Tag: merch

Spotify’s New Hardcore Gardening Playlist and Brain Dead Collab Will Rattle Greenhouses Everywhere

May 1, 2024

All around the world, millions of Spotify fans love listening to hardcore punk music—and some science shows that plants love it too. 

Hold up. What?

Yep, you read that right. Horticulturist, author and lecturer Chris Beardshaw says that research shows hardcore music helps plants grow. Stacked against other sonic selections like classical and pop, plants nurtured by hardcore are stimulated into amplified growth.

“Surprisingly, a increasing body of research shows that the frequency of hardcore music helps plants grow,” Chris told For the Record. “The thumping, repetitive, high-decibel noise of hardcore stimulates and energizes plants cells, almost as if they’re bouncing around in a tiny hardcore mosh pit.”

But hardcore music isn’t just helping plants grow faster. The hardcore music scene is growing in recent years, including on Spotify, with a 50% increase in the creation of “hardcore music” playlists by Gen Z listeners.*  

Known for its intensity, attitude, angst, grit, and DIY ethos, hardcore music is a fast-paced, adrenaline-fueled subgenre of punk rock that’s perfect for awakening your senses—and your plants. That’s why Spotify is launching Hardcore Gardening, a playlist full of hardcore music classics and fresh favorites. 

Along with our newest playlist, we’re also teaming up with LA streetwear brand Brain Dead to launch Plant Growth Through Extreme Noise—a limited-edition apparel collection embodying the rebellious spirit of hardcore music.

 

 

How Spotify Made Wrapped More Valuable Than Ever for Artists

November 29, 2023

When 2023 Spotify Wrapped rolls around each year, it’s as much of an event for artists as it is for fans. With Artist Wrapped, musicians can check out a personalized recap of their Spotify stats showing when, where, and how listeners engaged with them on Spotify. 

Since launching Artist Wrapped in 2017, we’ve worked to make this moment bigger and better with each go around, adding data stories with deeper insights, integrations that provide more ways to connect with fans, and delightful moments that extend beyond the core Wrapped experience. 2023 is no exception, and we’re excited for artists to dig into this year’s edition.

“I’m most excited about our efforts to make Artist Wrapped, and Wrapped in general, even more valuable and impactful to artists’ careers this year,” says Rob Fink, Associate Director, Spotify for Artists Brand Marketing. “We’ve built upon many of the foundations established over the past few years so that Wrapped is truly a global platform for artists to effectively connect with their fans.”

Curious what artists can expect from Wrapped this year? For the Record sat down with Rob to get all the details. 

Just like fans, artists love their Wrapped data stories. What can they expect this year?

As usual, we’ll have all the tried-and-true stories artists have come to expect, like total listeners, total number of streams, and total time streamed. But this year, artists can now find out how many listeners discovered them for the first time in 2023. The idea is they can use this data to better understand their listeners and pick out opportunities to expand their audience.

We’re also giving artists more insight into their top fans. Previously we’ve shown artists the number of fans who had them as a top 10, top five, or number one top artist. But this year, we’re also showing artists the average amount of time that each of their top 0.001% fans spent listening to them. This is the first time we’ve ever shown artists a story about the listening time of their very biggest fans, and some of the numbers are quite eye-opening.

Finally, we’re expanding our merch data story to share an artist’s three bestselling items since empowering artist merch stores on Spotify has continued to be a priority for us. We’ve also added a story that reveals the three locations where an artist sold the most concert tickets in 2023. 

Spotify for Artists Associate Brand Marketing Director Rob Fink

Last year’s Wrapped resulted in Spotify’s biggest merch sales week to date. How did Spotify incorporate those learnings into 2023 Wrapped?

Beyond connecting with their top fans, we want Wrapped to be a moment for artists to earn additional revenue as well. And one big thing we’ve learned is that when artists create unique merch offers on Spotify, those tend to outperform the rest.

That’s why this year, for the first time ever, we enabled artists [in the U.S. and Canada] to set up Wrapped-specific merch discounts for their top listeners of the year. We want artists to be able to offer fans something special, and in turn, fans will know they’re receiving a discount for being a top listener.

