During its recent Investor Day 2026, Spotify announced that it will launch Memberships this summer.

Memberships are a set of tools that allow eligible creators to offer subscriptions to their fans for new and exclusive content and experiences, such as early access to podcasts and bonus episodes.

Netflix is reportedly in talks with iHeartRadio to license shows exclusively, including The Breakfast Club, Las Culturistas, The Jay Shetty Podcast, and Stuff You Should Know, which could remove full episodes from YouTube. The company is also pursuing a similar deal with SiriusXM, home to the popular Call Her Daddy by Alex Cooper, and is reaching out to agents at WME, UTA, and CAA to sign more video podcasters.

Spotify is testing "Your Updates," a new personalized notification feed in the app’s sidebar. Users in the test will be able to receive alerts about new followers, playlist collaborations, replies to comments, and other relevant updates.

Spotify inked a partnership with United Airlines. Over 450 hours of Spotify-curated playlists, podcasts, and audiobooks are now available across 130,000+ in-flight screens on United flights.

Spotify is rolling out new features for podcasts on mobile. Here’s what’s new:

Spotify introduces a new podcast metric called Plays, showing how many times an episode has been listened to or watched.

Spotify paid out $100 million to podcasters in Q1 2025.

Spotify has introduced the Creator Milestone Awards to recognize top podcasters.

Spotify has introduced Spotify for Authors, a new suite of tools for authors and publishers.

Spotify is experimenting with updates for Audiobooks.

Spotify announced the Spotify Partner Program.