s aren’t garnering enough of an audience to justify how much money Spotify invested in them. So maybe Spotify wouldn’t mind if the Obamas took their small audience niche venture somewhere else.
Another source suggested the Obamas could still renew their deal with Spotify, but since Amazon and Apple have both increased their investment into podcasting, they may find a more lucrative deal elsewhere.
