On April 18 and 19, experts from across the audio industry-including artists, publishers, and marketing and advertising professionals-will once again gather in Berlin for Spotify's All Ears Podcast Summit and All Music Friday Summit.
Attendees will have the opportunity to take part in panel discussions and workshops and see performances and live podcast recordings. This year's events follow the tremendous success of our 2023 summits in Berlin, during which All Ears made history as the country's largest-ever podcast event.
For the Record sat down with Michael Krause, Spotify's General Manager for Europe and the managing director for the summits, to talk audio trends, the music and podcasting scenes in Germany, and more.
What are you most looking forward to at this year's summits? I'm very excited to bring the industry back together and continue our conversations around the future of the audio field in Germany. I'm of course partial to seeing some of my Spotify colleagues talk, like Sten Garmark, who oversees the user experience and has worked on countless new functionalities we've rolled out these past few months, or Sulinna Ong, who leads our global music editorial teams. But most importantly, I believe it's the energy in the room, the unexpected discussions that will pop up, that make it so thrilling.
What are some of the most exciting and interesting trends you're seeing in audio, locally and globally? What's got me excited is the new ad formats launched over the past few months and the enthusiasm we're seeing here in Germany, as well as across Europe. We're innovating on the ad experience, we're introducing better targeting with tools like Streaming Ad Insertion, we're helping advertisers reach podcast listeners at scale with the Spotify Audience Network, and we're proving the impact of digital audio advertising with Spotify Ad Analytics. Most recently, we launched call-to-action cards (CTA cards) in Germany as a new format that makes podcast ads interactive for the first time, with an experience that enables listeners to hear, see, and click.
Germany is one of the largest music markets globally. How is Spotify contributing to that growth? It's always been our mission to create connections between fans and artists the world over. We've lowered barriers to entry into the music field, and we're seeing more and more artists thriving on Spotify. What is of the utmost importance to me, and to my teams, is that we enable the new professional artists of tomorrow to find success on our platform. Our programs such as EQUAL and RADAR are empowering them to do just that.
You've been at Spotify for seven years now. What are some of the most impactful changes you've witnessed during your tenure? When I joined Spotify, podcasts were barely a thing. Seven years later, we've grown into podcasting, audiobooks, and have just launched courses in the U.K. But most importantly, we've gone from being available in 80+ countries then to 180+ countries today. Over 600 million people use Spotify-that's so many opportunities for audio creators to connect to new fans. I've always been a big believer in the company, but the growth, the developments have taken us all on an incredible journey. And I'm even more excited for what lies ahead, both as a user and as a bandmate.
Podcasts are huge in Germany. How do you think the local podcast market will continue to evolve? Any specific goals you have? We've launched so many tools and functionalities over the past year that enable creators to develop and engage with their communities, and it's rewarding to see them start using them. Video podcasts are one of those, and it's such an incredible, different way to interact with fans. We want to continue to allow all of our creators to develop and grow their audiences on our platform to give them the flexibility of deciding what makes the most sense for their content and for their communities.
You've just unveiled the Loud and Clear report for 2023 in Germany. What's most compelling to you, and what opportunities lie ahead for Spotify in Germany? What's most impressive to me is that German artists were discovered for the first time in 2023 more than 6.7 billion times. That's a staggering amount of discoveries, and that directly goes back to our mission-to unlock the potential of audio creators at large and connect them to their audiences worldwide. And what's both an opportunity and a massive success is that revenues generated by Spotify for German artists grew by 14% from 2022 to 2023, whereas Germany's music industry revenues at large grew by 7% in that time frame. Spotify revenues in that market grew twice as fast. We have become a key driver and contributor to the German music industry, and we're excited to continue partnering with artists and creators in Germany to further develop their careers.
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
12/03/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 11th March, 2026 - Yospace, the trusted leader in Dyna...
12/03/2026
In Latin America, women are shaping music and defining its future. To kick off t...
12/03/2026
En Am rica Latina, las mujeres est n moldeando la m sica y definiendo su futuro....
12/03/2026
Let's turn back the clock 20 years: The music landscape was a world away fro...
12/03/2026
Bad Bunny is no stranger to Spotify's Billions Club. In fact, he has a whopp...
12/03/2026
Spotify was at the London Book Fair this week, joining conversations across the publishing industry about how people can make reading part of their daily lives....
12/03/2026
Mastering tool improves mono compatibility
Tokyo Dawn Labs' Ohlhorst Digital range is a series of mastering-focused plug-ins developed by Jan Ohlhorst, ...
12/03/2026
Wave FX processor integrated into four products
Lewitt have teamed up with Elgato to create a new processor for the company's Wave Next product range, i...
12/03/2026
Free tool for annotating audio files
Mix Notes is a new, free iOS App that provides users with a simple way to annotate their audio files. It's been cre...
12/03/2026
Side-chain ducking tool gets an upgrade
Devious Machines' popular side-chaining and envelope-shaping tool has just been kitted out with an improved enve...
