Spotify – Page 2

Nº 304: Audiências no aplicativo

Se você criou um ótimo produto, precisará de um público. E se você criou um público cativo, precisará de um ótimo produto. O Spotify tem um dos públicos mais cativos do setor de entretenimento. A medida mais recente coloca o grupo de assinantes pagos do Spotify entre 90 e 95 milhões. Esse é um número extraordinário de consumidores com um método de pagamento registrado. Porém, o mais importante é que é uma oportunidade para a empresa de streaming de música continuar evoluindo com a economia do comércio digital. Líder não convencional nesse aspecto, a Epic Games e o metaverso poderiam ensinar ao Spotify o máximo sobre o que é possível com parcerias de licenciamento e microtransações.

Resumo do membro nº 1: Comércio linear

A economia digital recompensa as empresas que trabalham na linha que separa a mídia digital tradicional e o comércio eletrônico tradicional. Um ótimo produto precisa de um público orgânico e apaixonado. Os públicos cativos precisam de produtos e serviços para oferecer à comunidade. O comércio linear é o entendimento de que a mídia digital e o varejo on-line tradicional acabarão se encontrando no centro - ao longo da linha - o caminho mais eficiente para o crescimento.

Comércio Linear

A capacidade do Spotify de superar o recente e notável crescimento da Apple dependerá do fato de o serviço alinhar sua marca com parcerias exclusivas. A defensibilidade da plataforma estará intimamente ligada à sua capacidade de "vender" seu produto. Embora isso não seja uma surpresa, o futuro do Spotify pode ser influenciado pela forma como ele vende conteúdo e produtos físicos.

No. 287: O potencial de marca do Spotify

Público e depois comércio; ou comércio para construir o público. O Spotify identificou uma oportunidade que - a curto prazo - beneficiará tanto seus consumidores não pagos quanto os premium. E, a longo prazo, beneficiará o Spotify se a Gimlet Media continuar a criar conteúdo que outras plataformas queiram licenciar para projetos de grande escala. Mas talvez o exemplo mais significativo de comércio linear, da semana passada, tenha sido o show de Marshmello no Fortnite(veja aqui).

Na foto: uma captura de tela do show no jogo

Fortnite, "The Oasis". Neste sábado, o Fortnite se uniu ao artista de EDM Marshmello para estrear um novo conceito de atração e monetização de públicos digitais. Estima-se que 10 milhões de usuários estavam "presentes" (ativos no jogo) para um show digital ao vivo, dentro do jogo, que testou os limites da nossa definição de realidade. Outros milhões assistiram às transmissões on-line. Durante dias, o conjunto de DJs foi anunciado em todo o jogo por meio de sinalização e pôsteres no jogo. O Fortnite permitiu que os jogadores entrassem na área do palco em "Pleasant Park", uma área bem conhecida no campo de jogo. O jogo removeu automaticamente todas as suas armas para que nenhum dos participantes pudesse ser removido.

Porcentagem de jogadores do Fortnite que já gastaram dinheiro em compras no jogo (junho de 2018: LendEDU / Pollfish)

Foi relatado que a Epic Games gerou uma "soma considerável" em receita de microtransações de duas propriedades do jogo Fortnite: skins (aparência) e emotes (habilidades de dança).

O valor da Gimlet Media

A rede tradicional de podcasts, como PodcastOne, Midroll e Headgum, monetiza grupos de podcasts negociando taxas de publicidade e/ou fornecendo aos podcasts experiência em produção. Existem dezenas de redes de podcasts, mas poucas são criadas como operações diretas ao consumidor. A Gimlet Media é uma delas; ela é proprietária e administra os podcasts que transmite. Isso poderia agregar valor ao Spotify de três maneiras:

Receita de publicidade: o principal fluxo de receita do podcasting é a venda de anúncios, mas todo o setor gerou mais de US$ 360 milhões em vendas em 2018. O Spotify poderá contar com um novo fluxo de receita. Mas há também a inovação da Gimlet em podcasts de marca compartilhada. Liderada pelo diretor de criação Nazanin Rafsanjani, a rede de podcasts fez parcerias com empresas como eBay, Virgin Atlantic, Microsoft, Gatorade, Reebok, Squarespace e Lyft. Quando o acordo for finalizado, espero que isso continue.

