★ SPOTlight

⭐️ Spotify is introducing comments to its podcasts. Are music tracks next?

In its 18 years of existence, Spotify hasn’t had a comments section to go with its music tracks. That sets it apart from other music platforms, such as SoundCloud, YouTube and TikTok (if you consider TikTok a music platform).

Now that’s about to change – at least when it comes to podcasts hosted on Spotify.

The streaming service announced on Tuesday (July 9) that it has begun to roll out the ability to post comments on podcasts, a move it says is key to podcasters’ ability to develop deeper relationships with their audiences.

⭐️ There are 8bn user-curated playlists on Spotify, 725m created this year alone, Daniel Ek says

Spotify has been working to make playlists a more attractive aspect of the music streaming experience – and potentially to make them into a feature that can bring in more revenue. So far, the effort seems to be paying off.

⭐️ Ultimate Guide to how the Spotify Music Discovery Algorithm works

Even though streaming has become unimaginably easy for the user to discover new music, that does not mean the process isn’t complicated. This guide breaks down how the Spotify algorithm works its magic and how musicians can use it to their advantage.

⭐️Spotify Editors discuss what makes a Classic Album in the streaming era

What makes a classic album in the streaming era from 2015 to the present? Industry insiders join Spotify editors to discuss how albums were chosen for Spotify’s new

🗣 Podcasts

• Spotify Loses Comedian Dax Shepard's 'Armchair Expert' Podcast To Amazon's Wondery In $80M Deal

▶️ Playlists

Dentsu Italy and Spotify Team Up for 'Summer Hits Symptoms'

Directed by Cannes Lions-award-winning creative Riccardo Fregoso, the campaign is signified by a short hero ad made entirely in-house by Dentsu Creative Studios, in collaboration with agency InGood.

🎧 Streams

• Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’ Joins Spotify’s ‘Billions Club’

• NMIXX's 'Love Me Like This' hits 100 million streams on Spotify

• The Forrest Gump Soundtrack Hits Different in the Spotify Era

🖌 Design

Data Platform Explained

When it comes to scalability, Spotify’s Data Collection platform collects more than 1 trillion events per day. Its event delivery architecture is constantly evolving through numerous iterations.

🧐 Research

Estimating long-term outcome of algorithms

There are numerous scenarios where the short- and long-term consequences of an algorithm can differ. To estimate these long-term effects, one could conduct extensive online experiments, but these may require months to yield the desired insights, thus slowing down the process of selecting the right algorithm. In this work, we introduce a statistical approach that allows for the offline evaluation of an algorithm’s long-term outcomes by using only historical and short-term experimental data.

🎼 Spotify 4 Artists

• Spotify: Artists should “discourage” fans who “inorganically” stream

💡 Tips & Tricks

• How to create a Spotify pre save link

🤖 Spot(ai)fy

• Spotify's 'AI DJ' recommending songs from just 3 seconds of what people are listening to is mindblowing

🔥 News

• Report: Spotify India’s ad revenues nearly doubled in 2023

• What We Currently Know About Spotify’s “Superpremium” Plan for HiFi Lovers

• Spotify Is Testing An Emergency Alert System in Sweden—Another Massive Shift from Traditional Media

🎵 New Adventures

Word on a Wing - 2016 Remaster David Bowie

Soul City The Partland Brothers

Insanity Gregory Porter

Barrytown Steely Dan

Woman In Chains Tears For Fears, Oleta Adams

Mama - 2007 Remaster Genesis

Who Will I Hold The Avett Brothers

Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School Warren Zevon

Moonlight Drive The Doors

There's No Easy Way James Ingram

📧 Get in touch

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

😀 Have a Nice Weekend!