We’ve also made artists’ merch and ticket offers even more visible by adding them to more places within fans’ Wrapped experience. Listeners will receive personalized offers from their top artists when they open Wrapped, and we’ll also continue to promote those offers via in-app messaging, emails, and beyond after Wrapped launches to make sure fans don’t miss out. 

We also can’t forget about the songwriters and producers out there. What can they expect from their Wrapped this year?

Last year, we sent personalized share cards to all songwriters and producers who have active Written By playlists or Songwriter Pages on Spotify. This group has grown substantially since, and this year we’re introducing a dedicated Songwriter Wrapped microsite experience. We’re excited to continue making Wrapped even exciting for this extremely important audience.

We’re also testing out a new idea and launching a Songwriter Wrapped social campaign to show love to the music makers—regardless of whether they have a Written By playlist on Spotify yet. Artists and music fans alike can fill in the blanks on their favorite songwriters, producers, lyrics, and beats from 2023 to acknowledge and celebrate the creativity and work from their top creators.

Is there anything else you’ve been keeping under wraps?

We’re testing something this year that we’re calling Wrapped Listening Parties. We’ve teamed up with a small handful of artists who will host invite-only live audio rooms for top fans where everyone can interact and listen to music together. Artists will also be able to promote their merch offers there as well. The idea is to put our listening data to good use and offer unique ways for artists and fans to connect on a personal level.

Ready to check out your Artist Wrapped? Head over to Spotify for Artists to get started.

Shop for Merch From Your Favorite Artists in Spotify’s New Hub

October 16, 2023

When new merch drops, fans don’t hesitate. We’ve seen that in the days and weeks after an artist releases shirts, totes, hats, vinyl, and more, fans flock to their Spotify profiles to get what’s new. So to give the fans what they want—and make it easier than ever for listeners to browse and shop for merch from their favorite artists—we’re unveiling a dedicated Merch Hub in the Spotify app. 

Sporting merch from your favorite artists is a vital part of music culture, and our new Merch hub provides personalized merch recommendations based on your listening habits. Previously, we made artist merch available from individual artist profiles, the Now Playing view, and release pages. Instead of having to browse artist by artist, this update makes it easier than ever to access all artist merch in one place. From the hub, you can browse, click on available items to learn more, and then purchase through the artist’s Spotify store, powered by Shopify. 

Connecting listeners with ways to rep their favorite fandoms and lend support to the artists they love is key to fulfilling our mission of enabling artists to live off their art. Last year, after seeing their Wrapped results, listeners flocked to buy merch, leading to the highest-grossing merch sales week for artists in Spotify history. Spoiler alert: There are plenty more merch moments in store for Wrapped this year!

Now you can find artists’ merch in the Merch tab on their artist pages, the Now Playing view when streaming their tracks, the new Merch Hub, and their albums, EPs, and singles pages.

Ready to shop? Simply search “Merch” to find the hub, or head to the Merch tile on the Browse page. Or click here to go directly to the Merch Hub. Artists can go to artists.spotify.com/merch to learn more about getting their merch on Spotify through our Shopify integration. 

Celebrate Band Shirt Day With Your Favorite Artists, Including Portugal. The Man

August 15, 2023

There’s no better way to display that you’re a loud and proud fan of a band than with an iconic T-shirt. The item may be a brand-new tank from the artist’s latest tour or a vintage crewneck from an obscure album, but it still makes a statement about the music and artist you love.

While merch is certainly suitable as year-round garb, there’s no better time to don your well-worn tee than September 15, Band Shirt Day. Last year, Spotify and MerchFriends, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a sustainable ecosystem for independent music merchandise, launched the first holiday dedicated to celebrating artist tees (and doing some good in the process). And this year, we’re ready to go bigger.

“Independent music has a deep history of sustainability through community focus, fundraising, street teams, and guerilla marketing. MerchFriends, through Band Shirt Day, is bringing together communities to help solve problems we face every day,” said Sam Means, MerchFriends and Hello Merch co-founder, and member of indie rock band The Format. 

