Tag: spotify stream on

5 Ways Spotify Playlists Help Your Songs Reach Fans Around the World

March 8, 2023

Today at Stream On, artists, songwriters, producers, podcasters, and authors from around the world joined for the latest announcements and hands-on demos of the new tools and resources coming to our platform. We also hosted our companion event, Play On, which featured a series of talks and interactive sessions that inspired and educated creators about how they can leverage the full potential of our platform.

Among these sessions was a Spotify for Artists Masterclass on playlists and music discovery hosted by Spotify Head of Artist and Industry Partnerships International Bryan Johnson, with panelists including Spotify Global Head of Editorial Sulinna Ong, Spotify Creative Director and Head of Urban Music Carl Cherry, and Spotify Head of Global Hits J.J. Italiano. Over the course of the talk, they dove into the ways artists can use—and maximize—the power of Spotify playlists to help grow their careers.

In recent years, streaming has helped music, and culture at large, cross borders across the world. And one of the main ways fans are discovering new artists is through playlists. 

Spotify playlists fall into one of three categories:

  • Made by Editors: Curated by our team of editors at Spotify, these playlists consist of beloved global and regional playlists, including Today’s Top Hits and Pollen.
  • Made for You: These algorithmically driven playlists—like Discover Weekly and Release Radar—are tailored to each Spotify listener based on their taste profile and on a range of different signals.
  • Made by You: These playlists are created by fans who aren’t just sitting back waiting for new music; they’re leaning into artist discovery and actively finding tracks to share with other fans.

So how do these playlists drive artist discovery, exactly? There are five key factors:

1. Spotify playlists are global

Spotify exists in more than 180 markets around the world, and that has allowed us to develop a connected ecosystem of playlists across many different genres and regions. Along with our global offerings, we have thousands of playlists like African Heat, MANSIÓN REGGAETÓN, and K-Pop ON! (온) that help spotlight music coming out of regional and local scenes.

Together, these form our Playlist Pyramid, which starts with our more local and niche playlists, and filters up to our global playlists. Sitting at the top is Today’s Top Hits, which is the biggest and most popular playlist.

For many artists, their Playlist Pyramid journey will start with local or regional playlists. These are often streamed by highly engaged fans who are looking to discover new music, and they give artists a solid platform for building their audience. But from there, an artist can take many paths up the pyramid. When a song starts to perform well, it will be placed in the region’s larger playlists, and it may even be tested in other markets to see how it’s received by an international audience. If the song continues to resonate with fans, the artist can take the next jump up the pyramid, appearing in global playlists like Rap Caviar, Viva Latino, and Mint. And for artists whose songs really hit globally, they could earn a place in Today’s Top Hits.

The rise of Ghanaian singer and rapper Black Sherif is a great example of how this journey can unfold. His lyricism and unique blend of drill, Ghanaian highlife, and trap caught the ears of our editors in Sub-Saharan Africa, which led to his being playlisted in popular local lists like +233 Bars, Asakaa, Ghana Party, and more. As Black Sherif started to perform well on these playlists, he was placed in the region’s top flagship lists—Hot Hits Ghana, No Wahala, and African Heat—which further accelerated his popularity. 

Eventually, our hip-hop editors took note of his growing audience, which was starting to cross borders, and supported him across various playlists, including our global flagship playlist for drill, City to City. He has since become an emerging name outside Sub-Saharan Africa and was selected as one of our six RADAR artists in 2022.

2. Spotify playlists are curated

Placements on our editorial playlists are driven by a combination of the cultural knowledge, passion, and expertise of our editorial teams, and the variety of data insights we gather from Spotify’s audience. Crucially, music submitted via the playlist submission tool is the starting point for all songs, and Global Curation Groups, which are tapped into the latest trends and discussion points, can also determine the outcomes of where a song’s journey continues in the editorial ecosystem.

If you’re an artist who wants to better understand the pitching process, the panelists shared a few best practices to get you started:

  • Do pitch your music before it’s released: Using our playlist submission tool on Spotify for Artists is the most effective way to pitch new music. To give your track the best chance of getting playlisted—either editorially or algorithmically—we recommend pitching your song at least seven days in advance of its being released. 
  • Do provide as much info as you can: Our editors love having context when considering a song for placement. Who made it with you? When was it made? Where did you make it? It is also helpful to include any press, music video plans, release schedules, and promotions, as well as the social media accounts linked in your artist profile. If there’s an interesting story around you and/or the song, definitely let us know. 
  • Do think globally: When you pitch a song for placement, it’s visible to our entire team of editors around the world. They’re also constantly sharing their discoveries with each other. So if there are markets or regions outside of your own where you think your song will attract fans, be sure to include those suggestions when you pitch.
  • Do engage your audience: While you can’t pitch your music to us post-release, our editors still look at signals from our broader data to see which songs are resonating. Engaging with your audience and encouraging them to stream your tracks can help build momentum and catch our editors’ attention.
  • Don’t pay for playlist placement: You cannot pay to get on an official Spotify playlist. If someone or a third-party company is offering placement on a playlist in exchange for money, this is a streaming manipulation service that goes against Spotify’s guidelines for music promotion. Additionally, we routinely remove user-generated playlists that claim to offer this, so it won’t benefit you in the long run.
  • You can only pitch via Spotify for Artists: This is the place where ALL editors go to look for new music, and it’s your route to get your music in front of our editors. 

