Listening to TED Talks and educational podcasts probably won’t turn you into the next Steve Jobs, so Spotify is doing one better by offering video learning courses.
The tutorials are available now on the Spotify mobile app and offer guidance on four main topics including music, business, healthy living and creativity from celebs and experts alike.
If you fancy a pep talk from startup whisperer Steven Bartlett, then you can watch his BBC Maestro masterclass. Gary Barlow is also on hand to help you pen that ballad you’re just aching to release. All told, the classes span a breadth of subjects from artificial intelligence to flower arranging to yoga and more.
With the launch of learning courses, Spotify is expanding into an entirely new category after previously offering podcasts and audiobooks. Like the latter, video courses aren’t entirely free and a bit tricky to use due to Spotify’s convoluted payments method.
Here’s everything you need to know to get started with Spotify learning courses, including how much they cost and how to purchase them.
Where to find Spotfiy video courses
Following an update on Tuesday April 2, video courses are now scattered throughout the Spotify mobile app.
You can find them by scrolling through the categories at the top of the home page and tapping the “courses” button.
They also have their own tile on the Search page below music, podcasts and audiobooks. Furthermore, your saved courses can be found in “Your Library” and filtered using the “podcasts and courses” button.
How Spotify video courses work
At launch, video courses are available to Spotify users in the UK only. While you can browse the full range on your phone, and even preview a few episodes for free, you’ll need to visit Spotify’s desktop website to purchase full courses.
Classes, which are split up across multiple lessons, can range from just over an hour to a dozen hours or more. Publishers include BBC Maestro, PLAYvirtuoso, Skillshare and Thinkific.
If you like the look of a learning course, you can buy it from the dedicated website by logging in with your Spotify details and clicking the purchase button. Spotify will then ask for your payment details before completing the transaction – after which the course should appear in your library.
How much are video courses on Spotify?
Browsing through the new category, we noticed that prices for courses range from £11 to £240.
Generally speaking, tutorials on a specific topic typically cost around the same amount. For instance, DJ and electronic music courses are priced between £15 to £35. But, the Foundations of Electronic Music courses parts one and two by Underdog cost £240 each. For many courses, the sweet spot is between £40 to £50.
How does Spotify compare with other online learning platforms?
As it's still in its infancy, Spotify’s new courses offering doesn’t offer the same variety as more established learning platforms.
We’re talking about the likes of Udemy, Masterclass and Coursera, which offer a mix of on-demand and subscription classes. There are also specific apps like Duolingo and SuperProf for things like foreign languages and more hands-on tutoring. All of which is to say that there’s plenty to choose from for those eager to learn.
As to costs, Udemy charges between £10 and £200 for a tutorial from its library of 210,000 courses. It also offers an individual subscription for £15 a month with access to 11,000 of its top courses.
On the other hand, Masterclass starts from £120 a year for access to hours and hours of video of top talent elaborating on their careers (think Serena Williams, Natalie Portman and Mark Cuban).
For those looking for university-level learning, there’s Coursera. The platform offers online degrees, job skills and shorter classes. Individual courses range from £40 to £65 a month, while a subscription costs £47 a month or £322 a year. The latter covers roughly 90 per cent of the courses on the site but doesn’t give you access to online degrees and training from some partners such as IBM and Stanford University.
