Spotify threatens industry with ad-skipping tool: "Skip Ahead" is available for Premium users in selected markets, and enables them to skip entire ad breaks, intros, sponsorship messages.

Ad skipping sounds wonderfully pro consumer until you remember somebody has to pay for the podcast: If listeners skip every ad, block tracking and still expect endless free shows, the economics eventually stop working. You can’t demand independent media while systematically deleting the mechanism that funds it.