Spotify takes on Google’s NotebookLM with its new app

Spotify takes on Google's NotebookLM with its new app | TechCrunch

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Spotify takes on Google’s NotebookLM with its new app

Ivan Mehta

8:27 AM PDT · May 21, 2026

One of the common features for companies to build in the age of AI is to connect services like email, calendar, documents, and notes to create a daily brief in text or audio format. Spotify is also giving in to this temptation and releasing a new stand-alone desktop app called Studio by Spotify Labs for this purpose.

Today, the company released the ability for users to explore a topic by creating a podcast about it. Spotify is also adding personal context to this podcast-generation tool. And, because in 2026 companies can’t refrain from adding agents to their apps, the new Studio app has an agent that can browse the web and fetch personal information to create a personal podcast.

For instance, the tool can create a daily briefing or a podcast based on your email and schedule. Users can also make a multistep request like “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 podcast.

All these AI-generated podcasts are saved in your Spotify library for personal consumption and are synced across devices. They are not available publicly.

The audio company warned that this is an early preview of the app, and AI can make mistakes and may output unreliable content all the time.

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The company is releasing this app in research preview to more than 20 markets. It said that the app will be available to select users who are 18 years or older.

The tool will compete with Google’s NotebookLM, which started popularizing podcast generation based on selected source material a few years ago. And in true Google fashion, the company also released another separate feature to create a daily podcast based on the Discover feed. Since then, the format of creating a podcast to explore a topic or get daily briefings has been adopted by companies like Adobe and ElevenLabs and apps like Hero and Huxe.

Spotify’s launch of the desktop app follows its recent debut of a command-line tool for users of coding tools like Claude Code or Codex to create personal podcasts and save them to their Spotify library. With the new Studio app and personal podcast feature, non-coders can now also take advantage of this offering.

The launch is another example of how Spotify wants to be involved in all things audio. With its desktop app, Spotify could offer more integrations for creating podcasts in the future. Plus, it could use the new app to capture system audio to become a Granola-style notetaker. While this is a speculation, we have seen startups like Rewind and Cluely become meeting notetakers, so it could become another area of interest for the company further down the road.

Topics AI, AI generated podcasts, Apps, podcasts, Spotify

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Ivan Mehta

Ivan covers global consumer tech developments at TechCrunch. He is based out of India and has previously worked at publications including Huffington Post and The Next Web. You can contact or verify outreach from Ivan by emailing im@ivanmehta.com or via encrypted message at ivan.42 on Signal.

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