Spotify took center stage at their StreamOn event and, Boy!… did they have a lot to announce.
The streaming service is gaining even more momentum internationally with a rollout to an additional 80 countries. This comes on the tail of their recent launch in South Korea. The countries joining the Spotify fold include a large number of those in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America including countries such as Bangladesh, Cameroon, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka; reaching over a billion potential users. With the new additions, Spotify is now available in over 170 countries putting it on par with competitors like Apple Music and YouTube Premium.
Spotify HiFi: CD Quality, Lossless Streaming
In addition to this, Spotify also announced “Spotify HiFi”. The new HiFi offering brings CD quality, lossless audio to the music streaming platform. This will make Spotify more appealing to the audiophiles out there as they will be able to get better, more detailed sound via the app. The new service ups the bit rate available on Spotify from the current 320kbps to about 1,400kbps. This means that the more nuanced attributes of songs are able to better come through when streamed. The company did trial the service in the U.S. back in 2017 for a USD$7.50 (MYR30.32) premium on top of its subscription. However, aside from noting that the new Spotify HiFi will be coming to select markets, they have not revealed much.
Artist-Audience Interaction with Spotify Clips
If HiFi streaming wasn’t enough, Spotify also officially announced its Clips feature. The new feature functions in a similar fashion to Instagram Stories or Snaps on Snapchat. They allow artists to interact directly with their audience on Spotify by sharing clips akin to their social media. If this sounds familiar, it’s cause the company was testing the feature out over the past Christmas holidays in the U.S. However, with this announcement, the feature will see a more widespread release. Clips will appear on playlists to allow users to get a glimpse into personal moments from the artists.
Podcasts: Better Discovery, New Experiences
Spotify didn’t leave any stone unturned during its StreamOn event. The app has become one of the largest Podcast distribution platforms since it introduced the feature. Keeping that in mind, the company is looking at making Podcast discoverability easier for creators. In a nutshell, the company is looking to serve podcast episodes to listeners based on their preferences. It will also employ A.I. and machine learning to help users search for podcasts better.
In addition, the company is also working on creating new experiences when it comes to podcasts. Spotify is working with WordPress to create podcasts from written content. Creators will also be able to engage with audiences more directly with interactive Q&As, polls, and even video. The company is also making its Ad Studio available for podcast creators to help monetize their podcasts better.