Spotify Revolution on listening songs: Instant song streaming services like Spotify make it less difficult to find and listen to new songs. You no longer have to try to find unknown artists in record stores, ask your friends for new songs, buy song magazines, or illegally download entire albums through Limewire until you discover something new you like. You will not even have to search the Internet and bother with tens of thousands of different music magazines.
Nei, Spotify now dominates the way we learn about new songs. So how has Spotify changed our listening habits? How has it become such an effective tastemaker?
We are much more likely to discover new songs on the platform.
With features that allow us to search for comparable artists that people pay attention to, a ‘Discover Weekly’ playlist tailored to our current musical tastes, and ‘Music Radio’ alerts to music we like, it’s no surprise that we upload brand new music to our libraries almost every day.
Spotify encourages us to interact in this way because we need to consume songs more than ever: for moods, for special occasions, as soundtracks for activities, and more.
And we are clearly interacting with it more. According to Stifel’s Spotify Initiation of Coverage, Spotify captured more than 30% of total listeners in 2017, up from less than 20% in 2015, providing a highly personalized listening experience.
Thanks to the Behind the Scenes generation, Spotify is able to examine customer data, along with listening behaviors that might change at certain times of the day.
From this, new Spotify playlists are then developed for specific moments when customers can listen to additional songs. For example, an “Acoustic Calm” or “Nature Sounds” playlist for before bedtime.
By analyzing the volume, tempo, and duration of the music, among other things, Spotify can identify complicated features that customers like and improve its recommendations.
We are much more likely to pay attention to specific genres
When finding new artists is made easy for us, we jump at the chance. No one is sure to pay attention to only one style. The days of lifestyle and generalizing songs are behind us.
We like to mix it up now and keep our minds open to all styles. That’s why we have genres like indietronica, shoegaze, or psych-folk.
In fact, a Millennial perception company called Ypulse asked 1,000 younger adults about their favorite artists, and many of the respondents could not answer the question.
The test concluded that “this technology is curious about so many song genres and artists.” Few can choose to have both Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd in your library.
This started with the digitization of songs, but Spotify’s ruleset works to create more than one listener identity for each consumer, allowing you to recommend songs they should probably pay attention to. Ajay Kalia of Spotify says, “A person’s preferences vary depending on the type of song, depending on their modern activity, depending on the time of day, and so on. So our goal is to give you a nuanced knowledge of each part of your taste.
And that depends on 3 factors:
Collaborative filtering models that examine both your behavior and the behavior of listeners like you.
Natural Language Processing
(NLP) models that examine text.
Audio models that examine the uncooked audio tracks themselves (for tempo, duration, danceability, and more)
At the same time, Spotify playlists “mark a transition from strict style categorization to nebulous categorization based primarily on moods.
The former head of music culture George Ergatoudis said in an interview with the Guardian, “Mainstream audiences usually want extra guidance to discover new songs, or they want to sit back. Playlists fulfill that characteristic well.’
We are much more likely to be able to recognize song lyrics
Spotify’s collaboration with Genius has also changed the way we engage with songs, as we can now see the lyrics on the screen. Many people notice the lyrics of a piece of music because they can relate to them. This emotional connection clearly appeals to listeners. This is especially beneficial for fans, who are curious about the story behind the music of their favorite artist.
Genius opens a window into the artist’s mind: It has 3.8 million subscribers on YouTube and uploads interviews with artists every day in which they explain what their lyrics mean.
We are much more likely to create our personal playlists
Another feature that almost all Spotify customers use is creating playlists. Spotify even creates customized playlists for individual listeners, called the ‘Daily Mix,’ which includes the most listened-to songs and genres. Spotify also has an iconic ad campaign each year promoting playlists, leveraging customers’ reliance on listening and the ability to create playlists.
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Spotify has revolutionized the way we listen to music. But how is Spotify impacting the music business itself?
Independent artists are much more likely to grow
As non-mainstream tracks become more prevalent on Spotify and the number of playlists for indie artists increases, listeners are becoming more flexible in their listening habits.
Finally, this interest in brand new tracks provides artists with opportunities to perform around the world, and we are seeing indie artists host international outings or festivals, connecting with fans from all over the world. Oxford four-piece band Glass Animals, for example, explained in an interview with The Guardian that they owe their success to streaming. The band toured for 2 1/2 years after releasing their debut album, and again right after their second album. And now they are no longer a one-off. Spotify alone generated more than $40 million in price tag revenue in 2017.
Spotify also acts as a platform for artists to sell their products in the ‘Merch Bar’, and is designed to let us enthusiasts and fans know when they have a live performance in their city.
We are much less likely to pirate titles
