Last December, Spotify announced the launch of music videos, which were originally exclusive to the platform’s Premium subscribers. Now, Spotify’s music videos are getting a glow-up. Through a host of new features and artist tools, Spotify is building a cultural hub around its video library.
Musicians can now upload full-length music videos directly to Spotify via the Spotify for Artists hub. Once those videos arrive on the platform, Spotify distributes them to consumers through a variety of recently-developed features. A Videos For You shelf offers Spotify’s first personalized set of music video recs, and artists can petition the platform to get their clips included in themed playlists like Best New Videos and Live Performances.
At the top of Spotify’s music video pyramid, we find Music Video Charts Global. That’s the name of a top-ten ranking that will honor the most popular music videos of each week. Translation: Spotify’s Music Video Charts Global will do for today’s youth what MTV’s TRL countdown did for Millennials in the 2000s.
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YouTube has a music video chart of its own, and it has cited that ranking when determining the hottest trends on its platform. Spotify’s push into music videos (and video podcasts) can be understood as an attempt to challege YouTube in the realm of audiovisual content.
At the same time, Spotify is telling creators that they can benefit from bigger music video libraries, no matter what they do on other platforms. According to data shared by Spotify, users who watch a music video go on to listen to the corresponding song 64% more often over the next three weeks. Those users are 1.4 times more likely to save the song, share it, or add it to a playlist, and artists enjoy an overall bump of 57% across their catalog from users who stream their music videos.
“On Spotify, video can do more than be seen,” reads a Spotify blog post. “It can bring fans back to the song, deeper into the catalog, and closer to the artist. That’s what it means to take fans further.”
In order for music videos to pay dividends and show up on global charts, artists have to upload them first. Spotify is currently pushing for a more expansive music video library, and artists who want to oblige that wish can learn more details here.
