Obamas ink new deal with Amazon-owned firm after Spotify exit

22 June 2022 - 11:30
By Rithika Krishna
Former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle at the first Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago. File photo.
Image: Kamil Krzaczynski/Reuters Former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle at the first Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago. File photo.

The media company owned by Barack and Michelle Obama, Higher Ground, has signed a multiyear deal with Amazon-owned Audible to make original audio content after ending its three-year run with Spotify.

The terms of the agreement announced on Tuesday were not disclosed. The deal gives Audible the right to have a first look at new material before others in the industry get access to it.

Higher Ground signed its first podcast deal with Spotify in 2019 and went on to make shows such as The Michelle Obama Podcast and Born in the USA, a series of conversations between the former US president and musician Bruce Springsteen.

The Swedish audiostreaming platform declined to renew its deal with Higher Ground, prompting the Obamas to seek new partners, Bloomberg News reported in April.

The report said Higher Ground was then in talks with other distributors about a deal worth tens of millions of dollars, among the most lucrative in the podcasting business.

Reuters