We’re inviting all artists to join us by offering special tees or merch deals on their Spotify profile, something that’s easy to do with our Spotify for Artists tools powered by the Shopify integration. Fans searching for special items can find them on an artist’s profile listed as an Artist Pick, or in other spots on the platform like release pages and within Spotify’s Now Playing view. Hello Merch will donate a portion of participating artists’ Band Shirt Day sales to the official Band Shirt Day fund, and all artists are encouraged to raise donations for the fund (or another cause they care about) using Spotify’s Fan Support tool.

There’s already a notable slate of artists who are participating in Band Shirt Day: Blondie, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Dustin O’Halloran, The Tragically Hip, Grace Potter, and Dead Kennedys will all have merch available, and more artists will be joining the cause over the next month.

Portugal. The Man is taking part in their second Band Shirt Day campaign, and this year they plan to use their proceeds to help support Indigenous communities.

“Growing up in Alaska, we became connected to the native people and their communities. And as we traveled the world, we noticed that there was a lack of attention and funding for Indigenous causes,” the members of Portugal. The Man explained. “We felt that we were in a good position to help raise the profile for their causes and decided to start PTM Foundation. We cover all the costs for the foundation so that 100% of the money we raise can go directly into the communities we support. We hope that we can be helpful in elevating their voices as we tour the world. Buying a shirt from our foundation is an easy way to help.” 

To celebrate the day, Spotify will also have a special Band Shirt Day playlist that will highlight songs from participating artists and feature the available merch. The WASTOIDS podcast will also debut a band shirt special exploring the history of music tees with artists and merch makers.

“Since the earliest days of people creating DIY T-shirts for their favorite artists, merch has been a physical and personal representation of fandom. It’s an expression of identity, community, and support for the music makers and creators who add color to our world,” shared Heather Ellis, Product Marketing Manager for Spotify for Artists. “Band Shirt Day celebrates those creators and provides an opportunity for artists and fans to come together in support of the causes they care about most.”

So prepare for Band Shirt Day by digging through your drawers to find your T-shirt. Or support a charitable cause by buying something new from your favorite artist.

Spotify’s Desktop Experience Gets a Brand-New Look With Redesigned ‘Your Library’ and ‘Now Playing’ Views

June 20, 2023

Before Spotify made its way to mobile, fans streamed all their favorite songs on Desktop. Now this experience is getting one of its biggest revamps yet, with redesigned Your Library and Now Playing views, making the Spotify Desktop experience the best way to explore, curate, listen to, and organize Spotify on a computer or web browser.

We’re keeping the main content area unchanged, so it will still be your central hub to browse, discover, and find recommended songs and podcasts. But you’ll also find a few new additions to help align our Desktop experience with the mobile app.

On the left-hand side of the app window, we’re anchoring the new Your Library so you can quickly access your saved music and podcast collections. And from initial insights we’ve seen, users have found that the new Library helps them save time, provides them with a better overview, and allows them to more easily switch between playlists. 

On the right-hand side of the app, you’ll find the Now Playing view, which displays the current song or podcast you’re listening to. You can even find more information about the song and artist here, as well as information on tour dates and merch—making it easier to connect with your favorite artists and discover more about them. For select podcasts, you can even follow transcripts as you listen.

Together, the individually customizable design of these new views provides a richer experience, more context, and quicker access to personal favorites. 

Wondering where the Friend Activity feed went? Don’t worry! It’s still accessible via the “friends” icon next to your profile picture in the top-right corner of the main content area.


Take full advantage of Desktop’s redesigned features with these helpful tips:

  • Go compact: By default, you’ll see an expanded view of Your Library. But if you only want to see your playlist icons, you can simply click the “Your Library” button in the top right hand corner to collapse the library.
  • Search & filter Your Library: Previously, the only way to find playlists was through the search bar—and you had to wade through not only your own content, but results from the entire Spotify catalog. Now, when it’s expanded, our new Library design allows you to toggle through your dedicated music, podcast, and audiobook feeds and search Your Library exclusively.
  • Customize: We want this experience to fit the way you listen, which is why Your Library and Now Playing can both be resized to take up more or less of the screen. 
  • Pin, drag & drop: You can move and pin the playlists in the Library, as well as drop songs into the editable listed playlists. 

