And not all of the celebrity partnerships were flourishing. As Puck reported last year, there was friction between Spotify and Higher Ground, the Obamas' production studio. While both Barack and Michelle Obama hosted individual podcasts on the platform, Spotify executives had hoped that they would play major roles in other podcasts that Higher Ground was producing for Spotify. Higher Ground, for its part, had told Spotify from the beginning that the studio's entire goal was to elevate a group of stories and voices, not just the ones of its founders. Higher Ground left Spotify for Audible.