Spotify just announced a partnership with Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground.

Through this deal, Spotify says the Obamas will “develop, produce, and lend their voices to select podcasts, connecting them to listeners around the world on wide-ranging topics.”

Higher Ground was founded in 2018 as the Obamas signed a content partnership with Netflix. The company’s initial slate for Netflix was announced just over a month ago, covering everything from a Sundance documentary about industrial development in Ohio, to a scripted anthology adapted from a New York Times series profiling noteworthy names who didn’t previously receive Times obituaries.

Spotify, meanwhile, has been getting more serious about podcasting with the acquisition of startups Gimlet and Anchor, as well as by hiring longtime media executive Dawn Ostroff as its chief content officer.

Like the initial Netflix announcement, the release from Spotify doesn’t include launch dates or information about specific titles. As part of this collaboration, the production company will be launching Higher Ground Audio, a new division focused on podcasts.

“We’re excited about Higher Ground Audio because podcasts offer an extraordinary opportunity to foster productive dialogue, make people smile and make people think, and, hopefully, bring us all a little closer together,” said the former U.S. president in a statement.

Source: New feed