Tag: Football Club Barcelona

Here’s All the Artists, Creators, and Athletes You Can Blend with on Spotify

August 29, 2023

In 2021, Spotify took bonding over music to the next level with Blend, our shared social listening experience that combines the different tastes of friends and families, as well as fans and artists, into one. Whether you’re creating a Blend with your best friend, favorite musical artist, FC Barcelona player, or digital creator, you’re sure to receive a personalized playlist that merges your musical tastes to create something everyone can enjoy.

There’s now plenty of artists, athletes, and creators to Blend with on Spotify, and you can find the full list below. To create your own Blend with one of them, simply click the link in their name—and then let us do the rest. You’ll also receive a taste-match score and the songs that bring you two together.

Artists:

Athletes:

Creators:

How Spotify Brings FC Barcelona Players and Passionate Fans Together

June 20, 2023

CANNES, FRANCE - JUNE 19: (L to R) Bradford Ross, VP Global Sports & Entertainment Marketing and Partnerships at The Coca-Cola Company, Cesc Fàbregas, Pola Gomez, Benjamin Braun, Samsung Europe CMO and Jeremy Erlich, Spotify Global Head of Music participate in the Top Hits and Goal-Scoring Kicks: Fans, Football and Media session at Spotify Beach, during Cannes Lions on June 19, 2023 in Cannes, France. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Spotify)

For fans, the world of sports is more than what happens on the field or the outcome on the scoreboard. It’s about bringing people together. In this way, sports and music are similar—especially when it comes to the passion that fans have for each.

This week at Spotify Beach at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Spotify’s Head of Music, Jeremy Erlich, hosted a conversation between former FC Barcelona player Cesc Fàbregas, freestyle footballer Pola Gomez, Coca Cola’s VP of Global Sports and Entertainment Marketing and Partnerships, Bradford Ross, and Samsung’s European CMO, Benjamin Braun. Together, they dove into the fan culture surrounding sports, music and the ways each brand has harnessed this passion. 

“About a year ago, we signed our partnership with FC Barcelona,” Jeremy said at the start of the conversation. “It’s been an amazing partnership. Together, we set out to bring the world of  Football and Music together. For us, it’s about how we can use FC Barcelona’s huge scale and fanbase to celebrate artists and grow our brand in places like India, Indonesia and Latin America. Football and sport are different from music, but they have the similarities of having very passionate fan bases and having very young fanbases.”

Cesc Fàbregas knows something about an active fanbase. He joined his first professional team, Arsenal, at age 16, coming off the World Cup tournament where he was voted the best player and goal scorer. “Even though we lost the final against Brazil, that’s the first time I started signing shirts and taking pictures with people.” A few years later, Cesc joined his home country’s Football Club Barcelona, and led the team to victory at the world championships at age 23. But he stays humble.

“I always say that in football, you never know everything,” said Cesc. “It’s one of those sports you can always grow, even when you’re 32, 35, 37, and everyone around me has helped me learn. Everyday, I’m thankful for that.” 

Pola Gomez also started playing football at a young age, thanks to her family’s love of the sport. But after sustaining injuries to both knees, she transitioned to football freestyle, where she interacts with most of her fans through social media. “I am on social media first for sharing my passion, sharing my tricks, but also to show off this incredible football freestyle universe. I love being close to my community, to share tips, but also to motivate people, especially girls trying out the sport of their dreams,” she said. 

Jeremy dove deeper into music and branding with each athlete, and how their sport brings fans together. Read on for some top moments from their conversation.

Cesc: It [The Spotify partnership with FC Barcelona] is another level. You see how big the club can be around the world. Everywhere you go, they know you. They know the players, they know the brand. Spotify has made a great choice in joining us.

Jeremy: As part of our Barcelona partnership, twice this past year for the Clásico, which is one of the most watched sports in the world, we replaced the Spotify jersey with an artist logo. We did Drake for the first Clásico, and then we did ROSALiA for the second. And let’s specifically talk about ROSALiA: She’s been a Barcelona fan her entire life. So the emotional connection when we offered her the opportunity to be on the jersey was, I think, one of the most enriching things we’ve done with an artist. She was moved to tears because her family and all her friends could see her on the jersey. But I think that really brings the strength of local connections.

Cesc: I think music has a really big, big part for us in football. Normally, there’s one designated player that will take charge of the music and will play music that everyone likes. But Spain is the place where there’s the most chaos because everyone likes a different type of music. 

So each game, we pick a player who will dictate what’s going to happen musically in the locker room. It’s really, really important because in this half an hour before the game when we listen to music, we also just pump everyone up and we get motivated and excited for the game. 

Sometimes we have one song that we all pick that we all feel identified with and we’ll just go for it. And you know it’s time for action. 

Jeremy: When you think of what you want brands to associate with you, what do you think of? What’s most important to you? 

