Photo by Spencer Imbrock on Unsplash
We wanted to place this week’s focus on looking back over the last 12 months – specifically the music we’ve been listening to…
What is Spotify Wrapped?
At the end of each year since 2016, Spotify users have been able to tap on a specific banner in the app to be taken on a journey through their year in listening. Through this, they can see their top songs, top artists, top genres, and even top podcasts. It’s a way for people to express their tastes in a quantifiable way, while also providing playlists which contain their music from that year – it’s a viral campaign that spreads all over social media each December and encourages a lot of discussion. It provides Spotify with free exposure, while also making users feel that their experience is unique to them.
Here are some of the examples:
Here is an interesting article about Spotify’s data tracking, and why even though they’re essentially spying on us, we kind of love it?
What values does this campaign enable?
Giving such an extensive insight into their activity makes listeners pay close attention to how they’re different from their friends and family. It also reminds them of their more obscure music choices which makes them feel imaginative and independent. From this music choices are made much more personal, and enhances a feeling of fandom
Sharing your top songs and top artists can be a way for listeners to have an influence over their friends’ music tastes. They can make their individual choices into trends in their group and makes them feel like a leader in that sense. To me, this quote really sums this up… “Because in the end, we get one more quantifiable piece to add to our ultra-specific, online persona. For a fleeting moment, we can all be influencers, too. “I like that Spotify is sharing their stats with you,” said McBride. It’s “like you’re an MLB star for listening to music.”
Beyond this, knowing how listening behaviour compares to others gives a feeling of achievement – to know that you’re in the top 1% of an artist’s listeners can a elicit a real sense of pride, and brings you closer to that artist as well
Regina (Intern, OMTM Americas)
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