Spotify responds to creator backlash at public podcast play counts

Spotify announced last week that it would roll out public play counts on all podcasts as a way of “helping attract new fans.” But podcasters swiftly responded with criticism of the new feature — mainly, that it would further promote podcasts that already have large audiences while making smaller shows less appealing to new listeners. On Friday, Spotify changed course on its plans, but did not completely eschew the idea. Now, play counts will only appear on shows with at least 50,000 plays each. Instead of showing an exact play count, the designation will only update at specific milestones, like 100,000 or 1 million plays. “We plan to roll this newly evolved version of play counts over the coming week,” the company wrote in a blog post. “This update reflects our evolving efforts to provide the best insights for creators and a clear experience for their fans.” For decades, podcast hosting platforms have not shared many public indicators of a show’s popularity — Apple Podcasts, for exa ... Read full article.