Spotify's new app goes head-to-head with Google NotebookLM.

In the evolving landscape of AI-driven tools, a prevalent trend among companies is integrating various digital services such as email, calendars, documents, and notes to generate personalized daily summaries in either text or audio format. Spotify is embracing this innovation with the release of a new standalone desktop application, 'Studio by Spotify Labs,' specifically designed for this purpose.

The company recently unveiled a feature within Studio that allows users to explore specific topics by generating a podcast about them. This podcast creation tool is further enhanced by incorporating personal context. Reflecting current industry trends, the new Studio app includes an intelligent agent capable of browsing the web and retrieving personal information to craft highly individualized podcasts.

For instance, the tool can produce a daily briefing or a podcast directly from a user's email and schedule. Users can also articulate complex, multi-step requests, such as: “Create a daily audio brief for my road trip through Italy. Walk me through my day using my calendar and bookings. Recommend a memorable dinner spot near where I’ll be. And end with a podcast recommendation I’d love for the drive” to generate a comprehensive podcast experience.

All these AI-generated podcasts are exclusively saved within the user's Spotify library for private consumption and are seamlessly synced across all their devices. They are not made publicly accessible.

Spotify, the audio company, issued a cautionary note, stating that this is an early preview of the application. Users should be aware that AI can inherently make mistakes and may, at times, produce unreliable content.

The application is being rolled out as a research preview in more than 20 markets. Spotify has indicated that access will be granted to selected users who are 18 years of age or older.

This new tool enters a competitive arena, notably poised against Google’s NotebookLM, which began popularizing podcast generation based on selected source material several years ago. True to its nature, Google also introduced a separate feature for creating daily podcasts derived from its Discover feed. Since then, the approach of generating podcasts to delve into topics or provide daily briefings has been adopted by various companies, including Adobe and ElevenLabs, as well as applications like Hero and Huxe.

Spotify's introduction of this desktop app builds upon the company's recent launch of a command-line tool, which enabled users of coding environments like Claude Code or Codex to create and save personal podcasts to their Spotify library. With the advent of the new Studio app and its personal podcast feature, this advanced offering is now also accessible to non-coders.

This launch further underscores Spotify's strategic ambition to be deeply involved in all facets of audio. The desktop application could pave the way for more integrated podcast creation features in the future. Moreover, there is speculation that the new app might evolve to capture system audio, potentially transforming into a Granola-style notetaker. While this remains a possibility, the success of startups like Rewind and Cluely in meeting transcription suggests this could become another area of strategic interest for Spotify further down the line.