- Spotify aims to stream live concerts
- It’s part of the company’s strategy to focus more on video content.
- YouTube continues to lead the live streaming front and I think it will be tough competition.
Spotify is doing everything it can to go beyond being just an audio platform; now it wants to offer live concert videos for its subscribers, and I’m not sure how to feel about that.
According to Bloomberg, the audio streaming giant has plans to become “a hub for live music” and has contacted concert promoters to obtain licensing rights to stream live videos from music festivals directly from the Spotify app.
Spotify has recently been experimenting with concert videos, adding a series of pre-recorded music videos from Dua Lipa’s show in Mexico City, accompanying a live album released by the artist. Additionally, the Primavera Sound festival was held in Barcelona over the weekend, which has gained huge popularity and following online in recent years, so it makes sense why Spotify would want to cash in on this.
The move to live concert streaming reflects Spotify’s evolving plans to become a channel between artists and their most dedicated fans. A few weeks ago, Spotify introduced its new in-app tool Reserved, a concert ticket booking tool that aims to give legitimate fans top priority in getting tickets to their favorite musician’s live shows. On the other hand, the move to live concert streaming influences Spotify’s broader video monetization strategy.
Spotify started out as an audio-only service, but over its 20 years of life it has implemented many visual components, from short-form content to music videos and even video podcasts. These have not only helped increase subscriber engagement levels, but have also established a more profitable means of advertising revenue that Spotify does not earn through its audio content and this is reflected in the company’s recent quarterly earnings, as highlighted by Bloomberg.
In the first quarter of the year, Spotify’s total advertising revenue saw a drop: The Next Web reports that they fell 5% year-on-year to €385 million (approximately $443 million). Therefore, adding more video content means higher advertising rates and a better opportunity to increase these earnings.
That said, some see Spotify’s foray into livestreaming concerts as just another way to cut into artists’ streaming revenue, but that’s not the first concern that crossed my mind.
YouTube, always and forever
Spotify’s video offerings aren’t my favorite ways to interact with music. Compared to Apple Music, I find Spotify’s music video interface to be unorganized and almost imposed on you while listening to audio (I never use the “Switch to video” button).
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: YouTube remains the holy grail of visual music content, even as Spotify continues to do everything it can to compete. You have to hand it to Spotify though, their momentum is undeniably admirable, but competing with YouTube is like trying to put shade in the sun.
In addition to its large number of pre-recorded live music channels (I watch a lot of NPR Tiny Desk concerts and music videos from artists), YouTube plays a huge role in bringing fans closer to the biggest music events around the world. This is most notably the case of the Coachella music festival in California, which I have been streaming on YouTube since I was 17 years old.
Spotify has a lot to think about and for its live concert streams to stand out it needs to match or totally challenge what YouTube has. On top of this, there’s also the question of where in the app these streams will sit – the app is already bulky, so a completely new live streaming interface would be a bit of a squeeze.
That said, I can see the minor benefits for the user. Depending on which artists sign this deal, it could give music fans a more robust, higher-quality way to consume live concert content instead of relying on watching videos posted to TikTok or Instagram.
Right now, my feed is flooded with content from Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine tour that kicked off over the weekend, and it’s making me regret not buying tickets. I have no problem watching cropped videos on social media, but thinking about it now, having an accessible live stream of the show from start to finish would make for good background viewing/listening. But let’s face it, Netflix works much faster to sign deals with artists for live concert films, and that’s essentially the same thing.
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