Pola: Most important for me is to keep my image as a strong woman with my style. I really try to accept only brands with my values and ethics. At first, I posted just for me, and now all people can see my free style and they love and appreciate it. It’s just crazy—I don’t really have words for that, but it’s just so cool to be able to simply enjoy my passion. I can’t imagine my life without my ball. We are like a duo. We express ourselves together.

Cesc: I think it’s most important to bring everyone together and fight for what’s good and fight against what’s not good. Because we always have a big thing to say as sportsmen, as people who represent many, many things around the world in terms of culture and diversity. We just have to always be positive and try to improve as the world is trying to improve.  

Catch all the conversations happening on the ground at Cannes on Newsroom.Spotfy.com/SpotifyBeach2023 and listen to the full conversation on Spotify.

Spotify Camp Nou ‘Glows’ With Spotify and FC Barcelona’s LGBTQIA+ Creator Takeover

May 24, 2023

LGBTQIA+ people are in music, art, television—and on the football pitch. So earlier this year when Spotify created GLOW to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community’s work, artistry, and impact on music and culture, we committed to elevating queer creators year-round in our efforts both on- and off-platform. This weekend, that meant bringing GLOW to Spotify Camp Nou, the home of FC Barcelona. 

During the La Liga home match against Real Sociedad, Spotify and FC Barcelona celebrated LGBTQIA+ artists and creators through a stadium takeover highlighting our GLOW program. The weekend also cemented FC Barcelona’s commitment to drive cultural change and continue to build a more diverse and inclusive Blaugrana community. Together, Spotify and FC Barcelona’s joint platform reinforces the message that football and music are for everyone—and that the more diverse our communities are, the richer they become.

Everything You Need To Know About 2022 Wrapped

November 30, 2022

Listen to this story read aloud in 5 minutes and 30 seconds.


What were your 2022 listening milestones? Did you forge a deeper connection to your favorite creators, or explore new avenues of audio discovery that expanded your listening habits? 

Spotify Wrapped is all about celebrating the endless ways that millions of creators and fans connect through audio each and every day. Starting today, we’re commemorating a year gone by and inviting our fans to join in on the fun with the eagerly anticipated, personalized 2022 Wrapped experience. 

This year’s Wrapped experience is filled with fan-favorite features and exciting new ones that spotlight the many-layered elements of listening that make each and every fan unique. We know that no two listeners are the same—so, from the oddly specific to the unapologetically predictable, 2022 Wrapped encourages listeners to peer into the vibrant kaleidoscope of their listening and show it off to the world. Eligible iOS and Android users with the latest version of the Spotify mobile app can celebrate this ultimate combination of self-expression and play with their personalized experiences. (Creators, fear not: Artists and podcasters will also receive their own personalized Creator Wrapped to learn about and celebrate how their fans listened.)

We’re providing fans with some of their favorite Wrapped features plus a slate of new ways to discover and celebrate their year in listening. Just make sure you’re using the most recent version—8.7.78 or higher—of the Spotify app. (You can check this by going to Settings, then About. The app version you have downloaded will show up at the top of the screen.)

Here’s what to look out for:

Dig into your listening more deeply

Alongside our reveal of the top artists, songs, albums, and podcasts of 2022 that delighted our 456 million listeners around the world, fans can also head into the experience to see their own top lists across genres, songs, and podcasts, as well as minutes listened this year. (You can learn more about some of the genres here.) This year, we’re bringing back now-classic data stories and mixing in new features for a whole new way to discover your 2022 listening. 

The two new stories include: 

  • Your Listening Personality: It’s not only about what you listened to—but what that says about your music taste. This year during Wrapped, we’re showcasing 16 different Listening Personality types that Spotify created for 2022 Wrapped. Your Wrapped will showcase your Listening Personality based on how you listened to music throughout the year. Want to better understand how each of these special personas compare to one another? Find out all about them here.
  • Audio Day: An interactive story that gives you a peek into how your music taste evolved throughout the day, Audio Day showcases the niche moods and aesthetic descriptors of the music you listened to during morning, midday, and evening time periods.

Catalan Language Localization Means More for FC Barcelona Fans on Spotify

October 9, 2022

Spotify and FC Barcelona logos on dimly lit pitch background

Since announcing our partnership with FC Barcelona in March 2022, we’ve been working to bring the worlds of music and football together. As the team’s Main Partner and Global Audio Streaming partner, we’re committed to making Spotify Camp Nou a space that celebrates artists from around the world—and helps FC Barcelona fans connect with their favorite creators, as well as their favorite players.

That’s why this October, we’re updating the Spotify mobile experience to support the Catalan language, making our app more accessible to Catalan speakers and bringing the total number of languages on our platform to 63. Catalan has been on our road map for some time, and we’re excited to accelerate the launch in support of our partners. 

“We’re grateful to the FC Barcelona members and fans for welcoming Spotify into their club and stadium this year,” says Marc Hazan, VP Business Development and Partnerships. “As part of our partnership and commitment to bringing football and music together, the Spotify app experience will be available in Catalan later this month so that the club’s fans can enjoy Spotify with more ease.”

