Cómo Spotify se convirtió en la piedra angular del streaming musical

Productos icónicos Episodio 011

Desde los albores de Internet, la industria musical se ha enfrentado a un sinfín de cambios y problemas.

From the launch of iTunes and the iPod to problematic peer-to-peer file sharing sites like Napster to the emergence of (much more legitimate) music streaming business models, there have been quite a few changes in how people listen to music. 🎧

Pero uno de los productos más increíbles de la industria musical de los últimos 15 años es Spotify, el servicio sueco de música en streaming con un catálogo impresionante y una popularidad explosiva.

 

With all of the competition in music streaming services, Spotify still remains the most-used globally (though Apple Music is making impressive gains, mainly in the US) with 180 million active users, including over 83 million paying subscribers. 👫

¿Cómo ha llegado Spotify, una empresa que cotiza en bolsa valorada en $30.000 millones, hasta donde está hoy?

Let’s take a look! 👀

 

Amplio catálogo = opciones de escucha universales

Spotify ofrece más de 35 millones de canciones, lo que significa que prácticamente todos los géneros y regiones están cubiertos en cuanto a preferencias musicales.

By having one of the most extensive music catalogs out there, plus including a free version of the service (more on that in a bit), Spotify has democratized the music industry as we know it. 🎶

You could listen to music nonstop for your entire life and never even come close to scratching the surface of what’s out there.

 

That’s an insane amount of music. 😲

But what makes Spotify iconic in this regard is that they understand how overwhelming their library can be – where do you even begin?

This is where excellent curation becomes crucial. 👌

From charts that offer rankings of the most-streamed songs in every country (or globally), to Discover Weekly playlists, which offers every user a customized weekly playlist of suggested songs based on their music tastes – Spotify is essentially guiding users to the content that they want.

Having charts gives users a snapshot of what’s popular all over the world, and helps users discover some new favorites along the way.

This also means Spotify has the chance to further promote content that is “hot” at the moment, through exclusive recording sessions and content from the artists directly. 🔥

 

Crear comunidad a través de la música

Probably one of the most iconic things about Spotify is the community they have managed to create. 💛

Music is naturally community building – for many, it’s a passion. It can create memories or remind you of certain times in your life. Music brings people together in ways that many other things cannot. It’s an insanely powerful thing.

So with this in mind, Spotify takes it a step further. 🚀

¿Cómo? Seleccionando listas de reproducción.

By using both technology and people together, they are able to create next-level curation for music that covers any genre, mood, season, occasion, location – you name it.

Spotify cuenta con todo un equipo de conservadores musicales de distintos géneros y procedencias, que se pasan el día escuchando música y elaborando minuciosamente listas de reproducción para los usuarios.

Want to get a taste of what that’s like? Check out this great video from BuzzFeed that explains the role in more detail.

 

A great example of this brilliant curation is one of Spotify’s most popular playlists: RapCaviar.

With more than 10 million followers, this playlist has been called a “movement” by The Verge and “the most influential playlist in music…which turns mixtape rappers into megastars,” by Vulture.

Those are quite some claims, but they’re pretty accurate – there are several instances of artists making it to the Billboard charts for the first time because they were featured on RapCaviar.

This further shows that the human aspect of curation is still very much alive and well – having someone who is passionate about a genre or topic curate the music is what is going to create the biggest buzz and have users feel like the content is fresh and dynamic.

Spotify’s commitment to discovery and thoughtful, human-driven curation really sets them apart from other services. 💪

Sure, Pandora created an algorithm to suggest similar songs to listeners, and Spotify has something similar with its radio feature, but there’s only so much that technology can do to bring you new, exciting music options.

But Spotify’s curators aren’t the only ones creating playlists, there are several musicians who also create and manage playlists.

In some cases, it’s just a collection of their favorite songs and what they’re listening to right now (or songs from their current set, if they happen to be a DJ). In other cases, it can be a way for them to promote themselves or their favorite artists. 👩‍🎤

The community aspect also comes from the users themselves. Music can be a big part of someone’s identity, and Spotify has learned to use this in a fun and engaging way.

Unless you’re on private mode, your friends can see what you’re listening to and follow playlists you create.

 

También hay listas de reproducción de fin de año que te ofrecen estadísticas interesantes, como las canciones más reproducidas, los artistas favoritos y cuánto tiempo del año has pasado escuchando música.

Spotify ha utilizado esta información a su favor en sus campañas publicitarias de los últimos dos años.

