Well, Spotify has tried very hard to convince people that its profit margins are gonna improve.

Spotify 一直試圖使人們相信他們的毛利率將提升

Because the big challenge for them, as successful as they've been in creating this market for on-demand music

儘管他們在創建這個隨選音樂市場時很成功

and really lifting the record industry up after several years of decline,

也確實在唱片業衰退數餘年之後，將其救了回來

the company itself is not profitable because it pays out so much to rights holders.

他們最大的挑戰是 Spotify 本身幾乎無利潤可言，因為付了太多版權費給音樂人

And all these other types of programming, whether it's news, culture, podcast, video,

如果嘗試其他類型的聲音節目，無論是新聞、流行文化、播客、影片

are ones where… if they're successful in them, they can bring in new customers,

成功的話，將幫助他們引進新客群

maybe sell some ads and they don't have to spend as much and it will improve the margin picture,

或許還能出售一些廣告，不必付那麼多版權費，也能使毛利率曲線好看一些

which is a big concern both for the current investors and for future shareholders.

現行投資人或未來股東都很關注這點

Right, the cost of music rights is incredibly high, Spotify has been steadily diversifying,

沒錯，音樂版權的成本高得驚人，而 Spotify 也持續多角化經營

so what are some of the other projects they've been working on and how successful have they been?

究竟還有哪些是他們一直努力嘗試的項目？有多成功？

It's been mixed, you know, for the past few years they've dabbled in video and then forms of audios that aren't music.

這有點複雜，過去幾年來，Spotify 已涉足影片與音樂以外的影音服務

So they initially hosted videos from media companies like VICE and ESPN, then they funded original video series.

他們起初引入如 VICE 和體育頻道 ESPN 等媒體公司的短片，而後他們自己開始資助原創影音

None of the video projects really worked and the executives are pretty aware of that.

但這些項目都沒有真正成功，而管理階層也意識到這件事

Podcasting holds more promise.

他們了解到 podcasting 的製作更有保障

They've had some uptake with some of the big podcasts like the New York Times - The Daily.

他們從一些規模大的 podcast 像是紐約時報的 The Daily 領悟到了這點

And now Spotlight is trying to fuse these two ideas together where you take audio and enhance a little bit with some visual elements.

而現在新服務 Spotlight 試圖將兩者融合，打造具備視覺元素的聲音內容

Because I think Spotify has come to the conclusion that

因為我認為 Spotify 得出的結論是

having the original video and trying to compete the head-to-head and that way with YouTube won't work,

擁有原創影音，想與 YouTube 正面競爭是不可能成功的

but if they can take the thing that people come there to do, which is listen to audio, and make it a little better,

但如果 Spotify 能掌握人們本來就會在 Spotify 上做的事，也就是聽音樂，然後優化它

then that can work and maybe they can sell ads at a higher rate because there's a visual element to it.

那麼這將是個商機，因為其搭配了視覺元素，或許能以更高的價格出售廣告

What do you think consumer adoption will be like for news and political coverage on Spotify?

你認為消費者會如何接受 Spotify 上推播的新聞和政治報導？

I mean there's already a huge competition as you mentioned coming from Apple and Google.

我是指，誠如你前面提到的，要如何應付來自 Apple 和 Google 的競爭

I think there's huge potential for it because if you think about someone, I mean I just think about it personally.

我認為這之中有很大的發展潛力，因為你仔細想想看，就拿我個人來說

On my way to work, I tend to toggle between listening to podcasts, listening to music and listening to the radio.

我去上班的途中，往往會在音樂、podcast、廣播等應用程式之間切換

And switching from the podcast app to Spotify for listening to music is kind of a hassle.

為了要聽個音樂，還必須從 podcast 的應用程式切換到 Spotify，這樣不是很麻煩嗎？

So if they can deliver podcast and news in a way where I can do that in the same app where I'm listening to music,

所以如果能將這些功能合併在同一個應用程式

that's the behavior that it's replicable for a lot of different people.

相信會適用於許多人

But they do have a lot of competition and they do have to get the word out there

但 Spotify 確實面臨許多競爭，也確實需要讓更多人知道

that if you want to listen to podcasts, which is a growing medium, you can do so on Spotify.

如果你想聽 podcast 這種正在發展的媒體，可以透過 Spotify 享受這項服務

You don't have to do so using the Apple app, which is still the market leader

不再只有 Apple 的應用程式才能做到，雖然現在 Apple 仍是市場的龍頭

and accounts for fifty or sixty percent of all podcast listening.

佔了百分之五十或六十的 podcast 服務