Tag: infographic

Celebrate Five Years of Corridos Tumbados With Our New Spotify Single

October 9, 2024

Since the Mexican Revolution at the beginning of the 20th century, one particular style of music has served as a form of cultural storytelling for the Mexican people: the corrido. And while its popularity has endured, those accordion-laced ballads have evolved as modern influences began taking the genre in new and interesting directions.

Today, corridos tumbados are one of the most popular sounds under the Música Mexicana umbrella. Fusing trap and hip-hop with the traditional sounds of a corrido, a new wave of artists that includes Natanael Cano, Peso Pluma, Junior H, Fuerza Regida, and Eslabon Armado has been topping the global charts. And it was Natanael himself who gave the subgenre its name five years ago this month with the release of his album Corridos Tumbados under the Rancho Humilde record label.

“Corridos tumbados have transformed the vision of Mexican music and have connected with an unexpected audience globally. We had this idea since 2009, when we started Rancho Humilde,” said Jimmy Humilde, founder of Rancho Humilde. “For those of us who grew up between Mexican and American culture, we wanted to create something of our own, something that represented our identity. Today, thanks to this music, the new Mexican American generations are recovering Spanish, and our culture is more alive than ever. It was my dream, along with JB [José Becerra] and Roque Venegas.”

To celebrate this milestone anniversary, we’re releasing a new Spotify Single from Belinda, Kevin AMF, and Neton Vega. The trio teamed up to record an original song titled “Ni Fiestas, Ni Flores.”

While inspired by the sonic hallmarks of the earliest corridos tumbados, the track still carries a modern flair that you’d expect from three rising stars. Pop star Belinda only recently ventured into the world of corridos tumbados with hits like “Cactus” and “300 Noches.” Kevin AMF, meanwhile, is a young singer-songwriter known for fusing corridos tumbados with electro and dembow sounds. Last but not least, Neton Vega has made a name for himself as a producer of the genre. Together, these three Mexican artists offer a sense of the rich evolution of this sound and its impact on the industry.

“I love this new generation of Mexican music because it’s a generation unafraid to say what it thinks and what it feels,” said Belinda. “With this Spotify Single, we’re celebrating five years of corridos tumbados and building the future of this genre that is making history around the world.”

The rise of corridos tumbados

“Corridos tumbados were born in Los Angeles among a group of young artists who sought to express their experiences without disconnecting from their Mexican roots,” said Gerardo Mora, Senior Editor, Spotify Mexico. “But the genre has evolved a lot—today, it has become the anthem of a whole generation and a symbol for a community that identifies with its sound and its message.”

Let’s take a look at some of our top insights from the past five years of corridos tumbados.

Spotify has been proud to support Música Mexicana and its many flavors, including corridos. On our platform, fans can find a number of variant-specific playlists to explore the multifaceted genre. And last year, we teamed up with Fuerza Regida, Los Tucanes De Tijuana, and Eden Muñoz to release “La Tierra del Corrido,” a Spotify Single celebrating three generations of corridos artists.

Stream our Corridos Tumbados playlist to celebrate half a decade of the hit sound.

The Rise of Japanese Pop With Spotify’s Gacha Pop Playlist

August 21, 2024

Just like its fashion and food trends, Japan’s music scene is constantly evolving, all while captivating a growing global audience. From J-Pop (Japanese pop) to J-Rock (Japanese rock), Spotify has enabled Japanese artists to connect with new fans around the world. As part of Spotify’s efforts to help music travel the globe, we launched our Gacha Pop playlist in May 2023. Named after the popular Japanese capsule toy vending machines with their many surprises, Gacha Pop showcases the vast and dynamic world that Japanese pop has to offer.

From rising Japanese singer-songwriter Fujii Kaze to J-Pop newcomer Ado, the playlist features an eclectic range of sounds and artists, including bands, rappers, singer-songwriters, idols, and VTubers (aka virtual YouTubers, online entertainers who use virtual avatars). It also contains anime music and Vocaloid tracks, which are songs created using voice synthesis technology.

A year later, the playlist has amassed more than 380,000 “saves” by Spotify users around the world. In addition to local love from music fans in Japan, Gacha Pop has also found its way to listeners far beyond the geographical borders of the country. Today, it boasts a following in the U.S., Mexico, England, France, and Indonesia, and is especially popular among Gen Z listeners. In honor of its first anniversary, let’s take a look at some of Gacha Pop’s top insights from the past year.

 

 

Japanese music and culture travel far and wide with Gacha Pop. Take VTuber Hoshimachi Suisei, whose song “BIBBIDIBA” has racked up nearly 30 million streams to date after being featured on Gacha Pop earlier this year. For the Record spoke with Hoshimachi about the playlist and its unique appeal.

