Bringing DC Universe to life in audio, signing a multi-year deal for podcast with Avengers: Endgame directors’ AGBO production company, expanding Spotify SoundUp, and announcing new interactive tools, are just a few things among the many other announcements Spotify made last night at the Stream On event which furthers the company's obsession with expanding podcasts. In fact, Spotify CEO and founder Daniel Ek believes that the future is audio – he calls it the 'Audio Renaissance' – and that the company's push towards it in the last few years has given the platform a head start of over a decade. "We are in the midst of an explosion of audio creation", Ek said.
Spotify now has over 2 million podcasts. This, the company says, is an increase of 1,500 percent in last three years.
The next big thing on Spotify: Podcasts
At the Stream On event, Spotify made various announcements to show its commitment towards an audio-dominated (especially podcast) future.
Spotify has announced that SoundUp, a feature aimed at bringing more diversity to the platform, is being expanded from six to 14 countries, including India. The company also announced that it signed a multi-year podcast deal with Avengers: Endgame directors’ AGBO production company. The directors will produce several series for Spotify.
Spotify is also partnering with Warner Bros to bring DC universe to life in audio.
Batman Unburied, the new @DCComics podcast from David S. Goyer, steps out of the shadows soon #SpotifyStreamOn pic.twitter.com/w0XrdyoVE5
— Spotify (@Spotify) February 22, 2021
Spotify also revealed new exclusive podcast programming, such as a podcast from former US President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen called Renegades: Born in the USA, and Ava Duvernay's first podcast project, which focuses on criminal justice.
Last year, I sat down with my good friend Bruce @Springsteen for a long and meaningful conversation that touched on so much of what we’re all dealing with these days. I’m excited to share it with you over the next few weeks: https://t.co/sQACD08AWx pic.twitter.com/biMoxCLhAG
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 22, 2021
Spotify says in 2020, eight out of every 10 new podcast on Spotify was created using Anchor (the company's podcast creation platform).
Calling it the "Future formats of audio", Spotify now lets creators curate songs from the platform's music catalogue directly into their podcast. For listeners, they are able to use this feature to discover and find new music they hear in this episodes.
One of my personal favourite announcements, however, was Spotify's new partnership with WordPress that will let new creators turn their written content directly into podcasts. This creator tool is now available.
Spotify has also said that it will soon allow creators to add video to podcasts.
Additionally, Spotify also plans to add interactive tools to for podcast creators like polls and Q&As.
Creators will soon be able to use interactive features like poll or Q&A for their podcast episodes. #SpotifyStreamOnhttps://t.co/PzpO0T7cza pic.twitter.com/tp05WeJVAe
— Tech2 (@tech2eets) February 22, 2021
Further, at the event, Spotify also confirmed its plans to launch paid podcast subscriptions on its platform. In the next few months, the company will be beta testing a new feature on Anchor that will allow US creators to publish paid podcast content aimed at their “most dedicated fans.” You can sign up for the beta on blog.anchor.fm/streamon.
Spotify for Artists, which is currently being used by over 1 million creators, will soon be added with support for 25 more languages. The platform will soon also open its Canvas looping visual to all artists, widen its Marquee marketing tool and launch Discovery Mode as a test later this year.
Today, we're giving all artists access to Canvas — so they can add a looping visual to their tracks on Spotify
See what's behind @halsey's creative process for Canvas ⤵️ #SpotifyStreamOn pic.twitter.com/iFLkYgfUkD
— Spotify for Artists (@spotifyartists) February 22, 2021
Golden Age for Audio
Setting its vision for "a new golden age of audio", Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek also revealed in 2020 more than 1.8 million albums were released on the platform. Ek says since 2008, Spotify has expanded to 93 markets, and the streaming platfrom currently accounts for over 345 million listeners. Spotify library includes over 70 million tracks, 4.5 billion playlists, and over 2 million podcasts.
Ek says, from smartphone to car infotainment systems, Spotify is used on one 2,000 different devices.
Spotify also saw an increase in the number of creators on the platform, with over 8 million creators recorded at the end of 2020. Ek believes that the platform could have over 50 million creators by 2025.
Spotify co-head of Music, Jeremy Erlich, further added a few more statistics to this: Over 60,000 new track are delivered to Spotify everyday, and in 2020, Spotify added 76,000 artists to its playlists for the very first time.
In 2020, over 76,000 artists were playlisted for the first time on Spotify—resulting in 16 billion discoveries by fans a month #SpotifyStreamOn
— Spotify for Artists (@spotifyartists) February 22, 2021
"...we are helping listeners discover artists they have never heard before, 16 billion times a month", Erlich said.
Spotify's chief R&D officer says that every hour over 50,000 hours of content is uploaded on the platform.
Spotify expansion, Clips, HiFi subscription, more
Spotify's biggest announcement of the day was that in the next few days, it will be rolling out the service to 80 new markets worldwide.
We launch in 80+ new markets over the next few days. See you soon Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria #SpotifyStreamOn pic.twitter.com/Wqv3IFdicz
— Spotify (@Spotify) February 22, 2021
The platform also announced that it will be adding support for 36 new languages, including Hindi, Romanian, and Swahili.
.@Spotify will now be available in 36 new languages including Romanian, Hindi, Swahili and more. #SpotifyStreamOn https://t.co/PzpO0T7cza pic.twitter.com/fw1c1QyOg3
— Tech2 (@tech2eets) February 22, 2021
At Stream On, Spotify also revealed its plans to launch a new subscription tier called HiFi for high-quality audio later this year, is select markets. Spotify didn't specify how much the new subscription plan will cost or where it'll first roll out.
HiFi is on the way! Can't wait to finally hear #BillieEilish and #Finneas's hidden whispers. #SpotifyStreamOn pic.twitter.com/3Uny0UA4l7
— Spotify (@Spotify) February 22, 2021
And a feature that didn't really come as a surprise, Spotify said that it is testing Clips, which is essentially like Instagram Stories. The feature is currently under testing in select regions with select users, but it is expected to rollout other markets and users soon.
We're introducing new ways for artists to use playlists to share their stories with fans ✨
Spotify Clips will debut on even more Spotify playlists, featuring artists in short videos that let them put their own stamp on a playlist experience #SpotifyStreamOn pic.twitter.com/sgHTWV244W
— Spotify for Artists (@spotifyartists) February 22, 2021
Spotify also announced SoundBetter, a new tool which will let creators hire other music production professionals. For creators themselves, the feature will work as an opportunity to be discovered by professionals. Basically, it's a mini-LinkedIn for music production professionals.
Spotify in India
Spotify also celebrated two years in India. On an average, a Spotify listener in India streamed nearly 150 artists and three podcasts in 2020. Spotify also revealed that, currently, 90 percent of podcast listeners from India are under the age of 35.
Spotify also says that the number of podcasts created on Anchor in India have increased 80x in a span of one year since February 2020.
Another interesting figure: Listeners in India streamed happier music in 2020 than in 2019. The average happiness rating of all music streams increased 2 percent on Spotify India during this time.
from Firstpost Tech Latest News https://ift.tt/2OVglJq
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