Spotify brings ‘Mordlust’ creators into Legends’ Club as German true-crime podcast hits 400 million plays

Spotify is turning a major milestone for one of Germany’s best-known true-crime shows into a live creator-and-fan moment. On July 29, the company released a video episode featuring Paulina Krasa and Laura Wohlers, the hosts behind Mordlust, as part of Spotify’s Legend’s Club, a series that pairs German-language podcast creators with their biggest listeners.

Mordlust, which the hosts began in 2018 as an after-hours passion project, has grown into a mainstream hit. Spotify says the show has surpassed 400 million plays across 243 episodes, ranking as the No. 1 true-crime podcast in Germany and Europe and as the 17th most-streamed podcast on Spotify worldwide.

The video episode follows an intimate live recording at Funkhaus Berlin, an iconic Berlin venue and culture center, according to Spotify. The company said dedicated Berlin-based Mordlust listeners were invited to join the recording as the hosts marked the podcast’s eighth anniversary.

Krasa and Wohlers described how Mordlust started alongside full-time work in television. They said they researched, wrote, and recorded episodes in the evenings and on weekends, without expecting the project to expand beyond a side effort.

They also said the turning point came when they left their permanent television jobs to focus on Mordlust, describing the decision as both exciting and frightening. Spotify’s Newsroom interview frames the shift as recognition that the podcast had become “much bigger” than the creators first imagined.

On content, the hosts said they designed Mordlust around victims and people whose lives were affected by the crimes, not just perpetrators. They said many true-crime formats tend to focus primarily on offenders, especially serial killers, leaving victims as a “footnote,” and they aimed to reverse that imbalance.

They emphasized that their goal is not to sensationalize. Spotify said the pair speak with victims, families, and others directly affected before telling their stories, and sometimes include those voices in episodes. They also said they consider whether those affected might one day hear the episode, and aim for the story to be handled with respect and care.

The hosts, both coming from journalism backgrounds, tied the show’s credibility to accuracy and an editorial workflow. Spotify said every episode undergoes a “rigorous editorial process” before release, including work with experienced editors, legal experts, and specialists through what the hosts described as Partner in Crime, an opportunity that they say has helped raise production to a more professional level as the audience grew.

Spotify’s Legends’ Club format underscores how podcasting partnerships have evolved from simple distribution into branded community experiences. The company said the program brings together creators of German-language podcasts with more than 100 million plays and their biggest fans, using live events to deepen engagement beyond the listening app.

Still, the release provides limited detail on how Spotify plans to translate these creator events into measurable outcomes, such as subscriptions or advertising revenue. It also does not specify whether Mordlust’s anniversary programming includes additional formats beyond the video episode, or what metrics Spotify will use to judge the Legends’ Club model going forward.