Ouvintes premium: por falar em publicidade, os consumidores não gostam de ouvir os mesmos cinco anúncios sobre kits de refeição e recrutamento. Agora, o Spotify pode divulgar que seus podcasts Gimlet não têm anúncios, o que pode aumentar o número de ouvintes do aplicativo de streaming de música. Ao anunciar podcasts sem anúncios, o conteúdo pode ser usado para converter assinantes de teste e regulares.

Propriedade intelectual e licenciamento: O Spotify não está apenas adquirindo uma rede de podcasts, mas também está trazendo um grupo criativo comprovado para dentro da empresa. Reply All, uma das propriedades da Gimlet, está supostamente nos estágios iniciais de desenvolvimento de um filme. Em 2016, os direitos de seu podcast Homecoming foram comprados pela Universal Cable Productions. Em 2017, a revista Variety informou que o diretor Richard Linklater lideraria a adaptação de seu episódio "Man of the People". A última previsão é que ele seja estrelado por Robert Downey Jr. E em 2018, a ABC estreou uma sitcom baseada no fundador da Gimlet Media e seu podcast StartUp chamado Alex, Inc.

Assim como a Wondery e a Parcast, a Gimlet Media é mais do que uma rede tradicional de podcasts. Juntamente com a considerável e entusiasmada base de usuários do gigante do streaming, as propriedades da Gimlet podem se tornar mais valiosas para possíveis compradores de mídia. Com o acréscimo de ouvintes que o Spotify poderia fornecer, a Gimlet poderia aumentar as oportunidades de licenciar propriedade intelectual ou vender os direitos de televisão para parceiros de mídia com altos salários, como Netflix, Hulu, Showtime e HBO.

A aquisição pendente da Gimlet Media é mais do que a criação de uma potência de podcasting direto ao consumidor, é a monetização do áudio DTC de novas maneiras. O Spotify não é proprietário das músicas que milhões de pessoas ouvem, ele licencia os direitos de três gravadoras: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment Group e Warner Music Group. Com a aquisição pendente da Gimlet, o Spotify está se posicionando diretamente como a Netflix do áudio. E o portfólio de propriedades de áudio da Gimlet pode ser outra ferramenta usada pelo Spotify para converter assinantes casuais em usuários premium e pagos. E incentivar os usuários a se afastarem da Apple Music.

Plataformas de jogos como Fortnite e PUBG, da Epic Games, cativaram o público e armazenaram seus métodos de pagamento para facilitar a compra. E serviços como Netflix e Spotify estão aprendendo que podem fazer o mesmo. A monetização do público por meio de parcerias inovadoras e exclusivas continuará a construir uma base para a forma como as empresas de mídia lidam com uma economia orientada para o metaverso. Ao reclassificar os downloads de aplicativos como o início de um funil de vendas (em vez de seu final), as comunidades de conteúdo digital podem reformular o valor de seu conteúdo.

Leia sua curadoria do nº 304 aqui.

Relatório de Web Smith | Por volta das 14h

No. 287: Spotify’s brand potential

Super

Spotify’s chief marketer is leaving Spotify and their next CMO has an opportunity to continue its sprint towards 50% market share. In his parting words with AdWeek, Seth Farbman said:

By all measures, we’ve achieved [our] goals, but we’ve also done something most companies only dream of doing—we’ve turned affinity for the Spotify experience into love for the brand.

And he’s correct. During his tenure, Spotify found ways to grow brand equity despite the offensive by Amazon and Apple Music. The numbers from January to June tell the story. Spotify maintained a 36% market share with a total of 83 million subscribers. Apple grew 2% market share, reaching a 19% stake of the market (43.5 million subscribers). While Spotify added 11.9 million subscribers, Apple has grown 9.2 million members. And Amazon added a half a point of market share, currently holding 12%.