A week after releasing “BIBBIDIBA,” you graced the cover of Gacha Pop, and the playlist recorded its highest number of streams this year. How does that feel?

That’s wonderful to hear. I created this song hoping that many people would listen to it, and it became a track that reached more listeners than I had expected—like global listeners through Spotify! The power of streaming and playlists is reaching those who don’t know much about me. Gacha Pop is great because it’s like a collection of Japanese pop culture, as the name suggests. Being featured on Gacha Pop was an honor, and I’m genuinely surprised by the scale of the response.

Why do you think your songs appeal to global listeners?

I’m happy that my music resonates with people overseas. I feel like global fans truly appreciate Japanese culture. For example, when I perform overseas, rather than singing in English, I feel that people are happier when I sing in Japanese. It seems like they find Japanese cool, in the same way we might find foreign languages cool in lyrics.

What do you hope to inspire in listeners with your music?

I prioritize making music that I find enjoyable. It makes me happy to see myself enjoying the music I create, and I hope that others can enjoy it together with me. Since my songs mostly reflect my own experiences, I’m glad that listeners can relate to them or simply derive joy from them. I also hope that my music can become a part of everyone’s daily lives.

What’s next for Gacha Pop

Gacha Pop bridges the gap between Japanese pop culture and international listeners, making it an essential playlist for discovering new Japanese music. And we expect it will continue to evolve, reflecting cultural moments and trends to a global audience.

“Gacha Pop is where we turn songs that are gaining momentum into long-term hits,” said Noriko Ashizawa, Spotify Japan’s Head of Music Planning and Operations. “We plan to spotlight up-and-coming artists who are gaining recognition internationally and continue to showcase the diversity of Japanese music. So much to come!”

Stream Gacha Pop to discover the Japanese sounds, styles, and artists making waves today.

Spotify rapporterar intäkter för första kvartalet i 2024

April 23, 2024

Idag publicerar Spotify sina finansiella resultat för första kvartalet 2024. Året har inletts stabilt: 

  • Månatliga aktiva användare ökade med 19 % jämfört med föregående år och uppgick till 615 miljoner.
  • Antalet premiumanvändare ökade med 14 % jämfört med föregående år och uppgick till 239 miljoner.
  • De totala intäkterna ökade med 20 % jämfört med föregående år och uppgick till 3,6 miljarder euro. 
  • Bruttomarginalen uppgick till 27,6 %.
  • Rörelseresultatet uppgick till 168 miljoner euro.

– Vi har talat om 2024 som ett år med fokus på intäktsgenerering och vi levererar nu på den ambitionen. När vi nu har skiftat fokus mot stark intäktstillväxt och förbättrad marginal ser vi tydliga möjligheter att även fortsätta växa intagandet av nya användare. Jag känner mig nöjd med de förändringar vi implementerar och är övertygad om att vi ska nå de ambitiösa planer som vi tidigare har presenterat, kommenterar Daniel Ek, grundare och VD på Spotify.

Vill du veta mer? Klicka här för att ta del av hela den finansiella pressreleasen, och lyssna gärna på vår Q&A-webcast på IR-sajten här.

Spotify Reports First Quarter 2024 Earnings

April 23, 2024

Today, we announced our first quarter 2024 earnings. In a solid start to the year, Spotify reported…

  • Monthly Active Users grew 19% Y/Y to 615 million.
  • Subscribers increased 14% Y/Y to 239 million.
  • Total Revenue was up 20% Y/Y to €3.6 billion.
  • Gross Margin reached 27.6%.
  • Operating Income improved to €168 million.

“We’ve talked about 2024 as the year of monetization and we’re delivering on that ambition,” said Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek. “Now as we’ve shifted to focus on strong revenue growth and margin expansion, we see a clear opportunity to ensure we are also continuing to grow the top of our funnel. I feel good about the changes we are implementing and remain very confident in our ability to reach the ambitious plans we’ve outlined.”

Interested in hearing more? Click here to review the full earnings release, and listen to the webcast Q&A on our Investor Relations site here.

Five Years of Spotify in India: A Look Back at Our Greatest Hits

March 12, 2024

February marked Spotify’s fifth year in India, and since our debut, we’ve focused on lifting up the country’s creator community, localizing content for users, and making streaming the default way for listeners to discover and consume audio.

By regionally tailoring our platform features, Premium plans, playlist curation, brand campaigns, and on-ground experiences, Spotify has grown to become the most-loved streaming audio platform in India, especially among Gen Z and millennials.

