Coming to an Ear Near You: The Obamas Will Make Spotify Podcasts in Addition to Netflix Deal

"We're thrilled to have the opportunity to amplify voices that are too often ignored or silenced altogether, and through Spotify, we can share those stories with the world," Mrs. Obama said

Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama will partner with Spotify to develop exclusive podcasts, according to an announcement Thursday from the couple’s production company.

The Obamas will “develop, produce, and lend their voices to select podcasts” that will cover “wide-ranging topics,” according to a statement from their production company, Higher Ground.

The move into podcasts comes after an April announcement detailing the Obamas’ lengthy slate of projects with Netflix that are set to be released in the coming years. The productions include TV series, films and documentaries, such as a kids’ show and a Frederick Douglas biopic.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to amplify voices that are too often ignored or silenced altogether, and through Spotify, we can share those stories with the world,” Mrs. Obama, 55, said in a statement on Thursday.

The podcast format will enable the Obamas to reach out to people from around the world, according Spotify Chief Content Officer Dawn Ostroff.

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“President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are two of the world’s most important voices and it is a privilege to be working with them to identify and share stories that will inspire our global audience, which looks to Spotify for unique, breakthrough content,” Ostroff said in a statement.

President Obama, 57, said that 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.”

Since leaving the White House in 2017, the Obamas have eschewed national politics in favor of social causes and their personal memoirs. Mrs. Obama’s Becoming, released last year, was a blockbuster seller. Her husband is working on his for future release.

In an April cover story for The Hollywood Reporter, Oprah Winfrey said she was excited about the Obamas’ Netflix work.

“There’s nobody like them. Nobody,” she said. “Their desire to want to use this medium to tell stories, to show us our history, to bring an informational, inspirational approach to content — I’m looking forward to seeing whatever that’s going to be.”