But according to reports, Apple Music is set to overtake Spotify in terms of paid subscribers. Apple’s early Apple Music strategy consisted of music exclusives (Chance the Rapper, Drake) and live DJ sets (Zane Lowe, etc).

The relationship between Drake and Apple Music benefited both parties. Apple Music got first dibs on Drake’s record-breaking 2016 album Views, while the rapper is now the avatar for the paid music streaming era.

An often overlooked part of Apple Music’s library is Beats 1 radio, which in the case of Drake, who has his own OVO Radio show named after his recording imprint, means his fans have a reason to hold onto their subscription even if no new album on the horizon. Artists like Bad Bunny, Pharrell, Deadmau5, Elton John, Charli XCX, and Frank Ocean all have their own Beats 1 shows, reaching dedicated fans who’d rather connect with their favorite musician than trust an algorithm for song recommendations.

Slate: Why Apple Music is Winning Spotify’s Game

The the recent strategy seems to be Apple’s deepening moat around its hardware. While Spotify’s brand is more beloved, Apple has a growing technical advantage: its devices. By all accounts, iPhone and Airpod users are discouraged from choosing Spotify over Apple Music through subtle UX and Siri roadblocks, akin to Apple’s preference of Maps over Google Maps. This is most noticeable when attempting to control the Spotify app through your Airpods or playing music on your lock screen. In Spotify forums, moderators and community members are advocating that users delete Apple Music if they want a better Airpod x Spotify experience.

Apple’s continued growth will be closely tied to how well it develops Apple Music into the iPhone’s default. By cutting off Spotify’s seamless performance with Apple phones, their strategy is similar to Instagram’s uncoupling from Twitter’s timeline. By making it difficult for Twitter users to view Instagram photos, Facebook fostered its own ecosystem of engagement. Apple is benefitting from the same.

Apple music is for music enthusiasts and Spotify is for casual listeners. While Apple Music believes that this is their advantage, it is Spotify’s key differentiator. And it could decide the future of streaming.

By design (according to Jimmy Iovine), Apple Music makes it difficult to discover music. He believes that the service should exist for music lovers; Spotify is quite the opposite. The platform’s entire user experience is designed around (1) the promotion of artist discovery and (2) amplifying pop music’s inertia. Either you’re learning something new, thanks to their algorithmic and manually-curated playlists or you’re being steered towards the songs that are popular. Apple deemphasizes discovery, in this way.

Brands have sounds too

Screen Shot 2018-09-17 at 10.36.45 AM — One of dozens of user-generated playlists.

There’s a vibe when you walk into Ralph Lauren’s restaurant in downtown Chicago. The walls are mapped in gold framing, velvet, and vintage pictures of anyone who’s ever worn a tuxedo and evening gown well. But something sticks with you long after you leave, the restaurant’s music.

In a conversation with Lean Luxe founder Paul Munford, he had this to say about his effort to build his media brand through music playlists:

Keeps people engaged, keeps things interesting and fresh. Gives folks something cool to listen to each week under the LL banner. Keeps the brand top of mind in that way. It’s not a huge thing but is just another plot point for the brand that adds to the total sum, so to speak. Plus, it’s fun. I don’t think people are used to media or publications behaving this way. But that’s not to say the interest for publications to do more things like this isn’t there. You never know until you try.

Browse Spotify for your favorite retail brands and it’s possible that the brand will have some presence in the app, whether through an official brand playlist or – more commonly – as a fan-generated project. You’ll find “The Glossier Megamix”, “Ralph Lauren Classy”, “Lululemon Spring 2018”, and dozens of lists devoted to Victoria’s Secret. Spotify has a unique opportunity here. More and more brands are using playlists to shape their brand image. Music can provide a halo effect that helps to keep retailers at the top of consumer minds.