Starting in 2016 with a campaign to thank 2016 for being a “weird” year, this campaign quickly turned into a huge, buzzy success with multiple iterations.

 

And let’s be honest, they’re hilarious – I can’t get enough of them.

 

Desde los anuncios basados en la ubicación hasta los anuncios en los que se llama a la gente por sus hábitos de escucha, dan a Spotify una voz distintiva que los usuarios identifican rápidamente y con la que resuenan.

Spotify managed to use its user data in a fun, quirky way – which further adds to the sense of community.

 

Experiencia Spotify en todos los dispositivos

Spotify is the only music streaming service that seamlessly allows you to stream your music from your phone, computer, speakers, TV, you name it – all from the app. 📱

You don’t even need a phone to control it. If you have a smart assistant speaker, you can simply ask Google/Alexa/whatever to play a song for you and it will connect to Spotify with ease.

More and more cars are adding Spotify to their list of apps as well. 🚙

 

En pocas palabras: puedes escuchar Spotify en cualquier lugar y en todas partes, sin apenas tener que cambiar de dispositivo.

Y escuchar Spotify pronto será aún más fácil: Spotify y Samsung acaban de anunciar una colaboración que permitirá integrar Spotify de forma nativa en los productos Samsung.

As Samsung’s new go-to music provider, Spotify can reduce even more friction when it comes to switching your music from a speaker to a TV…or to a different speaker. 🔊

Asociaciones como ésta demuestran que Spotify entiende lo importante que es ofrecer un producto fácil de usar y accesible.

By focusing on the users and their lifestyles – and understanding that people can listen to music anywhere in a variety of contexts – they are ensuring that their product is front and center, always ready when users need it.

 

Un modelo freemium de valor añadido

Spotify is a freemium service, so other than the occasional ad and limitations on how many songs you can skip, among a few other restrictions, this means that you can listen to just about any song out there – for free. 😍

Esto es muy diferente de, por ejemplo, Apple Music o Tidal, ya que aún no han lanzado una versión gratuita de sus productos.

While I won’t get into the pricing itself, it’s interesting to note that the free version is pretty good in itself – but Spotify Premium really offers users so much more, which makes it a well-justified investment. 💸

For ~$10 a month, depending on your region and whether you’re on a Family plan or a student, you get higher sound quality, offline listening and no more ads.

 

Al crear un plan de pago sencillo y directo, Spotify ha conseguido crear una oferta que cubre prácticamente cualquier estilo de vida y presupuesto.

Whether it’s a free plan or a paid plan, it’s all part of the same aforementioned community and the benefits of both are certainly there.

It’s ridiculously simple – and helps users adopt it as their go-to music streaming service with ease. 👍

 

Nuevas vías para la industria musical

A veces puede resultar difícil estar al día de todas las nuevas ideas y colaboraciones que Spotify propone.

A recent example is their partnership with Ancestry.com, the world’s leading genealogy site. You can order an AncestryDNA kit, and once your test results are in, you can visit a website to generate a playlist based on the regions that make up your genes. 🌍

It’s a bit out there, but it can expose users to new musical genres and regions, so in the end, it kind of works – plus the website is kind of fun to play with.

This also extends into the music itself – through a partnership with Genius, while listening to select songs on your mobile device, you can read the lyrics alongside interesting trivia and interpretations of the song your listening to in real-time.

 

Spotify manages to create an experience around the music – their users aren’t just listening to a song, they’re being fully immersed in the content. 🎤

Pero Spotify no se conforma con una única colaboración.

A select few artists are now able to upload directly to Spotify, à la SoundCloud.

Esta nueva función significa que hay montones de artistas independientes y sin firma que ahora pueden compartir su música con el mundo sin recurrir a intermediarios.

It’s by invitation only at this point, but it will be interesting to see how Spotify decides to expand on this strategy. 🤗

In any case, it’s a huge deal for the music industry.

No sólo van a competir ahora con SoundCloud, sino que están democratizando aún más el proceso musical, dado su peso e influencia en la industria.

And all of these partnerships and plans come down to one thing: reaching users (and musicians) in unique and fun ways. 🙌

 

A lo largo de los años, un sinfín de cosas han transformado nuestra forma de escuchar música e interactuar con ella.

And Spotify has been an integral part of that – which has led to them easily reaching iconic products status.

Spotify continues to push the boundaries of what consuming music means, and we’re excited to see what else they come up with in the future!

Keep rocking it, Spotify. 🤘

 

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