The new Your Library and Now Playing views will begin rolling out to all Desktop users worldwide starting today. Give it a try by launching one of our flagship playlists, like Today’s Top Hits, on Desktop or on your web browser.

Spotify Takes to the Stage: Connecting Artists With Concertgoers

March 8, 2023

S4A_FTR_Blog_MerchxTicketing

Today at Spotify Stream On, artists, songwriters, podcasters, and authors from around the world joined us for a day of news, networking, and inspiration—and a deeper look into how artists can better connect with their fans on our platform. And what better way to do that than helping fans experience their favorite artists IRL?

Over half of our listeners are unaware of when their favorite artists are in town. Of those users, one in three say they would have gone to the concert had they known about it. So in 2022, we worked with artists, venues, and ticketing partners to list over 840,000 concerts on our Live Events Feed, which is one of our most rapidly growing channels—and our users’ personal gig calendar. We even closed out 2022 by featuring personalized concert recommendations in the Wrapped hub for the first time—across more than 60 languages globally. All this goes further to help artists reach more fans of their music and help fans make sure they never miss a show. 

In 2023, we’re going to keep diving headfirst into concert discoverability.

For artists, this means more places to inform fans about their latest shows and tours. First, we’ll be integrating ticket offers into the “Now Playing” view so artists can grab a listener’s attention right when their music is resonating most. Additionally, artists can spotlight concert dates to the top of their profiles, and soon to their This Is playlists. With these new ticketing features, we’ll not only help artists better promote their shows, but also make sure that Spotify is our listeners’ go-to resource for finding concerts they love.

Fans can make sure they never miss another show with these concert integration opportunities right in the Spotify app:

Live Events Feed: Our main in-app concert destination lets you find concert listings based on your location and favorite artists. You can also adjust your location to browse concerts in other cities and countries, all personalized to your taste.

“Interested” button: Wherever you see a concert listing, you’ll be able to hit the “Interested” button and tag the events you want to attend. That way in the future, you can check in on your personal gig calendar in the Live Events Feed.

Fans First Emails: Make sure you’re following and streaming your favorite artists on Spotify for the chance to be recognized as a top listener—we send Fans First emails and notifications to those engaged users, putting them at the front of the line for special access to concert pre-sales and merch exclusives. 

Of course, no concert is complete without the merch table. While you can currently find your favorite artists’ merch on their profile pages and their album and single pages, we’re also going to start adding it to the “Now Playing” view so you can buy the merch after falling in love with their song.

2022 Saw Even More Advancements, Acquisitions, and Excitement at Spotify

December 27, 2022

Earlier this month, we all had a chance to revisit what we listened to most in 2022 with Wrapped. From the year’s top artist (congrats on the three-peat, Bad Bunny) to identifying our listening personalities (where the “Deep Divers” at?), fans worldwide shared their listening habits. But that’s only the icing on the cake. The year also saw new content offerings such as audiobooks and more programs to support diverse and underrepresented voices, all designed to bring the best experience to listeners and creators.

Ring in 2023 by reliving Spotify’s highlights from 2022.

Commitment to platform safety

At the start of the year, we shared several actions we’re taking to balance creator expression with safety, including publishing our Platform Rules and taking steps to ensure creators and users alike understand what’s permitted on Spotify. This summer, we unveiled the Spotify Safety Advisory Council, an interdisciplinary group of experts that are providing our teams with an outside-in view of the safety landscape and helping us ensure that our products and policies address the needs and concerns of our users, creators, and artists around the world.  

Acquisitions expand our offerings

Early in the year, we acquired two podcast technology companies: Podsights, a podcast advertising measurement service, and Chartable, a podcast analytics platform. This move helped us uplevel measurement for podcast advertising and give publishers a new way to grow their business through insights and promotions tools.  

Over the summer, we closed on the acquisition of Findaway, a global leader in digital audiobook distribution. Findaway works across the audiobook ecosystem with a platform and offerings that serve authors, publishers, and consumers. Their technology and know-how helped accelerate Spotify’s entry into audiobooks earlier this fall.

