Music Discovery On Spotify Gets Personal

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Music Discovery On Spotify Gets Personal

Finding the music that fits your life just got a whole lot simpler...

December 7, 2012: With great power comes great responsibility. Snoop Dogg or The Stones? Sheeran or Shakira? Marley or Metallica? Sure, millions of songs in your pocket has changed the way you listen to music, but can you figure out what to play on a lazy Sunday afternoon?

From today, music discovery becomes truly personal. It becomes central to the Spotify experience as the service brings artists and fans closer together than ever before.

Spotify’s latest, greatest upgrade will see a whole host of powerful discovery features introduced across its desktop, mobile and new web player platforms over the coming weeks.

“Users tell us they don’t know what to listen to, and artists tell us they want to connect more closely with fans” says Daniel Ek, CEO and founder at Spotify. “So we’re creating a new and personalised way of finding great music.”

Here’s what’s coming...

Introducing the all-new Follow tab. Now you can get music recommendations from only your most trusted musical influences. Follow friends, artists, influencers and media to get updated on what they’re listening to in real time.

The Follow tab also highlights your Facebook friends and recommends people you may find interesting. Plus you’ll be able to see who you follow and who follows your profile.

• Simply click on the Follow button of friends, artists, trendsetters, editors and experts to connect with the people who turn you on to the music you love.

• Artists can now share their music with the world like never before.

Want to hear Obama’s playlist as he prepares for a big speech? Or check out what David Guetta is listening to this week? How about what Kimberley Crossman listens to after she’s finished filming? Or what music New Zealand artists like Ruby Frost and Dane Rumble tune in to? Now you can. Artists, celebrities and media from around the world are ready to share their music with you, including:

• Metallica
• Ashton Kutcher
• Barack Obama
• Bruno Mars
• David Guetta
• Justin Bieber
• Katy Perry
• Maroon 5
• One Direction
• Paul McCartney
• SKRILLEX
• Slash
• The xx
• Kimbra
• Titanium
• Kimberley Crossman
• Jamie McDell
• Dane Rumble
• Jessie Gurunathan
• Drew Neemia
• Bulletproof
• Michelle Ang
• Ruby Frost

Also making its grand debut: the all-new Discover tab. Your hunt for the right music is over. Combining the best technology and social tools with content from Pitchfork, Songkick and Tunigo, and many more, Spotify’s Discover feed continually seeks out the most relevant content and brings it right to you. The page will include:

• New single and album releases from the artists you follow
• All the music and playlists shared by influencers you follow
• Intelligent recommendations based on your listening history including music, reviews, and concerts

Plus, we’ve made a ton of additional improvements:

• Introducing Audio Preview – with our new Audio Preview feature you can dip into new music without moving away from the song you’re playing. If you like what you hear you can save it for later or start it right away.

• New Collection - a new way to save music that you love, or want to listen to at a later time. No more having to create a playlist for your favourite album, just click the ‘add’ symbol and it will be added to your collection.

• Mobile push notifications for new album releases - never miss new music from your favourite artists ever again. As soon as new music from artists you follow hits Spotify, you’ll receive a mobile alert.

• Additional improvements include - a more curated social feed; better personalised Profile page; redesigned Artist pages.

“Our music influences are as individual as we are,” says Ek. “Maybe you discover new songs or artists by reading reviews, listening to the radio, or sharing with friends. Maybe you go to a lot of concerts, love making cool playlists, or want to know what the people you care about are getting in to. Spotify now brings all of this together.”

Spotify's Follow features will roll out as part of a desktop app update in the coming weeks, with a full cross-platform upgrade arriving next year.

For further information, screenshots, images and videos, check out our press pack: http://spoti.fi/presspack

To view Spotify’s full presentation given today in New York, please visit our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/spotify

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Notes:

Content partners for the Discover tab include:

• Pitchfork
• Songkick
• Tunigo
• Guardian
• NME
• Time Out
• Soundrop
• The Fader
• SPIN
• Share my Playlists
• Eventim
• Bandsintown
• Expressen
• Dagbladet
• Gaffa
• NU.nl
• Oor
• Intro
• Armada
• FasterLouder

Artists, celebrities and media partners for the Follow Tab include:

Global

• Armin van Buuren
• Ashton Kutcher
• Barack Obama
• Bruno Mars
• Cody Simpson
• Dannii Minogue
• David Guetta
• Ed Sheeran
• Jason Derulo
• Justin Bieber
• Florence + The Machine
• Katy Perry
• Keith Urban
• Ke$ha
• Lana Del Rey
• Lisa Mitchell
• Maroon 5
• Metallica
• NME
• One Direction
• Paul McCartney
• Robbie Williams
• Shakira
• SKRILLEX
• Slash
• Usher
• The Wanted
• We are Hunted
• The xx

Local

• Bulletproof
• Dane Rumble
• David Dallas
• Decortica
• Drew Neemia
• Flying Nun Records
• Jamie McDell
• Jessie Gurunathan
• Junica
• Kimberley Crossman
• Kimbra
• Leah Light
• Michelle Ang
• Ruby Frost
• Titanium


About Spotify

Spotify is an award-winning digital music service that gives you on-demand access to over 20 million tracks*. Our dream is to make all the world’s music available instantly to everyone, wherever and whenever they want it. Spotify makes it easier than ever to discover, manage and share music with your friends, while making sure that artists get a fair deal.

Spotify is available in 17 countries: USA, UK, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Luxembourg with more than 20 million active users, and over 5 million paying subscribers.

www.spotify.com

* Number of tracks licensed globally. Catalogue size varies per market.

ENDS

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