Tag: Music Streaming

Sydney, Australia – Global commerce platform Shopify and global audio streaming platform Spotify have entered a strategic partnership that allows music artists to expand beyond music and traditional merch to build fully realized brands, all with the capabilities of both platforms in their own specialities.

Using the Spotify channel, artists can introduce products to the place where listeners and fans are already engaging with their music most. By connecting their Spotify for Artists accounts with their Shopify online stores, artists can sync their product catalogues and seamlessly showcase products of their choice directly on their Spotify profiles, making it easy for fans to browse and purchase. 

Said feature period is currently in beta testing, and is available to users across Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S.

“Shopify is already powering the online stores of local and international acts, and the Spotify integration will further empower Aussie and Kiwi artists to showcase their unique talent, brand or creativity, and engage their fans even more effectively,” said Shaun Broughton, managing director for APAC at Shopify.

With Shopify, artist-entrepreneurs have access to an all-in-one commerce platform to manage their brands across multiple touchpoints that not only include leading social and entertainment channels and marketplaces, but now one of the most popular audio streaming services in the world.

“For new artists, Shopify is an easy-to-use, all-in-one commerce platform to start, grow and manage their brands. For artists with large followings and pre-existing businesses, Shopify’s world-class infrastructure effortlessly handles high volumes of traffic, key sales moments, and highly anticipated product drops,” Shopify said in a press statement.

Manila, Philippines – The global pandemic has pushed the majority to tune in to digital channels to be entertained, including music streaming. With the greater majority of these listeners being under the Gen Z and millennial demographic, their diverse perspectives on music streaming content can be tapped by advertisers, as the latest insights from Spotify shows in retrospect of the Philippine market.

Part of the influencing factor many young Filipinos are streaming audio content more than ever is due to reasons around having it as a ‘mental escape’. For instance, the survey noted that the respondents have listened to songs from the ‘70s 59% more and songs from the ‘80s 40% more as a way to lean on to a ‘nostalgic feeling’. Furthermore, about 87% of millennials and 85% of Gen Z’s locally say that they listen to audio to reduce their stress levels. Lastly, around 76% of Filipino millennials see audio as a mental health resource.

In line with this, the survey recommends brands to align any of their sponsored content to a more ‘comforting’ zone, noting that this creates a positive association with the type of audio we are listening to. Furthermore, the survey also emphasizes the significance of the rise of podcasts, which can be used by brands to promote podcast episode snippets to inform listeners and increase curiosity.

“Listeners are more receptive when messaging matches their mood. Consider millennials’ nostalgic listening experience and lean into contextual targeting to match their vibe,” Spotify said in a statement.

And with audio now having a more ‘emotional’ attachment to these younger generations, respondents are now more positive in democratizing live experiences concerning audio content. About 65% of the respondents say that they prefer connecting with other music fans around the world through a live-streamed concert, while 35% prefer connecting with their favorite local artist and fellow fans through a physical concert.

In addition, 51% of the respondents now prefer virtual concerts in contrast to the 42% of respondents preferring physical concerts, stating that virtual concerts are far more cheaper and more convenient.

The survey also noted that as part of democratizing these audio experiences to a wider audience, brands are advised to think more of the consumer base’s interests, not what they are made of. For instance, gamers who are long stereotyped for the male demographic, are now expanding into the female demographic.

“Gamers are focused on scoring when they’re deep in play mode, but they also use time spent gaming to learn and discover new things, from podcasts to playlists. Take your targeting to the next level by reaching gamers of both generations in real-time while they’re soundtracking their gaming,” the company added.

A larger part of the democratization of live experiences in audio content is due to the wave of fanbases rallying support behind these artists and content creators, with 39% of the respondents saying they have known their favorite music artists or podcast creators via social media. Other factors include knowing them from an existing artist (15%), streaming service recommendation (11%), friend recommendation (9%), and as seen from a movie or TV show (8%).