As the world’s leading audio streaming platform, it made perfect sense to bring Heardle, the beloved interactive music game to Spotify. It has provided a fun and innovative way to help fans discover new songs and artists.

We also acquired Kinzen, a global leader in protecting online communities from harmful content. Our partnership with the Dublin-based company, which began in 2020, has been critical to enhancing our approach to platform safety. The company’s technology and unique approach helps Spotify better understand, prepare for, and prevent abuse trends from emerging on our platform.

Frequency carves out a spot for Black creators

We expanded Frequency, our global initiative and holistic destination for celebrating Black art, entertainment, creativity, culture, and community both on- and off-platform, with even more opportunities for Black creators. In addition to on-platform hubs and playlists, we hosted The Free Studio, a four-day residency that brought together nine Black musicians and creators. Spotify’s popular playlist Ripple Effect continued the Frequency Sunday Dinner series in Houston, as well as cities across California. 

Helping diversify the voices of podcasting

Programs like Sound Up, the Creator Equity Fund, and RADAR for Podcasters help underrepresented voices and emerging talent in the audio space. From education and workshops to on-platform amplification, these initiatives give creators the tools they need to tell their story. In October, we introduced the Africa Podcast Fund, a first-of-its-kind initiative to support burgeoning podcasters through financial grants, workshops, and networking opportunities. In December, we launched Elevate for Podcasters in partnership with the Inevitable Foundation. The program empowers professional podcasters with disabilities, providing the funding, mentorship, equipment, and accommodations they need to level up their careers. 

Introducing User Choice Billing with Google

Our multi-year agreement with Google represents a first-of-its-kind option in payment choice with opportunities for both consumers and developers. Users who’ve downloaded Spotify from the Google Play Store are presented with the choice to pay with either Spotify’s payment system or Google Play Billing. These two options living side-by-side in the app give users the freedom to subscribe and make purchases, using the payment option of their choice. With this announcement and our partnership, Google is allowing more choice and competition—decisive steps that demonstrate how platforms should work.  

Blend it up

Blend combines the best of Spotify’s personalization capabilities and collaborative playlist functionality into a single shared playlist. In 2022, we took Blend to a whole new level. Users can now Blend with up to 10 people or they can Blend with artists like Lizzo, Post Malone, and Charli XCX. Fans also have the opportunity to shop artist merch from the Blend experience. Blend represents another way we can give artists a new oportunity to interact with fans, and to bring added personalization to a listener’s music experience.

Playing with video

In 2022 we expanded video podcasting to Anchor creators in over 180 global markets. Podcasters love having the option to accompany their audio with visual components, and fans get the opportunity to deeply connect with the content. We also introduced Spotify Podcast Subscriptions for video podcasts, an integration with Riverside (the go-to platform for remote recording), embeddable video, video bulk-replace, video-specific analytics, and interactive podcast features, such as polls and Q&A.

Celebrating EQUAL’s first anniversary 

Since its launch, EQUAL has spotlighted women artists through global partnerships, activations, new content experiences, and on- and off-platform support. April marked the program’s one year anniversary. Among EQUAL’s major accomplishments: listeners streamed more than 13 million hours of program artists in the first month of joining. 

Reimagining with Roblox

We entered the virtual universe Roblox to create Spotify Island, an audio paradise where fans and artists from all over the world can connect and explore exclusive sounds, quests, and merch. We enhanced the experience during the year with K-Park and Planet Hip-Hop.

Spotify and FC Barcelona team up on the field

In July, we kicked off a partnership with FC Barcelona, becoming the Main Partner of the Club as well as the Official Audio Streaming Partner. We joined the team in Miami during the club’s preseason tour and brought artists like Ovy on the Drums, Piso 21, and Mau y Ricky along for the fun. Through the in-stadium LEDs and our other marketing channels, we promoted artists of all sizes from around the world including BLACKPINK, Fireboy DML, Megan Thee Stallion, Aitch, Pomme, Feid, and Rigoberta Bandini. For FC Barcelona’s October El Clásico showdown—one of the most iconic events in all of sport—we celebrated Drake’s 50 billion streams by creating a limited-edition kit. Get more details on this multiyear partnership on our Spotify: For the Record podcast.