3. Spotify playlists are personalized

Personalization is one of Spotify’s most loved features, drawing upon a multitude of signals to connect the right song to the right ears at the right time. Personalized playlists include not only the aforementioned Discover Weekly and Release Radar, but also playlists like Blend and Daily Mix. They also include playlists like Beast Mode and Songs to Sing in the Shower, which are personalized for each listener but are based on a larger pool of potential tracks chosen by editors. 

One-third of all new artist discoveries on Spotify happen in these personalized sessions, which also help to drive future streams from new fans. Submitting a pitch at least seven days before release day via the playlist submission tool also helps ensure that an artist’s new release shows up in their listeners’ Release Radar.

4. Spotify playlists are driven by fans and artists

The majority of Spotify streams come from active streams, where fans are seeking out the music they want to hear by visiting album pages, artists profiles, or liked songs. This also includes streams from listener playlists. These can help signal to Spotify (and to other fans) that we should be paying attention to a particular song or artist. Artists can also engage fans by creating playlists that feature their music, or tracks by other like-minded artists that they’ve worked with and are inspired by. This can not only help to catch the eye of editors when they’re looking at streaming data, but could also lead to visibility on other artists’ profiles.

5. Spotify playlists are timeless

Spotify playlists are composed of the hottest tracks of the moment, as well as classics from the past. That’s because catalog music—or music that is more than 18 months old—maintains a large presence on Spotify. According to our Catalog Fan Study, roughly 75% of active streams consist of catalog music. Furthermore, catalog music has become increasingly popular with younger audiences who are discovering artists from previous generations for the first time.

While artists can’t pitch catalog music, our editors are always looking at the data to see if a catalog song is a good fit for one of our editorial playlists. And if an artist’s catalog song happens to go viral on a playlist, the benefits are sizable: On average, artists can see a 70% jump in streams for the rest of their music. 

As you can see, playlists are vital to how fans connect with new artists and how artists engage those new fans. And we’ll continue to use our ecosystem of playlists to support artists as their musical journey unfolds.

Are you an artist looking to get your track on Spotify’s playlists? Visit Spotify for Artists to pitch our editors.

4 Tips and Tricks for Podcast Creators To Grow and Retain Listeners

March 8, 2023

Today at Stream On, artists, songwriters, podcasters, and authors from around the world joined us for the latest announcements and hands-on demos of the new tools and resources coming to our platform. We also hosted a companion event, Play On, which featured a series of talks and interactive sessions to inspire and educate creators about how they can unleash the full potential of our platform.

Among these sessions was “Ear to the Ground,” a workshop on trends, insights, and recommendations for podcasters to find, grow, and keep their audiences. Head of Partner Management Jordan Newman—whose team creates relationships with the most prominent and promising podcasters on Spotify—took the opportunity to pull back the curtain on some of the global trends we’re seeing across our platform. Between the volume of podcasts created, the growing importance of video, and evolving consumption habits, podcasting has changed enormously in recent years. 

Jordan’s session equipped podcasters with insights to better understand listening trends—how, when, and why audiences listen—and tips for how to harness these insights into action. Read on for a few of his recommendations.

1. People shouldn’t judge a podcast by its cover (but they do, so be prepared)

A detail that’s often overlooked also happens to be one of the most impactful things that helps draw listeners: cover art. Cover art, the podcast title, and episode titles engage listeners right away, so they should be immediately enticing. 

During testing, the Spotify Insights team learned that listeners browsing for their next show prefer covers that convey the most information—that capture the attention of listeners while also giving them an idea of what they can expect to hear. So cover art with a well-known host might attract listeners, while a picture of a person they’ve never heard of before is less likely to draw them in. Abstract imagery only works if the show’s title is super descriptive: For example, New York Times’ The Daily features abstract colors in its cover art; however, it also prominently displays the informative title and the publication’s logo so listeners know what to expect. Taglines are another way to give listeners clues when a show’s name isn’t so obvious. 

When in doubt, choose options that best convey the show’s subject matter and are easy to read. You’ve likely got one shot to stop a scroll in its tracks.

2. Choose a frequency, and stick with it 

When and how often a podcast releases new episodes makes a big impact on whether a show finds and keeps its audience. The majority of our top shows are always on, running weekly or daily throughout the year, and driving three times more consumption per show than seasonal shows that run in short spurts. And it turns out that most Spotify listeners seek always-on content, with 75% of our podcast audience exclusively listening to always-on shows. Always-on listeners spend more time listening to podcasts than seasonal listeners. 

While not every show can or should be always on, if a show’s creative supports the opportunity to publish regularly, then fans are more likely to return weekly or monthly. Releasing episodes consistently and frequently has major benefits. Even if a show takes a break for just a couple of weeks, audiences drop off. Re-runs, however, can reach similar levels of listenership, proving that it’s better to occasionally publish old content than to publish no content at all. Keeping a consistent publishing cadence doesn’t guarantee your podcast will go viral, but it can help you gradually attract more listeners and grow organically. 

