Published
9:56 am EST, Friday, November 22, 2019
Photo: Courtesy Of Spotify
Photo: Courtesy Of Spotify
Photo: Courtesy Of Spotify
Spotify Is Launching Its Own Music Awards, Based on Streaming Data
Spotify has set plans for its first-ever music awards — with the winners based entirely on user-generated data.
“Your plays, patterns, and habits will help determine the award categories, finalists, and winners for the Spotify Awards by providing a true reflection of what fans are listening to,” the company said in announcing the program Friday. “You can get excited for an awards ceremony that actually speaks to what the people are streaming.”
It’s essentially Spotify’s in-house version of the Billboard Music Awards, for which most finalists and winners are based on sales, streaming and user-engagement data. The other big music-biz kudocasts are the industry-voted Grammy Awards and the American Music Awards, which are determined by open fan polling.
The goal of the Spotify Awards is pretty transparent: The company wants to encourage fans to vote with their ears, by streaming as much music by their favorites artists on the platform. “Save the date — and get streaming,” Spotify said in the announcement.
The first Spotify Awards will be held next March in Mexico City. The streamer has teamed with WarnerMedia’s Turner Latin America division to broadcast the show live, on March 5, 2020, across TNT in all Spanish-language countries in the region. According to Spotify, Mexico City is its biggest single market, with more listeners than other major metro areas including New York City, L.A., London, and Paris. Spotify first launched in Mexico in 2013.
During the third quarter of 2019, Spotify’s total monthly active users grew 30%, to 248 million. The company beat expectations on paid subscriber growth — up 31% year over year, to 113 million at the end of the period.
Watch the announcement video for the first Spotify Awards (below or at this link):
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