Podcasts are coming to YouTube Music. The streaming music service plans to add podcasts “in the near future,” YouTube’s head of podcasting, Kai Chuk, told Ariel Shapiro at Hot Pod Summit. The addition will pit YouTube Music even more directly against Spotify, which has looked to podcasts – and big exclusives like Joe Rogan – as a way to retain users and grow its audience. “If someone wants to watch a podcast, we have a solution,” Chuk said. “If someone wants to listen to a podcast only, we should have a great experience for that as well.” YouTube Music will allow free ad-supported background listening to podcasts and offer “enhanced library tools,” Chuk said. There’ll also be a podcast badge to designate audio-first shows. YouTube hit 80 million subscribers last year for its Music and Premium services, the latter of which includes both Music and ad-free YouTube. The company isn’t currently looking at adding exclusive shows or licensed originals. Chuk and Steve McLendon, Google’s product lead for podcasting, said the goal of YouTube Music’s podcasting features was to build great tools for the people making shows.