Spotify reportedly wants to nail down streaming rights for music festivals

Spotify isn’t stopping with The Breakfast Club.

The platform’s recent deal to air Charlamagne tha God, DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, and Loren LoRosa’s long-running morning show in real time was part of its ever more aggressive push to be the dominant force in podcasting. Securing The Breakfast Club syndication allows it to get people engaged in audio content every day, without having to contribute any production efforts.

Now it’s reportedly looking to lock down more externally produced live content–this time in the music space.

Per Bloomberg, Spotify has approached concert promoters about licensing rights to livestream stage performances from music festivals. This could–like Spotify’s podcast efforts and constant creator deal poaching–put it in a competitive position with YouTube.

Why? Because YouTube has had the exclusive livestreaming rights for Coachella since 2011, and is also expanding its own live events coverage, most notably with a deal to start streaming the Oscars in 2029. If Spotify starts going after similar streaming rights, the two could wind up as challengers.

If you’re thinking that Spotify and livestreamed shows sounds familiar, you’re right. It experimented with exclusive live concerts during COVID lockdowns

, when many artists had to cancel major tours and sold-out shows. The deal with those events was kind of intimate coffee shop; artists usually played and sang from their homes.

Things here would be different, in terms of content. Spotify is tapping into a market of people who don’t attend music festivals for one reason or another (too expensive, too far, too much weed) but still would like to see musicians perform and/or experience the vibes from the comfort of home. These would likely be high-production affairs.

But one thing would stay the same: Spotify’s COVID concerts let it be the linchpin that connected artists and fans. That’s what it wants to do here–and, presumably, it’d also like to find a way to profit from that connection.

Spotify has not publicly confirmed it wants concert rights. But if it does, and if things work out, it’s possible we could end up in an age of IRL/digital hybrids, where a few hundred people pay big bucks to attend and thousands more pay $5 or $10 to watch a stream.