The Swedish company recently launched a beta version with the addition of full music videos for premium subscribers, kicking off a field that YouTube has dominated with an iron fist for two decades.
Music videos on Spotify
Music videos are available to premium paying users in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Brazil, Colombia, Philippines, Indonesia and Kenya, through a beta version, with the firm goal that more and more users move from the free version to the premium versionthus increasing the company’s income.
This strategy is within Spotify’s plan to reach the 1 billion users in 2030. To do this, the company led by Daniel Ek will have to face the main companies in the world, such as Apple Music, YouTube or Amazon Music, which already allow users to watch music videos for free. However, this value does not refer to the users who pay for the premium subscription, which already has about 240 million users, a number that is not at all notable.
In the statement, Spotify has indicated that this new option will include a “limited catalog of music videos, including hits from global artists like Ed Sheeran (…) or local favorites like Aluna.”
Previously there were signs that the streaming content company was going in that direction, as it introduced clips, that is, vertical videos of less than 30 seconds that artists could upload directly to Spotify.
What’s new on Spotify in 2024
Beyond the news that we have analyzed in the previous section, Spotify has presented several very interesting improvements at the “Stream On 2024” event.
At this event, the Swedish company has revealed to the world the redesign of the service, including new functions called Smart Shuffle, Previews and AutoPlayas well as three new features that provide new tools to content creators such as podcasters or artists.
‘Smart Shuffle’ aims to complete the playlists with new music intelligently. The application itself will know which musical styles fit our playlists, adding new songs and artists.
‘Previews’ will serve to give us brief information about the content we are looking for. Finally, the AutoPlay function stands out, which will allow us to automatically play another episode of a podcast when the one we just heard has finished. This saves the user from having to search and select, avoiding distractions and interruptions.
Finally, another of the most interesting developments are the Countdown Pagesa space within an artist’s profile so that listeners save albums in advance and can watch exclusive videos.
It is evident that for Spotify, musical content is the formula that has turned it into a gigantic and respected company worldwide. However, the board is clear that it cannot live anchored in the past, which is why improvements and opening to other markets are key to its existence and growth.