Spotify has also deeply invested in educating the artist community on how to make the most of Spotify For Artists, a platform that empowers artists and their management to analyze how their music is consumed around the world. Today, more than 28,000 artists in India use Spotify For Artists, which is more than double compared to a year ago. Listening habits in India have also shifted, going from fans streaming nearly 70% international music on Spotify five years ago, to streaming more than 70% local music today. And in 2023 alone, the global consumption of music from India grew by 85% year-over-year. 

Let’s take a closer look at how Indian music has grown with Spotify over the last five years:

Spotify is the destination for podcasts in India

Spotify has also deeply invested in the podcast industry. Through Spotify Podcasters’ Day and regional creator support programs, podcasters learned about the ease of making their own podcasts on Spotify For Podcasters. As a result, more than 200,000 podcasts were created using the platform in 2023 while podcast listening in India increased significantly across several genres, including history,education, mythology, and true crime.

  • Four of the top 10 podcasts on Spotify in India were of the mythology / spirituality genre in 2023, including the most-streamed podcast of the year. Altogether, the genre grew by more than 80% through the year.  

In 2024 and beyond, Spotify in India will remain focused on supporting artists locally and globally—especially in the worlds of film and artist-first, Indian pop music fandom—while enabling podcasters to find the best ways to more effectively create and monetize content. It will also continue providing the best opportunities for brands to advertise on the platform to music fans and podcast listeners (Spotify Audience Network), launching new features that make Spotify more personalized, and making Premium more accessible and relevant for India.

Looking to discover the hottest songs and artists making waves in India today? Check out our Hot Hits Punjabi playlist below.

Take a Tour of Places Vital to Amapiano’s Roots

March 23, 2023

From township jive in the shebeens to the piercing sounds of Kwaito and house music across taverns and pubs, Amapiano comes from a long legacy of underground music that has made its mark across South Africa — and now the world.

South Africa Looks Back at Five Years of Spotify Streaming

March 13, 2023

When Spotify launched in South Africa in March 2018, new users and music lovers raced onto the platform to stream Thelonious Monk’s “‘Round Midnight.” In the five years since, listeners in the region have made millions of playlists spanning nostalgic jazz, pop, hip-hop, rap, home-grown Amapiano, and much more, and have spent billions of hours listening to podcasts. This has led to thousands of artists and creators finding an audience for their craft, with South African artists themselves having released over one million tracks.

Today, we mark this five-year milestone by looking back on the early days of Spotify streaming in South Africa. 

Originally, the only South African song featured in the first 10 tracks played in the market was Shekhinah’s “Thirsty.” Now, Canadian rapper Drake takes the top spot. He’s followed by Amapiano artist Kabza de Small in second place, The Weeknd and Juice WRLD in third and fourth, and South African DJ Maphorisa to round out the top five. The combination of global and local talent is further testament to the massive appeal and growth of Amapiano, and South African music in general.

“Spotify provides a global platform for these creators to share their music and podcasts with the world, and our entrance into the market has allowed local artists to grow their audiences and monetize their creativity,” said Jocelyne Muhutu–Remy, Managing Director for Spotify in Sub-Saharan Africa. “Spotify programmes like EQUAL, Fresh Finds, RADAR, and GLOW have also helped to market and support local, emerging, and underrepresented artists.”

Last year, we announced that we would include four South African podcasts in our Africa Podcast Fund. With this initiative, we’re supporting burgeoning podcasters through financial grants, workshops, and networking opportunities, and amplifying their stories. Our goal is to help platform African creators on a global scale and shift the historically restrictive view of stories about the continent.

Celebrate South Africa’s milestone anniversary with the Top 50 tracks being streamed in the country today.

Two Years Into Spotify’s Launch in South Korea, the K-Wave Is Here To Stay

February 8, 2023

Album art from spotify milestones in korea over the past year

You’ve probably heard of a little genre called K-Pop, the energetic and highly danceable phenomenon that migrated from South Korea to the world. K-Pop’s success—Korea is the seventh-largest music market on the planet—has not only resulted in a global export of music from the country, but in other pop culture sensations, too. Squid Game and Parasite, anyone?

In the latest episode of Spotify: Discover This, our host Lea Palmieri is joined by Korean Canadian singer-songwriter Junny for a deep dive into the K-Music scene beyond K-Pop. The pair speaks to some of the biggest names in K-Hip-hop, including Tiger JK, Yoon Mirae, Dynamicduo, Jay Park, pH–1, and SINCE. From there, they move into K-R&B, K-Rock, and Original Sound Tracks (OSTs). Also appearing: webtoons, a musical foray into the metaverse, and even Trot. We’ve released the episode in both English and Korean.

The episode arrives just as Spotify marks our second anniversary in Korea; it also features an interview with Spotify Korea Managing Director David Park. 

