(San Francisco) Spotify presented new tools for artists and authors on Wednesday, with particular emphasis on video formats – increasingly essential even for an audio service – and on generating additional revenue.
The platform launched in 2006 has quickly become the world’s number one audio streaming provider, but it continues to have to prove the viability of its business model, whether for itself or for artists.
During a live-streamed marketing event, it announced that it had recently surpassed 500 million monthly active users, including 205 million paid subscribers (by the end of 2022). It also has 10 million creators.
“When we founded Spotify, the music industry was in freefall. So everyone was wondering if it was doomed or if it could be reinvented so that gifted artists around the world could make a career out of it and make a living out of it,” said Daniel Ek, founder of the Swedish tech flagship.
“Today we know that the answer is yes,” said the leader, who has just taken a step back to hand over the day-to-day to two new co-presidents: Alex Norstrom and Gustav Söderström.
Spotify wants to make it easier for artists to sell merchandise and tickets to concerts and other live events.
They will also be able to add 30-second videos to their profile and album page, to compete with music videos on social media, which “don’t guarantee that the public will then go and listen to the whole song”, a explained Sulinna Ong, an executive at Spotify.
Visual and interactive formats are also gaining momentum on podcasts, with more “video podcasts” and the possibility of organizing “questions and answers”.
On the user side, the interface is modernized with the possibility of listening to “previews”, a new search tab and increasingly personalized recommendations thanks to artificial intelligence – in the hope of making them discover more creators.
“The number of artists making over $1 million, as well as those making over $10,000, has more than doubled in the past five years,” the company said in a statement.
“The question of remuneration and income paid to artists is a subject on which we are regularly challenged and it is normal”, reminded AFP Antoine Monin, director France and Benelux of Spotify.
Spotify, which has been making regular losses for several years (430 million euros in 2022), recently announced a plan to cut nearly 6% of its workforce.