Spotify Launches New Series of Artist-Curated Apps
Spotify unveiled the first batch in a series of musician-curated apps, including contributions from Quincy Jones, Tiësto, Rancid and Disturbed, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The popular streaming service hopes that these apps will give users a new way to explore their massive library of songs with artists acting as tour guides. Spotify expects to launch more artist apps in the future, including one from Steve Aoki.
“With such a deep catalog at our fingertips, we’ve looked to partner with artists who have specific competencies in genres that might be neglected by most of our users,” D.A. Wallach, the frontman for Chester French and Spotify’s artist-in-residence, said at last night’s launch party in Los Angeles. “You have to realize with 16 million songs, most people are just scratching the surface of what we have.”
Jones’ app, for instance, features playlists of tunes from his own heroes and mentors, tracks that exemplify the art of hit-making and tunes from movies, with accompanying audio commentary from the super-producer.
“It enables the artists to really have an ability to have an effect on their consumer base – their fans,” said Disturbed frontman David Draiman. He added, “I have all the respect in the world for terrestrial radio, for satellite radio, for radio in general. However, the wonderful opportunity that this affords us as artists is to be able to market not only our own material but to champion the bands we love.”
The Disturbed app features playlists from each member of the band, and Rancid’s features the group’s favorite punk tracks. Over on Tiësto’s Club Life app, the DJ will highlight a new single each week and an album and festival of the month, plus a chart of the hottest dance tracks.
“Rather than becoming an editorial platform and telling you what you should or shouldn’t listen to,” said Wallach, “we decided to turn Spotify into a platform itself and allow creative people to build interesting music-based experiences.”