3. People are creatures of habit, so consistency is key

When a show is published is a crucial factor to its success. Our data shows that people listen to podcasts frequently and within their routine. During weekdays, podcast listening spikes in the early morning and evening—commute times—and stays consistent throughout the rest of the day. On the weekends, listening remains heavy even into the evening. 

We see more “informative” and “motivational” genres like news, health and fitness, and business peak in the morning. Listenership of other categories like sports, and society and culture, pick up in the morning and remain stable throughout the day. Comedy and true crime listening grow steadily throughout the day. Our research also shows that people are more likely to have an appetite for discovering new content and watching video podcasts later in the day. 

Something else our research shows is that podcast listening habits are stronger when they are attached to another routine like exercising, commuting, cooking, folding laundry, or just winding down for the day. So when these routines happen, they create a “podcast moment” in which a listener seeks out content. And hopefully, they’re finding it. So when in doubt, publish episodes as early in the day as possible.

4. Use Spotify for Podcasters tools to deepen your connection with fans

The strongest predictor of heavy engagement in podcasts is whether or not listeners have formed parasocial relationships with the hosts: Good hosts aren’t just hosts, they’re friends, gurus, and guides. 

One way to do this is to create authentic and vulnerable moments, and generate a sense of reciprocity with listeners. Features like Polls and Q&A in Spotify for Podcasters make it possible for listeners to engage with the personalities behind their favorite podcasts, and for creators to hear directly from fans. While these features are nascent, and their full potential and impact are still being understood, we’ve seen promising signals for what interactivity means to a show’s growth and retention. On average, listeners who “interact” and respond to a poll or Q&A listen to more of that show. And those people are twice as likely to keep listening to that show the following month. 

“Followers” are also crucial. Someone who follows a show typically listens to 50% more of it than someone who doesn’t. And that number is even greater if the listener subscribes to episode notifications. So podcasters shouldn’t shy away from telling their listeners to hit follow and to click the bell to receive notifications for new episodes. As an added bonus, the more followers a podcast has, the more impactful it is on the algorithm for our Top Podcasts chart. 

Bonus: Podcasting is for anyone and everyone 

We’re constantly working to enable creators of all kinds to find an audience, connect with fans, and ultimately make a living off their craft. With our new Spotify for Podcasters platform, anyone, anywhere, regardless of their recording setup or technical prowess, can record, edit, host, and monetize their podcast—and the best way to get started is to hone in on the why of what you’re creating. 

So our final piece of advice? We find that people listen to podcasts for four core reasons: to find guidance and connection, to learn useful information, to provide entertainment and escape, or to explore and expand their worldview. Get in tune with your audience and you’re in for a long journey together.

Spotify Reveals More Opportunities and Features for Creators During Stream On

March 8, 2023

Artists, songwriters, video and content creators, podcasters, and fans from all over the world joined Spotify for our second Stream On event today in Los Angeles. Alex Cooper, Bill Simmons, Ed Sheeran, Emma Chamberlain, Jennifer Lopez, GloRilla, Halsey, Joe Rogan, The Jonas Brothers, Karol G, Luke Combs, St. Vincent, Tash Sultana, and other luminaries mixed with Spotify team members to share announcements and inspiring stories, and take part in hands-on demos of new artists tools and creator resources coming to the platform. 

“Stream On is about all the ways we are bringing Spotify to life and letting creators at all stages of their careers know that we are open for business,” Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek said. “We are focused on building the best home for them—a place where they can establish a career, thrive, and grow, and where the world can be inspired by their creativity. And that’s what we’ve been doing for almost 17 years: building, improving, and reimagining this home to better meet creator needs and help them chart new pathways to success.”

From new app functionality to a holistic one-stop shop for podcasting to more opportunities for artists to engage with their fans, Stream On further cements our commitment to the creative community.    

“As we look to the future, we are excited to expand that ambition to even more creators across new formats. We’re enabling more creativity, discovery, and personalization than ever before by providing the best resources, support, and interactivity,” Daniel said.

Helping fans discover creators and artists

We’ve unveiled one of the biggest evolutions since Spotify’s inception: a new, dynamic interface on mobile built for deeper discovery and more meaningful connections between artists and fans. 

With this new experience, we’re giving fans an even more active role in the audio discovery process, and giving creators even more space to share their work. Powered by advanced recommendations, new visual canvases, and a completely new and interactive design, the new interface is making discovering new audio easier than ever before and helping introduce users to their next favorite artist, podcast, or book. It’s all about closing the distance between creators and fans—and setting the stage for long-term, lasting connections that reach beyond viral success. 

The new Spotify will roll out in waves to our 500 million+ monthly active users beginning today. Here’s what to expect:

  • Music, podcast, and audiobook previews across Music, Podcasts & Shows, and Audiobooks feeds for listeners to sample before they play or save. We’re also bringing “shortcuts” to the top of listeners’ feeds—giving users easy access to some of their recent and favorite listens. 
  • New feeds for discovery on Search that will allow users to quickly and easily explore personalized, short Canvas clips from tracks across some of your favorite genres. Users can easily save the song to a playlist, follow the artist, or share it with friends, all from one place. Looking for something else? Explore related genres using the hashtag within the feed, all with the goal of making discovery even easier. 
    • We’re also bringing this feature to popular playlists like Discover Weekly, Release Radar, New Music Friday, and RapCaviar, inviting users to preview tracks on a playlist before diving in. 
  • Just like with music, we’re now serving Autoplay for Podcasts—when a podcast ends, another episode that fits the user’s tastes and is relevant will automatically start playing. 
  • More to love with our personalized AI DJ that transforms how listeners hear and discover the music they love. 
  • Smart Shuffle, the easiest way to breathe new life into custom curated playlists with just the tap of a button.

