Happy Friday and thanks for looking in on the latest issue of the Spotify Newsletter.

— People know I’m obsessed with Spotify Wrapped. The whole thing - love it. I drift into deep thought about how my top 5 is shifting week to week.

What will ultimately be #1 when all the data is tweaked and twisted?

That said… I really dig my On Repeat playlist. But then I was wondering: Isn’t the On Repeat rundown of songs like an ongoing sneak peek at what my 2023 Spotify Wrapped is going to look like? I zip around to a lot of playlists, but On Repeat is definitely a daily favorite.

— Another weekly playlist… another quasi In Memoriam added below because yet another music icon has left us. It’s depressing. But I just think how blessed we are to have been given so much great music - be it Robbie Robertson who passed Wednesday, or any of the artists who leave us. The music remains forever.

If music streaming never existed I’d be shuffling through CDs and dusting off LPs to listen to the music Robbie Robertson delivered over the years. I guess scrolling through my Mp3 files on iTunes isn’t exactly streaming. But I could be wrong. Call in.

Anyway! Music streaming does exist, thankfully, and the last few days I have enjoyed listening to a variety of Robertson’s work on Spotify. It’s all right there - just a click here, a click there and I’m with the music. Music streaming is awesome, and Spotify is my platform of choice.

— My obsession with content curation and my love of Steely Dan (along with a few unused minutes left in my busy schedule) pushed me into yet another newsletter endeavour: Steely Dan Newsletter. It’s a fun project; a quick rundown of all the latest news and notes about the maestros of cool.

— I’m tinkering with adding a Featured Playlist section each week… to spotlight cool playlists from anyone who wants to share their curating awesomeness. So be ready.

Have a super day and a great weekend.

★In the SPOTlight★

⭐️ Jung Kook Continues To Dominate Spotify–And No One Is Even Close To Challenging Him

Jung Kook continues to reign supreme on the world’s most popular streaming music platform with his solo debut single "Seven." The song's remarkable journey since its release nearly three weeks ago has left its mark on charts worldwide, making history and rewriting records.

⭐️ Coming Soon: Confidence — An Experimentation Platform from Spotify

Spotify is releasing a new commercial product for software development teams: a version of our homegrown experimentation platform that we’re calling Confidence. Based on everything we’ve learned over the last 10+ years about what it takes to enable experimentation at scale, the platform makes it easy for teams to set up, run, coordinate, and analyze their own user tests — from simple A/B testing to the most complex use cases — so they can quickly validate their ideas and optimize them for impact.

⭐️Patreon podcasters can now use Spotify to distribute exclusive content

The integration will allow subscribers to listen to patron-exclusive podcasts in the Spotify app.

⭐️ Spotify's new AI 'DJ' expands to 50 countries

The beta version of Spotify’s AI-enhanced DJ feature is coming to 50 new countries, after soft-launching in the US and Canada back in February. In recent months, it’s rolled out in the UK and Ireland, but now the robotic Wolfman Jack is headed to more countries in Europe, Asia and Africa, in addition to Australia and New Zealand.

🗣 Podcast Action 🗣

• Call Her Daddy's Alex Cooper is starting her own podcast network

🎧 The Playlist List 🎧

• What drives the 1.9B music discoveries that happen on Spotify every day?

• How Spotify’s Gengetone playlist was created, and what the numbers tell

• Duncan Laurence and Arcade join Spotify Billions Club

🎼 Spotify 4 Artists 🎼

• A musician’s guide to Spotify for Artists’ Discovery Mode

• 5 Guaranteed Ways To Organically Increase Spotify Streams

💡 Tips & Tricks 💡

• How to change your password on Spotify?

🤖 Spot(ai)fy 🤖

• Spotify's AI-powered DJ tool is making listening more personal

⚽️ Spotify FC ⚽️

• FC Barcelona Renews Partnership with eFootball Series, Excludes Spotify Camp Nou from EA FC 24

🖌 Design Notes 🖌

• Experimenting at Scale, the Spotify Home Way

💰 Spotify Stock 💰

• Spotify Just Raised Prices in the U.S.: 5 Things Investors Should Know

🔥 Extra News 🔥

• No, Apple Music’s new Discovery Station won’t kill Spotify

• Broadcasting Desi Music to New Homes Around the World

• Spotify backs K-Pop group NewJeans with ‘Bunnyland’ campaign

• Apple Music tries to rival Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist

• Months-Long Spotify Union Negotiations Reportedly Break Down in Sweden

• Meet The Winners Of The Spotify NextGen Scholarship At Spelman

🎵 New Adventures 🎵

Shake! Shake! Shake! Jackie Wilson

Babylon Sisters Steely Dan

Perfect Way Miles Davis

Penny Lover Lionel Richie

Samson and Delilah Willie Watson

I'm Gonna Find Another You John Mayer

Laugh, Clown, Laugh - Remastered Abbey Lincoln

Guitarist-songwriter-singer Robbie Robertson, who led the Canadian-American group the Band to rock prominence in the 1970s and worked extensively with Bob Dylan, has died. He was 80. (Link)

The Main Title - The Color Of Money/Soundtrack Version Robbie Robertson, Gil Evans

Hold Back The Dawn Robbie Robertson

Broken Arrow Robbie Robertson

Like a Rolling Stone - Live at LA Forum, Inglewood, CA - February 1974 Bob Dylan, The Band

📧 Get in touch 📧

If you have a question, idea, request, or simply a desire to chat about Spotify, please email me at jeff.spotifynewsletter@gmail.com.

😀 Have a Nice Weekend! 😀