Spotify and FC Barcelona Announce a First-of-Its-Kind Partnership To Bring Music and Football Together

March 15, 2022

It’s official: Spotify and FC Barcelona are pleased to announce a long-term partnership, which officially kicks off in July 2022, where Spotify will become the Main Partner of the Club and the Official Audio Streaming Partner. Our brand will appear on the front of both men’s and women’s team shirts and training shirts beginning in the 2022-2023 season. Spotify and FC Barcelona will work together to create opportunities for the iconic shirt to be a space that celebrates artists from across the world. Spotify will also become Title Partner of the Stadium with the historic Camp Nou stadium rebranded Spotify Camp Nou. 

Additionally, Spotify will use the partnership to shine a spotlight on artists from all over the world. This will bring the worlds of music and football together, giving a global stage to players and artists at Spotify Camp Nou. 

The partnership plans are subject to the ratification of the Barcelona Members Assembly, which will take place in early April. 

For the Record spoke with Spotify’s Chief Freemium Business Officer, Alex Norström, to offer more insight into what fans can expect from this unique deal.

Why did Spotify decide to partner with FC Barcelona? 

That’s a great question. Why do Spotify and FC Barcelona make sense together? Why do music and football make sense together? There are a lot of answers from different perspectives—the business perspective, the brand perspective, the marketing perspective. All of which are important.

But for Spotify the answer is very simple: It’s about connecting fans with artists of every kind—players and artists, music and sports. Barcelona fans and audio lovers on Spotify will come together to form a massive, globally connected community bridging the worlds of music and football. The vision for the partnership is to create a new platform to help artists interact with Barcelona’s global community of fans. 

As we look to grow the Spotify brand worldwide, there are few partners that have this sort of scale and global reach. Being able to connect music and football fans from Barcelona to Mumbai, Jakarta to Rio de Janeiro, is really a unique opportunity. 

Can you talk about how the partnership took shape?

Our vision for the partnership is this: Spotify and FC Barcelona want to bring the worlds of music and football together, giving a global stage to players and artists at Spotify Camp Nou and building new opportunities to connect with fans.

Spotify has never undertaken a partnership at this scale before, but we realized that the magic is approaching ambitious projects at this scale. We’ve always used our marketing as a platform for artists, so it’s adding another huge stage, literally a stadium, to help artists interact with fans around the world. Barça’s games attract a huge, global viewership per season and we’re looking forward to working with them to connect artists to this audience.

When visiting the stadium and walking down the hallowed corridors of Camp Nou with its breathtaking scale and unmatched legacy, I felt the power, emotion, and aura of the players, the managers, and the fans who call Camp Nou home. It’s a privilege for Spotify to support and become a part of the FC Barcelona family and history.

We also love that FC Barcelona is committed to equality and supporting and cultivating diverse talent. These are values to which Spotify is equally committed. So the easiest part of assembling this partnership is supporting both the men’s and women’s team. We’re now proud partners of FC Barcelona, the women, the men, the institution.

What’s the vision for how this partnership will come to life? What can music fans and fans of FC Barcelona expect?

We plan to bring this partnership to life in two key ways. First, Camp Nou will become Spotify Camp Nou. Already the home of FC Barcelona fans, Spotify Camp Nou will also put a spotlight on artists and other creators. 

Spotify is working with Barça to leverage our access to in-stadium elements to amplify artists and enable discovery. For example, using the dynamic digital displays to showcase and geo-target relevant artists to Barça’s global TV audience. While viewers in Europe may see a message about one artist, TV viewers in India could be served a different and locally relevant message.

Second, as shirt sponsor, Spotify will work to create a new platform to amplify artist voices. We think this can be more than just a Spotify logo on a shirt. The question we’ve asked is: How can Spotify work with FC Barcelona to make the shirt a bigger platform with more opportunities for artists?

If you think about how we’ve used our marketing platforms in the past, which regularly spotlight new and female artists through our EQUAL and RADAR programs, you can get a sense of the approach we’ll be thinking about for the partnership. We are excited to see what we can dream up together. 

There are also other exciting pieces to this partnership that we’re considering, and we’ll share more later this year.

Could you share more on the benefits you see for artists and fans?

Spotify has always used its investment in marketing to amplify and champion artists. So we’re taking that same approach and applying it to this partnership. 

More fans engaging with our platform means more opportunities for creators to live off of their art, and FC Barcelona’s massive global fan base will help fuel that growth. And for fans—both music and Barça fans—we’ll be creating more interactive and exciting experiences to connect with the artists they love.

FC Barcelona has legions of young fans across the world—in fact, most of Barça’s fans are under the age of 30, which is a hugely important audience for Spotify. Those fans also reside in some of Spotify’s fastest-growing markets, including India, Latin America, and Indonesia. 

Against that backdrop, Spotify will be able to amplify the work of artists to new potential fans and supporters.

Celebrate today’s news by following FC Barcelona’s official profile on Spotify. To get further details on our partnership check out the release here.