Spotify buys one of the biggest podcast companies - Bill Simmons' The Ringer

Spotify has acquired The Ringer, a media company that includes a culture website and a massive podcast operation. This is the fourth podcast company acquisition Spotify has made in the last 12 months - last year it spent about $400 million to buy Gimlet Media, Anchor FM, and Parcast, announcing a year ago they intend to spend $500 million on its podcasting effort, according to the Wall Street Journal. Spotify hopes that adding a podcast business to its core music service will help them bring in new users, and keep existing users around longer, as reported by the Vox. Music Industry Blog looks at the business side of Spotify - "there are the first signs of the new company that Spotify is building – and they point to a very different and much bolder future".