Upping the ante with audiobooks

This fall, we introduced audiobooks to listeners in the U.S., the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. With more than 300,000 titles on the platform, we are giving book lovers a new way to enjoy storytelling on Spotify.

Time to play fair

We believe everyone benefits when competition is fair. Unfortunately, Apple does not, and they’ve consistently abused their dominant position to favor their own services, stifle innovation and hurt consumers. This year, we continued to urge policymakers to take significant action to protect competition and consumers from Apple’s anticompetitive behavior. For more on this fight, listen to  Spotify: For the Record, where entrepreneurs, U.S. senators, and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek discuss the importance of consumer choice.

Fans Wanting To Wear Merch From Their Top Wrapped Artists Leads to the Biggest Week of Artist Merch Sales in Spotify History

December 8, 2022

Each year when Spotify Wrapped rolls around, listeners eagerly look forward to seeing their top-streamed artists revealed. And 2022 Wrapped was no different. Last week, millions of fans around the globe learned about their unique music listening personalities as well as the patterns behind their plays. But this year, as always, we took Wrapped a step further with new stories and features—including artist merch in the app to help fans get closer to their favorite artists. 

Fans love to rep their favorite artists, and they especially love to do so after seeing their Wrapped results: In the seven days since launching Wrapped, we’ve seen the highest-grossing merch sales week for artists in Spotify history. 

Connecting fans with ways to express their favorite fandoms and lend support to the artists they love is key to fulfilling our mission of enabling artists to live off their art. In the weeks leading up to Wrapped, artists listed their top merch items on their Spotify profiles through Spotify for Artists to capitalize on all the increased attention their profiles would get on the big day. Then, during Wrapped, we debuted a new shelf of merch offers in the Wrapped hub and sent a personalized email to fans with merch from their top artists of the year. Fans of Ghost, Smino, NIKI, Joji, Elton John, Fireboy DML, and Jack Harlow even got early access to exclusive merchandise through Spotify, further underscoring our commitment to helping artists build new revenue streams on Spotify. 

Though selling merch may seem unexpected, it’s impactful. “By our offering merch on Spotify, millions of the world’s most engaged music fans can now support their favorite artists by buying merch right where they’re already listening,” says Alex Lavian, Product Marketing Lead, Spotify for Artists. “This helps us get closer to achieving our goal of providing a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art.”

We asked Alex to break down these impactful merch sales even further. 

Why merch? 

Merch is an important source of revenue for artists, and we’re actively investing in new revenue opportunities for artists beyond streaming royalties. Enabling artists to sell merch on Spotify drives a deeper connection between them and their fans. Plus, it’s a natural place for fans to buy things from the artists they love. Just like how fans can’t resist the merch table after an amazing live performance, Spotify can share offers with fans at that perfect moment, whether it’s right after streaming an album, discovering an artist for the first time, or learning an artist was your most streamed that year. We think there’s a huge opportunity to help artists reach listeners with their merch at just the right moment. 

How does this contribute to greater earnings for artists?  

The business of being an artist is complex and multifaceted—it relies on multiple income streams from multiple artist-to-fan touch points, including streaming music, selling merch and tickets, collecting tips, and more. Just as we enabled artists to list their merch in the Wrapped Hub, we also did the same with upcoming tour dates, so that fans can easily experience the artist live and in-person as well as—contributing to yet another revenue stream for the creator. There’s a huge opportunity for Spotify to be an impactful sales channel for artists and we’re making lots of progress.

How does merch in Wrapped build brand love with fans? 

This year merch played a central role in the Wrapped campaign to give fans new ways to express their fandom and support the artists they love. Merch is a relatively new vertical for Spotify and one we’re extremely excited about. We aim to build a culture around merch on Spotify, establishing Spotify as a destination for unique offerings, effective promotions, and meaningful revenue.

Find merch from your favorite artists in the Wrapped hub.