Spotify music discovery9/18/2023 Spotify is inching closer to getting a more holistic view of the identities of its users. By allowing artists to communicate a more holistic picture of their identity - their aesthetic, personality, values, etc. TikTok has access to this kind of data, which is why the algorithm often knows you better than you know yourself. So ideally, music recommendations should be based on the user’s wider identity, not just their preferred BPM. cottagecore, hyperpop, e-girls - of which music is often a core element, but not the only element. Culture today tends to manifest around micro-scenes - i.e. In today’s hyper-connected internet culture, consumers are pulling from a wider range of inputs than ever to form their identity. The cultural graph: The missing puzzle pieceīut what streaming services are really missing when it comes to music discovery is exactly what makes TikTok so powerful - it has data about users’ tastes beyond music. By connecting the dots in-app, Spotify would be beating TikTok to the punch that could have been TikTok Music. If the experience can keep users’ attention, Spotify could (finally!) bring fandom to streaming, and close the TikTok gap music marketers have identified, where users do not always seek out the songs they hear on streaming - nor build lasting relationships with the artists. On the other hand, Spotify wants users to constantly stop and dig deeper into the songs and artists presented. However, as Music Ally’s Stuart Dredge pointed out, one crucial difference between TikTok’s feed and Spotify’s is the former wants users to stay scrolling. The last two years of pandemic-driven disruption in the music industry may just have created a window of opportunity for real change in the fight for gender equality. Also, what is packaged as a benefit for consumers might actually be just another burden for artists - yet another platform where they have to post. While Spotify and TikTok used to compete only indirectly, they are now competing for some of the same user behaviours. However well-designed, it also seems unlikely that this new experience could win the competition against the dozens of other apps and activities competing for users’ attention. And we already know that most consumers do not consider music discovery to be a problem. Whereas playlists encourage users to press play and lean back, the new feed turns music discovery into an active form of entertainment, and almost a game.īut will users want to play? Spotify has a more passive userbase than other streaming services (partly the result of being so massive), whose members may not be interested in actively swiping through music. Whereas playlists divorce artists’ music from its context, artists can now give listeners a window into their wider identities. Whereas artists have moved hooks closer to the beginning of songs to avoid getting skipped on playlists, they can now present the most interesting part while keeping the full version intact. Spotify changed the music world with playlisting, but the vertical feed takes listening in the opposite direction. There is a lot to unpack here, and Spotify may not even realise the biggest implication of all.Ī good feature with some stiff competition Snark aside, Spotify’s aim is to offer more active experiences alongside the passive ones, transforming Spotify from a locked-screen experience to a place where consumers are actively spending their time - all with the goal of driving deeper music fandom. If it was not already clear that Spotify is taking direct aim at TikTok, presenters’ digs at “fleeting viral moments” and “sound-biting music” made this obvious. The platform’s biggest change is a vertical feed, and new content features to fill it with, including the ability for artists to record and share video clips. Spotify’s annual Stream On event seemed intent at clawing it back. Spotify may still be the most powerful streaming platform in the business, but it has lost much of its cultural capital. In the absence of such tools on streaming, this has led both groups to shift attention to TikTok, with Spotify taking a more passive role. Artists want (and need) to build deeper relationships with fans, and gen Z consumers want more active content experiences. Just a few years ago, Spotify’s Rap Caviar playlist was a harbinger for culture.
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