Dados da 2PM

Screen Shot 2018-09-17 at 11.14.42 AM — August 2018 on Spotify: “Lucid Dreams” and “In my Mind” bolstered by Spotify playlists

Screen Shot 2018-09-17 at 11.15.10 AM — Method for music discovery (United States: 2018)

Growing playlist spins through partnership

Given Spotify’s recent decision to secure exclusive podcast partnerships with two celebrities, it’s clear that partnerships are on the executive team’s whiteboard. But this isn’t just about performers and brand evangelists aligning with Spotify. Spotify takes pride in experimentation and, as such, the company is primed to take a page out of Apple Music’s original playbook. The streaming service could make great progress by emphasizing its partnership division.

By the time a song lands on Today’s Top Hits or other equally popular sets, Spotify has so relentlessly tested it that it almost can’t fail. “There are very few artists that get into the flagship playlists and then get kicked out,” Holmsten says. When “Call On Me” made that list, it was already destined to go viral—even though most people had still never heard it.

WIRED: on the power of Spotify’s playlists

Spotify has been somewhat of a kingmaker for independent artists and on-the-bubble pop stars. To amplify this effort, Spotify is overdue to take a page out of the direct-to-consumer marketing playbook. Here are the top proposed partnerships with physical “retailers.”

By attaching discovered music to positive, physical retail experiences, Spotify can amplify a key performance indicator (KPI): repeat listens of new and popular music. Here are a few ideas:

Orange Theory | OT has earned a network of over 1,400 locations and a loyal following of fitness enthusiasts and business travelers.
Core Yoga | This studio is known for its unique practice and a franchise network of over 160 locations.
Soho House | The famed members-only club has 50,000 members and a unique vibe in each of its 23 locations.
WeWork | Their offices manage 100,000+ members and over 10,000,000 sq. ft. of workspace.
Delta Airlines | known for its pre-flight track list, the premium airliner has the ability to set the mood and the wifi for the Spotify deep-dive to continue throughout the flight.

By generating playlist spins through these locations, Spotify can accomplish two things: (1) generate more revenue for artists and (2) convince artists to sign exclusive deals by way of guaranteed minimum spins per month based upon estimated engagement times at Spotify’s potential retail partners.

Apple Music is catching up to Spotify’s by building a competitive advantage into its hardware; the Cupertino company has grown despite glaring weaknesses in the app’s user experience. Spotify may not be able to ship hardware like its chief competitor but that doesn’t mean that it cannot partner with physical retailers. They can redefine their approach to hardware. Beyond their superior engineering, Spotify’s chief advantages could be their partnerships with retail spaces, up-and-coming musicians, and exclusive content offerings. Spotify has an opportunity to find an advantage where Apple has yet to look. Spotify’s CEO says it best,

I think long term, we at Spotify have some defensible moats, but success for us will be determined by our ability to move faster than everyone else in the space. And just keep on innovating.

No. 285: The End of Ownership

Go on vacation and you’ll undoubtedly encounter at least one couple who snaps photos of their perfectly manicured brunch experience. They took an Uber to get to the general area, asking the driver to play their favorite Spotify playlist for the 17 minute drive. Rather than walk the final .7 miles, they both grabbed Bird’s to the brunch spot. Hey, it was more scenic and memorable that way. The husband followed along so that he could snap the perfect candid shot of his wife’s Rent the Runway dress billowing in the wind. And when they finally arrived to their seats, he snapped another photo of her with their DSLR from Parachut. It was the picture perfect experience.

Let’s breakdown access vs. ownership:

Rather than drive their vehicle, they accessed an Uber.
Rather than listen to their music, they accessed a Spotify playlist.
Rather than walk .7 miles, they accessed a Bird scooter.
Rather than own the dress, she rented it from the runway.
Rather than buying the iPhone, the husband has access to one through AT&T.
Rather than configuring his own DSLR, the wife sourced one through Parachut.

But the memory of this was very much their own. They owned that memory and it’s well documented in the place where America stores their moments: Instagram. A place that keeps what we really care about owning. Above all else, we care about owning great moments. The couple accessed rented goods to own an experience.

