Spotify to launch virtual events feature
The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on the music industry, as artists who relied on live performances and concerts suddenly had the rug pulled out beneath them, impacting their ability to generate income.
An upcoming feature on Spotify could help turn things around, by again connecting artists with their fans through ticketed live music events. This time, however, instead of helping fans find live concerts, as in the pre-pandemic days, the new feature will alert fans to the artist’s upcoming virtual events.
Spotify has a long history in connecting fans with artists. The company first added a concert discovery feature back in 2015. Though Spotify still doesn’t sell event tickets directly, it’s able to leverage its listening data and knowledge of a user’s location to suggest concerts to fans who may be interested in attending. Now it could push out these recommendations more broadly, as virtual events allow fans anywhere to attend — not just those nearby.
To launch a virtual events feature, Spotify would only need to slightly tweak existing partner agreements to gain access to their virtual event listings. Given the pandemic, it’s hard to imagine a partner would decline such an offer. And doing so also serves Spotify’s larger goal of being the preferred platform for artists.
So far, Spotify has followed a fairly safe, and industry-standard approach, to its pricing tiers.
At its core, spotify offers a straight choice between Premium and ad-funded options, with slight money-saving variations on the former, like Family Plan and Premium Duo.
Another tier strategy for Spotify could be in the works around Audiobooks. Spotify was recently spotted hiring for an exec “to imagine new possibilities for what AudioBooks can be”.