“Spotify recommendations drive close to half of all users’ streams. And when listeners decide to follow a creator, they listen to, on average, five times more of their music,” said Gustav Söderström, Spotify Co-President and Chief Product & Technology Officer. “That’s why discoveries on Spotify—unlike many other platforms—give creators so much more than just a fleeting moment of viral fame. Those meaningful, long-term connections are a key part of what makes Spotify a platform for professional and aspiring artists.”

Supporting artist success through streaming

We also unveiled our annual music royalties report, Loud & Clear. The 2023 update demonstrates that more and more artists are finding success than ever before: The number of artists generating $1M+, as well as those generating $10,000+, has more than doubled over the past five years. Additionally, we estimate that the 50,000th highest-earning artist on Spotify generated more than $50,000 across all recorded revenue sources. 

Loud & Clear also details how Spotify pays the vast majority of every dollar it generates for music—nearly 70%—back to the industry, and all-time Spotify payouts to music rights holders are approaching $40 billion.  

Enabling audience development for artists through new and enhanced tools

We’re always building up our suite of tools to help artists find the fans who’ll love their music most. Here are a few of the new features they will soon find in the Campaigns section of Spotify for Artists:

  • Marquee is a full-screen, sponsored recommendation of a new release that’s focused on reaching listeners who have shown interest in an artist’s music. On average, Marquee is 10 times more cost-effective at getting listeners to stream music on Spotify than ads are on the most popular social media platforms. 
  • Discovery Mode is a tool through which artists and their teams identify priority songs, and Spotify will add that signal to the algorithms that shape personalized listening sessions. Today, Discovery Mode is directly available within Spotify for Artists, and is accessible to a wider range of artists and their teams, including thousands of independently distributed artists and labels.
  • Showcase is a mobile card on our brand-new home feed that will introduce an artist’s music—whether a new release or catalog—to likely listeners. We’re just starting to test Showcase with artists and labels, and will make it more widely available in the near future.

We also shared more details on the next revenue line we’ll enable to help artists grow: merchandise and live events.

  • New Concert and Merch Discovery tools will help make sure concertgoers never miss another show. Listeners will begin to see merch offers and concert listings in far more places across the app. If a show catches a fan’s eye, they can tap a new “interested” button to save the listing to their own calendar in the Live Events Feed. Users can adjust their location and browse concerts worldwide, all personalized to their taste. 
  • Spotify is also expanding its Fans First program to include more artists, ensuring top listeners receive emails and notifications that give them special access to concert pre-sales and merch exclusives.

And we unveiled new features and product expansions that allow more artists to express themselves in new ways and build buzz among fans. These include:

  • Spotify Clips, which lets artists add 30-second videos to their artist profiles and album pages so fans can go deeper into their stories while they’re listening; and
  • Countdown Pages, which provide dedicated space on an artist’s profile and Spotify’s Home feed for fans to pre-save albums, see exclusive videos, pre-order merch, preview tracklists, and watch the timer count down to a new release. 

Reintroducing Spotify for Podcasters as our one-stop shop for creators

Podcast creators joined our executives onstage to showcase the reimagined Spotify for Podcasters. The site now brings together the best of Spotify’s podcast creator tools into a one-stop shop to create, manage, grow, and monetize podcast content, including: 

  • Broader availability of Spotify-unique features like video podcasting, interactive episodes using Q&A and Polls, subscriptions, and robust analytics
  • Podcast previews, Podcast Chapters, Spotify Labs, and a new space for educational podcasting content
  • Megaphone, Spotify’s hosting solution for enterprise publishers, will be integrated into Spotify for Podcasters in the future. Netflix and Australia’s Schwartz Media were just signed on as two of the latest publishers.

We also looked back at the growth of the Spotify Audience Network (SPAN), our audio-first marketplace that connects podcast publishers and independent creators with advertisers, including monthly payouts to opted-in publishers. 

  • Since we launched SPAN in 2021, it has grown by nearly 50%. Advertiser participation has since increased by 500%.  
  • The number of independent and enterprise podcasters taking part in SPAN has grown eightfold in the last two years, with NPR being the latest publisher to join the network.
  • We’re partnering with Patreon, which will enable creators to expand their creative business through direct payments from fans, and allow fans to listen to their Patreon content on Spotify.

Announcing new and expanded Spotify Originals and exclusives

Spotify Original and exclusive podcasts saw much success in 2022, with Case 63, The Joe Rogan Experience, and Call Her Daddy taking the top spots of the Wrapped top global podcasts. And now that Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain is exclusively on our platform, Spotify has four of the top five biggest hits worldwide. 

