Spotify Newsletter #184

Your Weekly Dose of Spotify News

Oct 20, 2023

Hello. Thanks for checking out the latest Spotify Newsletter.

So much news this week! It’s remarkable how many quality Spotify-related news links we’ve managed to squeeze into this new issue. And there’s even a Pablo Cruise song in the playlist! So you know it’s going to be good!

Suffice to say… what we have here is the finest weekly digest of Spotify news anywhere on earth. So thank you very very much for reading and supporting the speedy rundown week after week. I appreciate it greatly.

News time:

★ SPOTlight★

⭐️ Billboard Music Awards Teams With Spotify For Reimagined Digital Awards Show

The first-of-its-kind collaboration with Spotify is billed as a way “to bring fans up close and personal with their favorite artists.” According to the press release. “The BBMAs and Spotify have teamed up to identify fans who have consumed the most hours of music over the past year and helped drive their favorite artists to the top spots on the Billboard charts. These fans will receive a ‘golden ticket’ granting them access to attend a once-in-a-lifetime performance curated by their favorite artists, expressly for the ‘2023 Billboard Music Awards.’”

⭐️ Spotify launches hub for artists’ merch

For artists struggling to make money from streaming, merch offers a lifeline.

⭐️ Can Spotify Take Digital Audiobooks to the Next Level?

For more than a decade, digital audio has been a bright spot for publishers, growing by double-digits year over year, with digital audio revenue expected to soon surpass that of e-books. But will a new foray into the market by streaming service Spotify—with its more than 220 million premium subscribers—be the spark to take digital audio to the next level?

⭐️ Spotify’s GM of Asia Pacific, Gautam Talwar, Discusses the Music of a Rapidly Growing Region

The Asia Pacific region seems to never sleep on Spotify. From events celebrating Kalye HipHop, our flagship Pinoy hip-hop playlist, to the tenth anniversary of Spotify in Taiwan, we’ve spent a decade developing relevant products and content offerings to deepen our connection with local users. And our work is just getting started.

⭐️ Spotify’s latest “Showcase” product and their ambitions as a two-sided marketplace

Spotify’s thinking on this is that they can capture a small portion of this industry spend, they can create a significant incremental business, continue to inch towards profitability, and ultimately increase the stock price.

⭐️ Spotify makes its latest Afrobeats move with dedicated hub

Called simply ‘Afro’ it’s partly a window for Spotify’s key playlists in and around the genre: ‘African Heat’, ‘Afropop’, ‘Motive’, ‘We Everywhere’ and ‘Essence’ are among those showcased prominently.