Netflix spoke to Spotify about tie-up on music shows, celebrity interviews to boost unscripted TV content

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) has held talks for a partnership with Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) on music shows, live concert series, big celebrity interviews, and shorter-turnaround documentaries, according to a Wall Street Journal report from Wednesday.

The streaming giant is currently working on rebooting the classic American talent show Star Search and is set to launch its new music-focused show, Building the Band, debuting on July 9.

Building the Band will be on-demand, but the show’s finale could be live if there is a second season, Brandon Riegg, VP of nonfiction series and sports at Netflix, told WSJ. He added that the Star Search reboot will allow fans to vote live.

Sources told WSJ that Netflix is also planning for another music competition, which it hopes to release in the coming months.

People familiar with the industry discussions have said that while executives at Netflix have considered celebrity interviews, they argued about whether people would be attracted to watch them immediately after seeing snippets of them on social media.

The company is working on a pilot with the Daily Beast, focusing on quick-turnaround, buzzy, nonpolitical news events.

The report said Jeff Gaspin, who is helping Netflix produce the next hit music competition show and expand unscripted content, doesn’t expect Netflix to become a full-fledged programmer of news. “You can’t cover news and be a news organization occasionally,” he said.