We’re expanding our catalog with new shows, including The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark. This latest title follows the Batman Unburied series and its characters in a brand-new story led by Phantom 4 and filmmaker, novelist, and comic book writer David S. Goyer. 

We’re also introducing more video podcasts, with Forbidden Fruits with Julia Fox and Niki Takesh returning for a second season and an exclusive video podcast edition of the show. Drew Afualo’s podcast, The Comment Section, is also coming to Spotify exclusively starting April 5. 

We’ve also entered into an exclusive video partnership with Markiplier to produce exclusive video episodes of Distractible and Go! My Favorite Sports Team for Spotify beginning today. And with innovative partnerships on the way from Collab, Creative Juice, Get Engaged Media, Golden Child, and Karat to bring their creators’ videos to Spotify, as well as limited video series exclusively available on Spotify from Mindset Mentor, we’re looking forward to introducing millions of new listeners to video podcasts. 

Welcoming creators and artists “home” to Spotify

Immediately following the presentation, we opened the doors of our campus in Los Angeles’ Arts District to creators for our “Play On” event to demo new products, hold workshops with top industry creators, and share insider knowledge on how best to use Spotify from the people who helped develop the tools at the company. To close out the activities, we’ll be hosting an all-female showcase to celebrate International Women’s Day. 

“Today, there are more than 10 million creators on Spotify, with over half a billion listeners across 184 countries and markets,” Daniel noted. “Think about the massive potential that represents for creators. No matter where you are on your own creative journey within music, podcasts, or audiobooks. The potential to reach half a billion people. And that reach is about to become more powerful with what we’ve introduced today.”

Watch the 10-minute recap of the entire event below.

 

Forward-Looking Statements

The discussion above contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking. For example, the words “will,” “expect,” “potential,” and similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and management’s belief about future events and trends, and are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which may adversely affect our business and results of operations, including, but not limited to, our ability to attract and retain users and monetize our products and services; competition; risks associated with our international operations and growth; risks associated with our new products or services and our emphasis on long-term over short-term results; our ability to predict, recommend, and play content that our users enjoy; our ability to maintain the integrity of our technology structure and systems or the security of confidential information; and other risks as set forth in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Five Fast Facts About Podcast Creator Monetization on Spotify

March 8, 2023

We know that many podcasters are able to establish their creative business on Patreon. But until now, there wasn’t an easy way for fans to listen to Patreon podcasts on Spotify. So today at Stream On, we were excited to announce that podcasters will be able to deliver patron content to their listeners on Spotify, and fans can easily listen to all their favorite episodes.

But the money talk went well beyond Patreon. Since launching in 2021, the Spotify Audience Network has grown by leaps and bounds as we’ve worked to connect advertisers with leading podcast publishers looking to monetize their shows. Also around that time, we acquired Megaphone, which has since become Spotify’s hosting, insights, and monetization solution for enterprise publishers like The Wall Street Journal, Paramount, and ESPN. Together, these tools give creators the ability to choose how to monetize, and we had plenty to discuss around both. 

Here are the five takeaways you need to know:

  1. The number of podcasters taking part in the Spotify Audience Network has grown eightfold in the last two years. And since we launched the Spotify Audience Network in 2021, monthly payout to opted-in publishers has grown by nearly 50% while advertiser participation has increased by 500%. So as we continue to scale the Spotify Audience Network, our intent is to make this kind of growth available to all creators.
  2. We’re pleased to welcome NPR to the Spotify Audience Network marketplace. 
  3. Recent additions to Megaphone’s roster of publishers include Netflix and Australia’s Schwartz Media. 
  4. In the future, Megaphone will be uniquely integrated into Spotify for Podcasters. And as of today, all Megaphone publishers have everything they need to create a successful podcast business across the new Spotify for Podcasters and Megaphone.
  5. Through our partnership with Patreon, powered by Spotify Open Access, podcasters will be able to publish patron-only content on Spotify. Patrons will be able to link their Patreon account to their Spotify account to access their Patreon-exclusive podcasts right where they’re already listening to all their audio content.

We’ll continue to explore new monetization models so that you continue to have options for how to build your business.

Markiplier’s ‘Go! My Favorite Sports Team’ and ‘Distractible’ Are Launching Exclusive Video Episodes Only on Spotify

March 8, 2023

Markpilier Go My Favorite Sports Team Distractible

Mark Fishbach, alias Markiplier, is one of the voices behind storied podcasts Distractible and Go! My Favorite Sports Team. But before becoming a podcaster, he was an illustrious creator of video content. 

So he was excited to take to the stage at Stream On today to share that Spotify has entered into an exclusive video partnership with Markiplier to produce exclusive video episodes of Distractible and Go! My Favorite Sports Team beginning today. Both shows will be launching exclusive video episodes for the first time ever—and they’ll be available only on Spotify.

“Before, we were just faceless nobodies. But now, you get to experience our faces in ways you never could have imagined. Wade, Bob, Tyler, and I couldn’t be more excited about this,” Mark shared. 

Distractible is a space for thoughtful discussions about funny, far out, and interesting stories of everyday life. It’s also an opportunity for three friends—Mark, Wade Barnes, and Bob Muyskens—to remind each other they are not as smart as they think.

