By Michaela Gordoni
Spotify will soon launch a feature that determines an artist’s top premium subscribers and reserves tickets for them to purchase when there’s a new concert.
“Getting concert tickets today can feel like a race you’re set up to lose,” Spotify wrote on Thursday. “You show up at the right time, refresh endlessly and still miss out. Too often, the experience is stressful, unpredictable, and disconnected from what should matter most: whether real fans actually get tickets. We think there’s a better way.”
The feature will launch in the US this summer in partnership with Live Nation. Spotify will use streams, shares and other activity to “identify an artist’s most dedicated fans and hold two tour tickets for them.”
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The Hollywood Reporter said when fans are selected through Reserved, they will get the opportunity to buy two tickets, and they’ll have a daylong window to make a ticket purchase if selected. The platform acknowledged “there will be significantly more superfans than there are seats available on a tour, so not every fan will receive an offer.”
At the platform’s Investor Day, Spotify also said it would release a new stand-alone desktop app called Studio by Spotify Labs. This will allow users to create personalized podcasts, playlists and more, which are all designed based on personal tastes.
Spotify and Universal Music Group also revealed a new licensing agreement that lets subscribers make AI covers and remixes of select participating artists who are on UMG’s roster. Shares jumped up by 13% on Thursday after this news was announced, CNBC noted.
Spotify said it expects revenue at a compounded annual growth rate 35% and 40%. It plans to reach 1 billion subscribers and notes its $100 billion in revenue as its “north star.”
“We are still firing on all cylinders,” Spotify co-CEO Gustav Söderström said. “We’re seeing strong growth in free users and in subscribers.”
The company said the tool will “open up additional revenue streams and new ways to drive discovery. It introduces a creation model where artists and songwriters can directly share in the value generated through AI-driven licensed covers and remixes on the Spotify platform.”
The Verge criticized the AI Remix tool because it helps fans create fake music instead of listening to real artists.
However, Alex Norström, Spotify’s other co-CEO, said, “Solving hard problems for music is what Spotify does, and fan-made covers and remixes are next. What we’re building is grounded in consent, credit, and compensation for the artists and songwriters that take part.”
The tool will be a paid add-on for Spotify premium, SFGATE reported.
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