12/03/2026
Ceremony to take place on 16 April 2026
The MPG (Music Producers Guild) have revealed the full shortlist for this year's MPG Awards, which will be takin...
12/03/2026
Emulates three classic dbx 160 variants
The latest arrival to Overloud's Gem Series plug-in range faithfully recreates not one, but three versions of th...
12/03/2026
New granular soft synth announced
Said to be their most advanced software synthesizer to date, Baby Audio's latest release has been built on a new granu...
12/03/2026
Latest version now live!
Edit 11 March 2026 - Bitwig Studio 6 is now live, and available for all to download!
The latest version of Bitwig's DAW softwa...
12/03/2026
Latest free eBook now available!
Designed for recording engineers, audio-technology students and technically minded musicians, our latest free eBook deliver...
12/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity expands SITLine network encryptor portfolio - more...
12/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to showcase future-proof EMC testing solutions at EMV 2026 Rohde & Schwarz will participate in EMV 2026, Europe's premier trade fair and c...
12/03/2026
Modern media operations demand a platform that unites automation, orchestration, and human oversight without compromise. In this post, we explore the six key te...
12/03/2026
A deep dive into the platform
Architecture The Blue Lucy platform follows a distributed microservices architecture, meaning the overall operational capability...
12/03/2026
Orchestration platform enables broadcasters to deploy multiple AI models safely with full auditability, rights protection, and regulatory oversight.
LONDON, En...
12/03/2026
Wuppertal March 12, 2026
Riedel Expands Managed Technology Division in the Ame...
12/03/2026
Advanced Media Server Delivers Double the Channel Density at Half the Cost per C...
12/03/2026
The Late Late Show Show St Patrick's Day special
Dancing with the Stars f...
11/03/2026
First Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) deployment of the emergency.lu platform for refugees and their host communities' use provides dependable broadband for humani...
11/03/2026
Following a successful first series, UKTV today announces the commission of two ...
11/03/2026
Wednesday 11 March 2026
Sky and CANAL launch new partnership to develop English-language drama
Sky and CANAL are today announcing a strategic co commissioni...
11/03/2026
NTCA, Cartesian Release New Report on the Business Case for USF
March 11, 2026
Network Economics
News
NTCA - March 11, 2026 - As the FCC and Congr...
11/03/2026
TELL US YOUR (SHORT) STORIES
The 2026 RT Short Story Competition is now open for entries
Recognising and rewarding the best new Irish fiction writing for...
11/03/2026
RT 's The Traitors Ireland is among the nominees for the 2026 Celtic Media Festival Torc Awards for Excellence, announced today....
10/03/2026
10 Mar 2026
VEON's Largest Market Pakistan Almost Triples Mobile Spectrum i...
09/03/2026
Contains all six dual-ensemble libraries
VSL's Duality Strings series offers an intriguing alternative to your average string library, capturing two str...
09/03/2026
Outstanding Contribution To UK Music
Photo: Samuel Bradley
Ahead of their upcoming MPG Awards, the Music Producers Guild (MPG) have revealed the latest win...
09/03/2026
Two new high-quality DI boxes announced
Boasting some impressive technical specifications and versatile routing options, Strymon's latest active DI boxe...
09/03/2026
Latest MPE-capable Soundbox library released
The follow-up release for Sonora Cinematic's Pure Nylon has arrived, and becomes the latest addition to the...
09/03/2026
Popular wireless mic head design revived
Sennheiser have revealed that the MD 9235, a cardioid mic head designed to pair up with their handheld wireless sys...
09/03/2026
Captures two sought-after Dumble combo amps
The latest TONEX release captures a pair of sought-after Dumble amplifiers from IK Multimedia's private amp ...
09/03/2026
Flexible all-analogue insert matrix joins line-up
HUM Audio Devices don't tend to do things by halves - even the quickest of glances at the likes of the...
09/03/2026
Captures three sought-after pianos
Rhodes latest software release brings together a collection of three virtual pianos: a concert grand, an acoustic upright...
09/03/2026
Flagship compressor gets an upgrade
Techivation's flagship compressor plug-in has just been treated to a ground-up rebuild that kits it out with some po...
09/03/2026
Profiler OS 14.0 enters open beta
Kemper's amp-modelling systems already have a great reputation, but the latest update to their systems' underlying...
09/03/2026
Procedural stems smasher & recomposition engine
Blinksonic have recently launched a new Reaktor-based tool which they say takes a radical departure from yo...
09/03/2026
13 - 15 March 2026 at University of Warwick Conference Centre
The Institute of Professional Sound (IPS) have announced that The IPS Training Weekend 2026 wi...
09/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and NETGEAR collaborate for next generation Wi-Fi 8 access point...
09/03/2026
UKTV has agreed a new partnership deal with Samsung that makes UKTV's free linear channels available to internet-only Samsung TV viewers in the UK for the f...
On April 18 and 19, experts from across the audio industry-including artists, publishers, and marketing and advertising professionals-will once again gather in Berlin for Spotify's All Ears Podcast Summit and All Music Friday Summit.
