Spotify Podcast Union Is Ready to Strike Over Contract Terms

(Bloomberg) -- A Spotify Technology SA podcast union said its members are willing to walk off the job if the company doesn’t meet its contract demands, complicating the streaming giant’s effort to build out that business.

The Parcast Union, affiliated with the Writers Guild of America, East, is meeting with management for final contract negotiations this month and said outstanding issues include staff diversity, control of intellectual property rights and pay. 

“While any negotiation is just that, and requires compromise, the Parcast Union believes it has already made significant compromises, and that the impetus now lies with management to make significant movement on at least some of their positions,” the union wrote in a letter to management. 

The bargaining committee told Bloomberg News that Spotify specifically doesn’t want to commit to a request that half of job candidates who make it past the phone interview stage be people of color, people who identify as LGBTQ+ or people with disabilities. They also added they haven’t agreed on acceptable salary minimums.

Some 97% of union members signed the pledge to strike, across the research, writing, fact-checking and production departments. Parcast makes shows like Brené Brown’s “Unlocking Us” and “Dare to Lead,” as well as Ashley Flowers’ “Very Presidential.”

The business is the last of Spotify’s three podcast studios without a final contract. Gimlet Media and the Ringer both ratified their agreements last year and established minimum base pay, as well as annual increases and severance. However, neither secured an agreement on intellectual property that would allow members to own their work or share in the benefits of derivative works. 

A strike would be a first for Spotify and would come at a particularly fraught time for its podcast ambitions. The company laid off the internal team at its fourth podcast studio, known as Studio 4, in January, and has struggled to get much of its headline-driving content off the ground. 

Parcast, for example, was said to be producing Kim Kardashian’s criminal justice show, but has yet to even release the name of the program. Archewell Audio, from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, only just announced the forthcoming release of a podcast this summer, over a year after their deal began. Meanwhile, Barack and Michelle Obamas’ content arm, Higher Ground, is also reportedly shopping for a new partner after producing multiple shows with Spotify, according to Insider.

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