Anyone else get the feeling that this could blow up quickly? Spotify is trialling a new system in the USA where artists can pay to send users notifications.
Clearly this is about getting ears listening to newly released music and it’s not new.
In this test, we will let artist teams pay to sponsor these recommendations, giving them the power to tell their listeners on Spotify—across both our Free and Premium tiers—about their latest release.
You’ll now hear from a wider range of artists, which means you’re less likely to miss out on new releases from your favorites.
Google Play Music has done this in the past and Amazon music does exactly this. It is unclear though from documentation if this is the platform providers putting these suggestions and notifications in front of users, or paid ads from artists.
Reading the release from Spotify, you should only get notifications from artists you listen to. Whether this is artists you’ve tagged as a favourite, or whether this is driven by their algorithm is yet to be seen – my suspicion is the latter.
With the changing face of music, the way artists interface with listeners and the dominance of streaming platforms over physical record sales, this was bound to happen.
How do you feel about the potential for having ads put in front of you, on a platform you pay for?
LOL no wonder I am getting time outs and crashing on spotify. LOL payolla is back!
Maybe back to good old radio 🙂