“Gen Zs and millennials are not just consumers, they’re creators. Pull back the curtain and give your audience a backstage pass to your brand’s creative process — and the opportunity to be part of it,” they commented.

Lastly, Filipino Gen Z’s and millennials understand that part of their diverse audio listening experience comes from amplifying unheard perspectives from societal sectors that are not given amplification back then to represent themselves. Around 62% of millennials and 58% of Gen Z’s in the Philippines said they’ve sought more content from more diverse creators and podcasts in the last year.

In addition, 68% of Filipino Gen Z’s believe they have more freedom to be their authentic selves than previous generations.

“As voices behind the mic become increasingly diverse, the audio medium is resonating with a wider audience — the fruits of which are already starting to change the industry,” Spotify stated.

The platform added, “[Gen] Zs are the most racially and culturally diverse generation yet, and they expect brands to reflect, represent, and empower them through their campaigns, talent partnerships, and participation in social justice movements.”

Singapore – Music streaming platform Spotify in Singapore has recently released its insights on listenership among users in Southeast Asia, with recommendations on how brands can utilize the platform as a way to communicate with their consumer base.

The insights found that K-Pop’s streaming statistics amount to 500 million monthly streams in SEA alone, with a 1,800% increase in share of listening on Spotify since 2014. 

In times of crisis that create cultural shifts, younger generations go all in for businesses that take a stance. About 65% like it when brands tell the world exactly where they stand and the causes they support – and that’s because discourse around social and political problems has truly found its way into everyday conversation.

Furthermore, 41% of Southeast Asia’s Gen Zs and Millennials agree that politics has never been as influential in pop culture as it is today, and, if SEA’s latest crop of artists and songwriters are anything to go by, complacency around the big issues looks like it is set to be a thing of the past.

With this in mind, Spotify encourages brands to utilize the platform through promotion of local artists, riding the pop culture wave of the Gen Z demographic, leveraging the genre to suit pop culture tastes as well as using music streaming channels such as playlists to create a ‘postcard’ that serves as a message to a brand’s consumer base.

Furthermore, Spotify encourages brands to recognize allyship or recognition of breaking social barriers or standards to communicate the message of ‘being who they are’.

“Gen Zs & Millennials understand that it’s ok to not be ok. The rules that govern this state of mind are complex, but music is (and has always been) an important part of the healing process – 60% of them still turn to music when feeling down or stressed,” the company said in a press statement.

They also added, “With listeners in Southeast Asia spending more than 2 hours daily on Spotify, audio is primed to take centre stage for advertisers looking to insert themselves into the narrative. We are entering a golden age for audio, and a whole new frontier for the audio advertising medium. Old habits may die hard, but lockdown has created new rituals – and new moments in the day (and night) where advertisers have the opportunity to capture audience attention.”

Stockholm, Sweden – Music streaming platform Spotify has announced that it will be rolling around 36 language support in its platform following its announcement last February 22 on the livestreaming announcement “Stream On”.

The new update makes the total languages on the platform to 62, and is part of the company’s update to make Spotify more accessible for speakers of these additional languages worldwide, and goes hand in hand with the company’s commitment to building a “borderless audio ecosystem.”

Some languages include those from Asia Pacific namely Bengali, Bhojpuri, Simplified Chinese, Filipino, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Eastern and Western Punjabi, as well as Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.

Other global languages include Afrikaans, Amharic, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, Croatian, Danish, Estonian, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Persian, Portuguese for Portugal, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swahili, Ukrainian, and Zulu.

“These market and language expansions allow us to engage with more listeners, in more places, in more languages. By reaching more people, we are giving millions of new creators the opportunity to build a career, while connecting existing creators with new audiences,” Spotify said in a press statement.

Spotify has lately expanded its growth globally, adding over 80 markets that Spotify will serve, ranging from countries in Africa to the Carribean.

To date, Spotify’s library contains more than 70 million tracks, 4.5 billion playlists, and more than two million podcasts, made by over eight million creators.