Go! My Favorite Sports Team is for sports fanatics and those who don’t know the difference between a goal and a touchdown. There’s something for everyone, with Mark and Tyler Scheid serving as the sports commentators you didn’t know you needed. 

“While we love the audio world and still aim to bring you the very best in auditory experiences, by bringing our faces into the mix, we aim to give you an as-yet-unseen dimension to your listening experience,” Mark added. “Imagine if you could smell a movie, imagine if you could smell us . . . who knows what the future will bring?”

New Spotify for Podcasters Brings the Best of Spotify to All Creators

March 8, 2023

Spotify for Podcasters

Empowering creators is central to everything we do at Spotify. We’ve long been building the tools that podcasters need to tell their stories and grow their audiences, but until now, they’ve been split across multiple, separate platforms, including Anchor and Spotify for Podcasters. For creators who just want a simple way to take advantage of everything Spotify has to offer, it’s been too complicated. That ends now.

Today at Stream On, we announced that we’re combining our tools into a single, convenient, one-stop shop: Spotify for Podcasters. 

This makes for a significantly easier experience for every podcaster already on Spotify, and further, it opens up the opportunity for even more creators to find success—no matter how they choose to manage their podcast.

Making features available to all podcasters

Previously, our most innovative features were limited to Anchor users exclusively. But we’re building the new Spotify for Podcasters in a way that offers more open access to innovation. As a result, all Spotify for Podcasters users—including those not hosting their content with us—will find access to Q&A and Poll functionality in their dashboards.

And stay tuned for even more features to become available for non-hosted users in the future: We’re starting to open up access to video podcasts for more creators. You can sign up for more information at spotify.com/video.

New Spotify for Podcasters capabilities

Starting today, when all creators sign up or log in to Spotify for Podcasters, they’ll find a dashboard with everything they need to make, manage, and level up their show, including:

  • The ability to upload and publish episodes (for users hosting their show with Spotify for Podcasters)
  • Interactive features like Q&A and Polls
  • Advanced analytics to track a show’s growth, including streaming numbers and audience demographic data

Additionally, Spotify for Podcasters offers free hosting. And for those users whose podcast is hosted on Spotify for Podcasters, they also have access to recording and editing tools, video uploading, and monetization features.

Brand-new Spotify features for podcasts

Today, we also unveiled a number of new Spotify features that will help listeners better discover and engage with creators’ work. Look out for: 

  • Podcast previews, which enable listeners to sample a show right in their Home feed.
  • Creators can now add Podcast Chapters to their episodes by including time stamps in their episode descriptions. These allow listeners to browse through an episode by topic or section.
  • Creators can apply to participate in Spotify Labs, a global series of workshops that will provide opportunities to create in our world-class production studios, learn from Spotify experts, and connect with fellow podcasters and artists. 
  • Plus, we’re launching a new space for educational podcasting content—complete with growth tips, comprehensive how-to guides, advice from fellow creators, and more. 

Imagine Anchor’s powerful, all-in-one podcasting tools combined with Spotify for Podcasters’ advanced insights and analytics, all available with interactive features. And imagine it’s free and in every market where Spotify is live. 

Now stop imagining. That’s the new Spotify for Podcasters.

Find out more at Spotify for Podcasters. 

Hasan Minhaj Announces His Return to Gotham City as Star of ‘The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark’

March 8, 2023

The Riddler_Hasan Minhaj_Photo Credit - Eric Hobbs

Photo credit: Eric Hobbs

Today at Spotify Stream On, artists, songwriters, podcasters, and authors from around the world joined for the latest announcements and for hands-on demos of the new tools and resources coming to our platform. Podcast fans in particular enjoyed a big surprise when Hasan Minhaj revealed he’s reprising his role as Gotham City’s most enigmatic Super-Villain in The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark. 

This scripted audio series follows an unexpected adventure from the perspective of one of Gotham City’s most cunning Super-Villains, Edward Nygma. Characters from last year’s global sensation Batman Unburied—including Batman, Barbara Gordon, and Alfred—will return for another gripping installment of our story as Batman begrudgingly teams up with The Riddler to bring down a Super-Villain obsessed with cleansing the streets of Gotham from sinners— including our unlikely duo.

As the latest series to come from the exclusive, multiyear partnership between Spotify, DC, and Warner Bros., The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark follows two previous releases: the aforementioned Batman Unburied, and Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind. Batman Unburied’s 10-episode first season premiered in May 2022 to global success, receiving adaptations in nine languages and topping the charts in 35 markets. And that success continued earlier this year when all seven episodes of Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind dropped at once, quickly reaching the top of the charts in six markets.

Does The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark have a release date?

Currently, the series is set to premiere on Spotify later this year. Be sure to check For the Record in the future for the latest updates.

Want a taste of what you can expect when The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark premieres later this year? Listen to all 10 Batman Unburied episodes now.

Spotify Expands Video Podcast Lineup With ‘Forbidden Fruits’ and ‘The Comment Section’

March 8, 2023

Today at Spotify Stream On, artists, songwriters, video and content creators, podcasters, and streamers from all over the world joined Spotify to hear about our latest announcements and inspiring stories across our global platform. And for the podcasters in attendance, we touched on one of the most exciting trends in the space: video. 

