The Spotify Revolution: Two Major Updates That Prove Why This Platform Is For Brands Too

If Adweek is your daily source of news and advertising your bread and butter, then somewhere across your life, you might have comes across the term ‘Spotify.’ Yes you heard it right, no we didn’t accidentally stream a bunch of words together, that sound really similar to

‘Spot a fly!’

‘What If I?’

Yeah, you get the idea?

Spotify is a music streaming platform that gives you unlimited access to music from all over the world. With Spotify, you have free reign on all the latest songs from the trend charts.

Spotify as a brand has targeted as exactly for what we are – Millennials of the 21st century. The primary users of Spotify, aka you and me. The young 20 somethings who are trying to find a place in the world.

 

Spotify advertising

 

Seriously there is a lot more than just this, Spotify comes with a vast list of genres that cater to ever mood.

What’s the main reason users prefer Spotify when compared to an ITunes?

1. They can listen to tracks on the day as their release

2. Absolutely for free

3. Without any ads

4. Classical, EDM, Soulful, Indie, Rock, Acoustic… they have it all!

 

Spotify branding

 

• The Evolution of Spotify

If you are an Advertising nerd, which is probably why you clicked on this article in the first place, here’s how Spotify captured headline after headline and rose amongst the ranks to become an international phenomenon.

 

Spotify ads

 

 

Spotify advertising

 

 

Spotify branding

 

 

Spotify branding

 

Spotify advertising

 

Since 2015, users have seen Spotify take a centre stage in advertising and tying up with the brand to make its presence known and in conclusion, it has conveyed its message masterfully. The platform has only gotten bigger and bigger in the past couple of years. Take a quick poll in your workplace or amongst your friend and ask them what they know about this platform, most of them must have heard about it, a couple of them might have even downloaded it and the handful of them might be obsessed. This platform has a lot to offer, not just to an advertising medium but to an avid lover of music.

• The sky’s the limit.

Spotify has created 2 profound changes in its interface in the year 2016.

1. Spotify Launches Display Ads That Guarantee View Ability

Since 2016, Spotify has introduced an all new mobile display format for ads which would assist in garnering the attention of its audience. With this, they have managed to transform its extremely popular desktop format to mobile. This new feature lets users purchase display ads for mobile devices, which includes ads for both Android & IOS. By tracking what the users are listening to, they are able to garner a lot of metadata which gives them an insight into user preference and choices.

#FunFact: Spotify’s chief revenue officer Jeff Levick states that Spotify’s ad business has grown 100 percent year over year.

2. Spotify Opens Up Sponsored Playlists

Yes, you heard it right folks, Spotify has started promoting ‘Sponsored Playlists’ for brands. Before this update, brands were creating their own playlist and sharing it with their limited target audience. With the newest update, Spotify will be able to help brands target their TG in a better way and reach out to more users.

Brian Benedik, Spotify’s VP global head of sales, believes such playlists now generate over one billion streams per week with the most popular, Today’s Top Hits, racking up 8.3m followers

Sounds amazing doesn’t it?

• Their biggest challenge

Now that we have established that Spotify is like Starbucks and everyone wants to get a hold of it. Have you wondered why each time you google ‘Indian Advertising Spotify’ nothing ever shows up?

Well here is the glitch – Spotify isn’t legally licenced in India as of yet. Due to current issues of copyright and as per Quora, the latest verdict states that ‘It takes time to arrange licensing agreements with record labels and local publishing rights societies.’ But we can only hope that in not too long, Spotify will open its gates to India. With a population of nearly 1.3 billion people and counting, it’s time that they tap into this vast resource!

Pop Quiz Time!

Question 1

Did you know that the founder of Spotify – Daniel Ek is also the CEO of the extremely popular website amongst young adults? Can you guess the answer without the help of your dear friend Google?

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Answer: µTorrent

Never expected that, did you? Well, neither did we.

Question 2

Can you guess the age at which Daniel Ek created his first company? Take a wild guess!

#StrictlyNoGooglePolicy

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Answer: Age 14

While you were waiting for the latest episode of Pokemon and trading blows with WWE cards, he clearly was a much more evolved species.

Question 3

Can you guess the name of that one pop icon who decided to pull her music off Spotify?

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Answer: Taylor Swift

Clearly she had some ‘bad blood’ with the platform. *wink wink*

So how do we conclude this article?

As you know, the biggest lessons are always self-taught. So skip that smoke break commonly known as ‘brainstorming session’ and indulge in some research by checking out their website and see if you can leverage this platform for your brand.

So put on your headphones, select a power playlist and get started. We look forward to your comments below!

Godspeed.