Spotify Wrapped
With the news that Netflix will be creating a series on the rapid success of Spotify based on the book Spotify Untold by Sven Carlsson and Jonas Leijonhufvud, we turn our attention to the streaming giant. Launching in 2006- just 13 years ago, Spotify spearheaded a new consumption habit for music, eventually beating the likes of Napster and other illegal filesharing sites. A survey published by YouGov last year found that 10% of people in the UK illegally downloaded music, which was down from 18% in 2013.
And let’s not forget to mention the ease of access Spotify gives, opening a world of music around us, which not only is an attractive feature for the user, but also the artist who can tap into a new fan-base. Whilst we could talk all day about some of the innovative aspects of Spotify, today, we’re focussing on their Spotify Wrapped campaign, which I’m sure you have seen doing the rounds across social media the last few weeks.
Spotify Wrapped is a 2 fold marketing campaign which first launched in 2017. You may have already seen the billboards on the Underground or bus stops - London’s Westfields is one of the targeted out of home campaign areas along with New York’s Penn Station, and various malls which will see lit up projections. Alongside the witty billboards which shows music streaming facts. For example, average streams of Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’. And-if you were wondering, 439 thousand in July, and 66 million in December !)
Spotify allows the user to see their own streaming habits with ‘Your Wrapped’. Showing the total time spent listening to songs on Spotify, to your most listened artist and top genres, and then neatly providing all this data in a shareable social graphic. The Your Wrapped feature is also extended to artists, allowing them to share with their fans how many listeners they have had across different countries and how many total hours fans spent streaming their music.
This year, the Spotify Wrapped campaign also let users see their favourite songs and artists going back to 2010- showing it’s longevity in streaming compared to Apple Music, which too provides a yearly overview of your listening habits with Apple Music Replay. The difference being, Spotify’s campaign was created to share across social media platforms, thus the viral sensation it turned out to be !
For example this years Wrapped for Here & Now Recordings artist AJE