Video is one of the fastest-growing areas of podcasting, with more than 70,000 video creators on the platform. We expect that growth to continue. With innovative partnerships on the way from Collab, Creative Juice, Get Engaged Media, Golden Child, and Karat to bring their creators’ videos to Spotify, as well as limited video series exclusively available on Spotify from Mindset Mentor, we’re looking forward to introducing millions of new listeners to video podcasts. 

Forbidden Fruits with Julia Fox and Niki Takesh returns—on video

We’re also excited to reveal that Forbidden Fruits with Julia Fox and Niki Takesh will not only return for a Season 2 on March 17, but the new episodes will be released as an all-video podcast. 

“Video is a whole added layer because now we actually have to get dressed,” Niki quipped to For the Record. “But we’re excited for the lewks!”

Fans can expect more of the same no-holds-barred cultural commentary from Julia and Niki—two opinionated and transgressive folx who cite acting, writing, designing, and styling in their resumes—but with a vivacious new look that matches the hosts in this moment. Equipped with a keen understanding of the current intersection of pop culture, sex, and stigma, this duo will continue to explore taboo content and interview culturally relevant guests with empathy and understanding to gain deeper insight. 

“We have some amazing guests lined up for our listeners. It’ll never be a dull moment over here,” Julia said.

Drew Afualo’s The Comment Section is moving exclusively to Spotify

Known as the internet’s defender of women, Drew Afualo attracted a loyal following across social media, and has built on that with her weekly video podcast, The Comment Section, where she and her guests explore the most dreaded section of their tagged videos on TikTok.

“I am so excited to move to Spotify for so many reasons, but one of the main ones is that it’s by far my favorite streaming platform,” Drew told For the Record. “I have used Spotify for so many years, and to have them partnering with me is such an honor. I truly feel like Spotify sees my vision and understands where I want to go with The Comment Section. I can’t wait to see where this journey takes us next!”

Starting April 5, Drew’s show will become a Spotify exclusive. But fans can still expect the same candid discussion and lots of laughs as Drew keeps it real and gives in-depth advice on the issues listeners care about most.

Can’t wait for Season 2 of Forbidden Fruits to premiere? Catch up with all of Season 1’s hot-button topics below.

Countdown Pages and Spotify Clips Create Ways for Artists To Engage Their Fans With Video

March 8, 2023

Today at Spotify Stream On, artists, songwriters, podcasters, and authors from around the world joined us for a day of announcements and inspiration. They also took part in hands-on demonstrations of tools and resources coming from Spotify, including new ways for artists to connect with fans and hype their work using Spotify for Artists.

Countdown Pages

Building buzz for an album release requires artists and their teams to work across multiple platforms and services, resulting in a disconnect between where music is being teased and where music is actually being streamed.

The most powerful time to reach fans is when they’ve chosen to engage with music, ahem, on Spotify. That’s why we’ve built a new tool called Countdown Pages.

Countdown Pages are dedicated spaces for artists to build anticipation for new albums. On Countdown Pages, fans can watch exclusive video clips, pre-save the upcoming release, preview the track list, and watch the timer count down to the release moment. 

Plus, fans who pre-save an album release will receive a notification as soon as the release drops. We’ll also automatically add the album to a listener’s library, ensuring that more fans start streaming on day one. In early tests, on average, over 80% of pre-savers streamed the new release within the first week.

Want to check out a Countdown Page? Visit Ed Sheeran’s artist profile on your Spotify mobile app and scroll down to the Upcoming Releases section to pre-save his forthcoming album “–”.

Spotify Clips

We could not be more excited to bring Countdown Pages to life—but we don’t want to limit artists’ video options to Countdown Pages. So, we’re making them available in more places where music lives on Spotify. 

Artists can add under-30-second videos to their album pages or their artist profiles. That way, new listeners and existing fans can go deeper into an artist’s stories while they’re listening. We call these videos Spotify Clips.

With Clips, new listeners will be able to get to know an artist and their music better, while loyal fans will be able to dive even deeper into an artist’s music, forging even stronger connections. The possibilities are expansive, with Clips enabling artists to build excitement for an unreleased song, promote a new album or single, tell the story behind a song, and much more. We’re unlocking this feature for thousands of artists this week, and we’ll be opening it up to more and more artists in waves throughout the spring. 

Learn more about these tools on Spotify for Artists.

Three Campaign Tools From Spotify for Artists To Build Your Fan Base

March 8, 2023

Today at Spotify Stream On, artists, songwriters, podcasters, and authors from around the world joined us for a day of announcements and inspiration. They also took part in hands-on demonstrations of tools and resources coming from Spotify, including new ways for artists to promote their work and strengthen their fan bases using Spotify for Artists. 

How artists can get more listeners and increase their reach with Discovery Mode

One-third of all new artist discoveries on Spotify happen thanks to personalized recommendations. With Discovery Mode, artists and their teams can identify priority songs, and Spotify will add a signal to the algorithms that shape personalized listening sessions, helping to increase the likelihood that the song is recommended to listeners on Radio and Autoplay. Every month, artists receive reporting on how many new listeners their selected songs reached, how many added them to playlists, and how often the songs were saved.

