Ben and James discuss the history of podcasts and why Spotify’s recent announcements are so compelling for creators. Links Ben Thompson: Spotify’s Surprise — Stratechery Episode 185 — Open, Free, and Spotify — Exponent Ben Thompson: Podcasts, Analytics, and Centralization — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Spotify’s Podcast Aggregation Play — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Dithering and Open Versus Free — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Spotify Earnings, Podcasts and Lifetime Value, The Ringer Acquisition — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The European Super League, Apple Music’s Letter to Artists — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Podcast Subscriptions vs. the App Store — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Fearing Spotify?, Apple’s Earnings, Margins and Chips — Stratechery Hosts   Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review   Podcast Information   Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback