NEW YORK — Spotify wants to help you jog, watch videos, and catch up on podcasts — all in addition to listening to music — moves that will put the company into competition with Apple, YouTube, and other technology outlets. Spotify, which has come to dominate the world of subscription streaming music services, announced a series of changes to its mobile app Wednesday, just ahead of the expected arrival of a competing service from Apple. New features on Spotify include podcasts, short video clips, and playlists that anticipate what kind of music or media a user might be interested in, based on time of day. New content will come from various media outlets like Comedy Central, NBC, Maker Studios, Nerdist, and the BBC. Another feature matches the tempo of music in a workout playlist to a runner’s pace. In one symbol of how closely it competes with Apple, Spotify also announced a partnership with Nike, which has been closely associated with Apple and iTunes for years. Apple, which last year paid $3 billion for Beats, the headphone company and streaming service, has said little about its plans. But the music industry is gearing up for what could be a colossal fight. Spotify has 15 million paying users around the world, and 45 million more who listen free with advertising. Snapchat also offers short-form video and audio clips, as do YouTube and Yahoo. Tidal offers thousands of high-definition videos, many of them exclusive. And this week Deezer, another music streaming outlet, introduced about 20,000 podcasts. — NEW YORK TIMES
While saying that it still a music company at heart, Spotify says it is expanding is lineup to include podcasts, news radio and video streaming.