On average, within a song’s first month of Discovery Mode use, we’ve seen listeners save those songs 50% more often, add them to playlists 44% more, and follow the artist 37% more. Those results have stayed strong as we’ve scaled up the program.

So now, we’re ready to take that one step further. Today, Discovery Mode is available directly within Spotify for Artists. Now, thousands of independently distributed artists and labels will have access to Discovery Mode. 

How artists can turn listeners into fans with Marquee

Marquee is a full-screen sponsored recommendation of a new release to listeners across Spotify Free and Premium. It enables artist teams to reach listeners who have shown interest in the artist’s music before. It’s already a big part of artists’ and labels’ release strategies and is one of the most effective tools out there to market new releases. 

We recently worked with marketers across eight labels and distributors to find out just how much more effective Marquee is than leading off-platform marketing options. We found that, on average, Marquee delivers ten times more Spotify listeners for every dollar spent on similar social ads.

Marquee has already been available for all U.S. artist teams in Spotify for Artists, and starting this week, we began rolling it out to artist teams in the U.K. and Australia as well.

Showcase the music that matters most to you

We’re also excited to introduce you to Showcase, a new marketing tool we’re testing. It will appear as a mobile card on Home and will introduce an artist’s music—whether a new release or catalog—to likely listeners. We’re just starting to test Showcase with artists and labels and will make it more widely available in the near future.

With the addition of Showcase, Spotify for Artists now offers artists and their teams a robust suite of promotional tools. Artists can reach listeners right when they’re deciding what to listen to, target listeners based on their streaming history, and access data that tells them how the tools performed. 

Streaming has already democratized access to music for listeners. With these new tools, we’re democratizing access to marketing for artists. No matter an artist’s career stage or budget, we’re helping more artists market their music at scale—something that has never before been possible in this industry. 

Learn more about these tools on Spotify for Artists.

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.

Spotify’s New Experience Inspires Deeper Discovery and Connection

March 8, 2023

Spotify new Home Feed

Spotify has gone through updates and iterations throughout the years, but today, during Stream On, we unveiled our biggest evolution yet: a new, dynamic mobile interface built for deeper discovery and more meaningful connections between artists and fans. It gives listeners a more active role in the audio discovery process and gives creators more space to share their work. 

We’ve found that the next generation of listeners craves better ways to sample audio before fully diving in. So get ready for a more active experience with advanced recommendations, a spotlight on visual canvases, and a completely new and interactive design—all to make discovering new audio easier than ever before and help introduce users to their next favorite artist, podcast, or book. Together, these updates work to bring creators and fans closer than ever, and help each build lasting connections. 

“The world today pulls us in a million different directions,” said Co-President and Chief Product & Technology Officer Gustav Söderström. “So the most important thing we, at Spotify, can do for creators is to reduce the distance between their art and the people who love it . . . or who would love it as soon as they discovered it.” 

What to look out for in Spotify’s more visual, dynamic mobile experience: 

  • Music, Podcasts & Shows, and Audiobook previews on Home: Simply tap into the Music, Podcasts & Shows, or Audiobooks feed to explore visual and audio previews of playlists, albums, podcast episodes, and audiobooks personalized to you. Then, tap to save or share, go deeper into the artist or podcast pages, play from the start, or continue listening from where the preview ended.
  • New feeds for discovery in Search: Scroll up or down to explore short Canvas clips from tracks from some of your favorite genres. Then easily save the song to a playlist, follow the artist, or share it with friends—all from one place. You can also explore related genres using the hashtags within the feed for easy discovery of new favorites. You can even preview tracks on some of your favorite playlists like Discover Weekly, Release Radar, New Music Friday, and RapCaviar. 

Thanks to both of these new feeds of visual clips, you can scroll purposefully through music, podcast, and audiobook previews until you find something you like. And don’t worry—your Favorites aren’t going anywhere. Your shortcuts, or most recently played, will still appear at the top of your Home feed, so you can easily dive into whatever you were listening to last. We’re also adding previews to the top of your music, podcasts & shows, and audiobooks feeds for the first time.

  • DJ: Speaking of great recommendations . . . these announcements also follow the recent Beta launch of DJ, a new personalized AI guide for Premium users in the U.S. and Canada that knows you and your music taste so well that it can choose what to play for you. We’ve already seen so much love for DJ—both on platform and across social media—and we’re not even out to 100% of users yet. On days when users tune in, fans spend 25% of their listening time with the DJ—and they keep coming back for more, with more than half of first-time listeners coming back to listen to DJ the very next day.* 
  • Smart Shuffle: This new experience keeps listening sessions fresh with personalized recommendations that perfectly match the vibe of an original user-generated playlist. It breathes new life into carefully curated user-generated playlists, shuffling tracks and adding new, perfectly tailored suggestions.
  • Autoplay for Podcasts: Just like with music, we’re now serving Autoplay for Podcasts. When a podcast ends, another relevant episode that fits your taste will automatically play. 

We’re constantly innovating our app experience so we can connect even more artists with listeners. And with these latest updates, you’re primed to discover more music, podcasts, and audiobooks easier than ever before. 

*Results are based on eligible users (Premium users in the U.S. and Canada on mobile) and collected from February 22 – March 1.