“Spotify is still in its early stage in Korea, which not only is the birthplace of K-Pop, but also the hub of rich cultural contents with global impact,” says David. “We’ll continue to pave the way by connecting more Korean artists, music, creators, contents, and culture with more listeners worldwide.”

And Spotify has had plenty to celebrate from Korea over the past two years. From K-Pop On! Track and our Korean hip-hop playlist KrOWN, as well as the addition of podcasts, there’s a bit of  K-Culture for everyone. Take a look.

Listen to the K-Wave episode of Spotify: Discover This in Korean here. 

Spotify’s Journey to 200 Million Subscribers

February 1, 2023

200 M header on black background

This week, as part of Spotify’s quarterly earnings announcement, we shared that we have officially surpassed 200 million subscribers. These fans are the heart of Spotify, and look to us to discover new music and podcasts, stay attuned to culture, and connect with their favorite creators. 

Also thanks to our subscribers, we’re able to: 

  • Innovate: We invest back into the product, rewarding subscriber loyalty with the very best user experience through features like Blend, Discover Weekly and Wrapped.
  • Expand: We’ve grown with our users, offering life stage and market-tailored plans like Family, Student and Spotify Mini. 
  • Scale: We’re now live in over 180 markets, creating a truly global community united by audio.
  • Support: We’ve paid music rights holders, including record labels, publishers, distributors (and more) $30 billion since our founding.* We’re also using our platform and marketing to amplify and support artists, with programs like Frequency, Radar, EQUAL, and the recently launched GLOW.  (*As of December 2021)

Take a look back at a few of the milestones in a journey that began at our 2008 launch. 

4 Years of Heart & Soul: Mental Health Support at Spotify

December 20, 2022

heart and soul lockup on purple, pink, green background

At Spotify, we’ve long understood that in order to do your best work, you need to feel your best. But since not every day can be top-notch, it’s important that our employees know that we’ve got their back throughout it all.

Four years ago, we created Heart & Soul, a global mental health initiative for all Spotify employees. We believe that everyone’s experience of mental health, from illness to well-being, should be welcomed, respected, and championed—and that all our employees should be able to access the support and care they need, when they need it. 

In celebration of this anniversary, we’ve released a report on our Heart & Soul accomplishments and learnings to date. The report includes a timeline of the initiative, first-person perspectives from our Ambassadors, recommendations for other companies looking to create similar programs, and more. 

And our work is based on three pillars: raising awareness and building knowledge, enabling self-care and professional support, and normalizing the conversation. Take a look at a sampling of our work: 

Heart and Soul pillars

To read the full report, head to Life at Spotify.

What Nigeria, Pakistan, Ghana, and More of Our Newest Markets Are Streaming—365 Days In

February 24, 2022

Last year at Stream On, Spotify announced that we’d be launching in 80+ new markets around the world and adding 36 new languages to our platform—a sweeping expansion that would introduce Spotify to more than 1 billion people around the world. With this launch, we furthered our ongoing commitment to building a truly borderless audio ecosystem that connects creators, listeners, and content—and helped ensure that sounds and stories that once remained local could reach a global audience.  

By reaching even more countries across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and Latin America, we gave millions of new creators the opportunity to create, discover, and build a career in audio creation—and gave a billion new fans the opportunity to hear it. 

Now, a year in, there’s plenty of progress to look back on. See for yourself: 

Can’t get enough of new music? Listen to Asakaa, the Ghanian drill genre making waves around the world.

How Spotify Is Supporting COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Advocacy

September 22, 2021

As the world’s largest audio streaming service, Spotify understands the power of our global platform, and with that power comes a responsibility to play our part in driving change and raising awareness about critical issues facing our society today. Last year, soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we determined that our fans and listeners should be able to turn to our platform for information and guidance. We met these needs with the creation of our COVID-19 hub, donations to frontline medical institutions, and the establishment of the Music Relief project. Now, we’re using our platform once more, by proactively making it easier for our listeners to access accurate information about the COVID-19 vaccine. 

As the COVID-19 vaccines became more widely available, we dedicated our COVID-19 hubs globally to providing accurate vaccine information. We also encouraged our Spotify Studios podcasts to include vaccine education within their ads, PSAs, or episode content. In the U.S., we hosted a live music sweepstakes offering hundreds of vaccinated music fans the chance to win tickets to a live show. Our latest advertising campaign speaks to the concerts we’ve all missed since the start of the pandemic and reminds listeners that vaccinations will help us get back to concerts by our favorite performers. Finally, we teamed up with the World Health Organization Foundation’s Go Give One fundraising campaign to give Spotifiers an opportunity to help address vaccine inequity around the world.

Take a look below at some of our efforts to date. 

For more of our ongoing relief efforts, check out our COVID-19 hub.