Spotify is trialing e-learning video courses for DJing and more, but only in the UK for now
Want to learn how to DJ? How about how to write a song? Or record music? As of today (Monday, March 25), you can access hundreds of online video courses that can teach you these skills and much more on Spotify.
The new video courses feature is being tested in the UK only for now, and is available for both free and premium subscribers. It’s not yet clear how long the testing period will last, or whether the courses will be rolled out to more countries, but following the launch of Spotify’s new music video feature earlier this month it’s clear that video is an area where Spotify will increasingly be offering new features .
Those in the UK will be able to access video courses, in Full HD, from leading educational companies, including BBC Maestro, PLAYvirtuoso, SkillShare and Thinkific, all of whom have partnered with Spotify to bring their creators’ video courses to the platform. Each partner specializes in a different area of education – for instance, PLAYvirtuoso focuses in delivering artist-led courses for musical skills – so there are a broad range of topics to explore.
Spotify has grouped these topics under four main themes: 'Make music', 'Get creative', 'Learn business' and 'Healthy living' – all of which include courses that are currently available from its partners. None of the courses are exclusive to Spotify, and while you'll have to pay to unlock them – each course varies in price, but will range from £20 to £80 – you'll be able to trial at least two lessons for free before having to purchase the course.
How to access Spotify’s video courses
If you're based in the UK, you'll be able to try out Spotify's new courses feature in the mobile or desktop app. Navigate to the Courses page, and you'll find a selection of courses available to try out from a range of creators. You can also search for courses, which will also bring up the new courses page.
These courses are divided by the four main themes mentioned above – each of which has its own page that amalgamates all relevant content. You can also explore a random selection from different themes by scrolling past the themes, where you'll see courses such as 'How to build your dream business' or 'How to make AI work for you'.
Each course has its own dedicated page that will show a trailer for what you'll learn, alongside a breakdown of the number of lessons, how long each lesson is, an overview of what you'll learn in each lesson, and some info about who created the course. As mentioned, each course will have two lessons that you can try for free before having to pay to unlock the full course.
Spotify leans into interactive content
With videos finally being added to Spotify, it's likely that we'll increasingly see more trials like this as the platform competes with its rival best music streaming services – a lot of which now offer more than the ability to stream audio – to add more interactive content.
Spotify says it's already seeing a lot of engagement in educational content via podcasts and audiobooks, and this new feature is designed to be an extension of that, allowing users to further explore their interests in different ways.
As Spotify's product director for the new feature, Mohit Jitani, says: "This gives creators in the learning space the opportunity to bring their content to a new audience and grow their reach." So, if you're already a fan of Carl Cox (for example) then you'll be pleased to find that you can now learn how to become a successful DJ from the British artist himself.
