Spotify’s New Tie-Up to Allow Listeners Play Music, Podcasts from Facebook App

Facebook last week said it planned to launch several audio products, including Clubhouse-style live audio rooms and a way for users to find and play podcasts.

The new integration is rolling out in 27 markets, including the U.S. and Canada, with additional markets to follow in the coming month, Spotify said in a statement.

Spotify’s paid subscribers would be able to access full playback without advertisements without leaving the Facebook app.

Apple last week said it will launch podcast subscriptions, which will let users pay to unlock new content and additional benefits like ad-free listening, intensifying competition with Spotify.

Both Spotify and Facebook have been fighting Apple on different fronts, from privacy changes on iOS devices to the 30% fee levied on app developers to use the iPhone maker’s in-app purchase system.

Apple has said its App Store helped Spotify to benefit from hundreds of millions of app downloads to become Europe’s largest music streaming service.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee, European Technology & Telecoms Correspondent, based in Stockholm; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)