Issue No. 265: Can A DNVB Achieve Modern Luxury

Comprar experiências em vez de comprar bens de consumo é uma tendência que está sendo adotada pelo grupo de luxo. A interpretação da palavra luxo significa algo completamente diferente para os tipos de clientes que têm os meios e a consciência para comprar com as marcas da DNVB. A pesquisa mais recente da Skift mostra uma clara mudança na demanda por experiências de viagem mais transformadoras entre os viajantes de alto nível(Skift / 2 de maio de 2017). Enquanto os produtos caros costumavam ser o desejo do consumidor: produtos, comunidade e serviços agora desempenham o papel de possibilitar a economia da experiência.

What’s the access economy? An economy driven by a business model where physical goods and services are traded on the basis of access rather than ownership: it refers to renting things temporarily rather than selling them permanently.

If you ask Joe Fernandez, CEO of Joymode, he’d tell you that a consumer revolution is coming. This belief is an increasingly popular sentiment held by founders and executives of the companies fueling the access economy. And there’s validity to it. Consider sector startups like: Rent the Runway, Armarium, Parachut, and For Days. These startups provide hard goods in exchange for a monthly subscription fee. For consumers, this shift isn’t just about personal economics or reducing the cost of ownership. It is a redefinition of what it means to “own” and whether or not permanent possession of a product is more valuable than access. Some would argue that access is ownership.

BMW is testing it’s new program called “Access” of all things. Here’s an excerpt by Andrew Hawkins of The Verge:

For $2,000 a month, users can choose between models like the X5 SUV, 4 Series, and 5 Series sedans, including all plug-in hybrid versions. For the higher-tier $3,700-a-month fee, they can get M4, M5, or M6 convertibles, as well as X5M and X6M SUVs, but it doesn’t include access to BMW’s highest-end 7 series. The fee includes insurance, maintenance, and roadside assistance, BMW says.

Consumerism is a part of America’s DNA, it’s what drives us. It powers our national economy, it fuels international trade, and it incentivizes entrepreneurial innovation. But even a casual observer can understand how the accumulation of goods, accelerated by eCommerce, can have detrimental effects. Consider this passage from a recent article in The Atlantic, “We Accumulate a Mountain of Things.”

Thanks to a perfect storm of factors, Americans are amassing a lot of stuff. Before the advent of the internet, we had to set aside time to go browse the aisles of a physical store, which was only open a certain number of hours a day. Now, we can shop from anywhere, anytime—while we’re at work, or exercising, or even sleeping. We can tell Alexa we need new underwear, and in a few days, it will arrive on our doorstep. And because of the globalization of manufacturing, that underwear is cheaper than ever before—so cheap that we add it to our online shopping carts without a second thought.

In many ways, Joymode is at the forefront of the movement to alter consumer behavior, with respect to the concept of ownership. At first glance, it’s easy to look at Joymode and reduce them to an events company, a place to go to have fun. But only at first glance. Upon further exploration of their offering, you’ll notice the featured products are everyday items. The platform rents everything from an Oculus Rift set to camping essentials. There is access to products for events and products for everyday life. It makes you wonder. If this is where things are going, how many products do we really need in our closets, cabinets, and basements?

Screen Shot 2018-09-04 at 12.30.52 PM — Essential products. Do we need to own them?

There is a massive backlash coming in the form of a cultural shift in how people consume. I love that we get to be a part of it. This weekend more than 15,000 products left the Joymode warehouse and it will all come back and go to different families next week. There are massive amounts of people fed up with the cycle of debt, clutter and waste.

Joe Fernandez, Cofounder and CEO of Joymode

Fernandez, the former founder of Klout, is adamant about what he believes to be the future of ownership. He may have a tougher task ahead, when compared to companies like Rent the Runway. The barrier to entry in seeing value in paid access to clothing may be slightly lower than that of common household goods. But our analysis indicates that we will see more brands entering the rental service space. It’s no longer just about cost basis reduction.

There are numerous macroeconomic indicators that bolster Fernandez’s views: accelerating urbanization, increases in the housing rental community, millennial debt loads, the growth of streaming entertainment, and even how we travel. As a consumer, you will own fewer things. But those accessed items will be personalized to your specific needs. People are beginning to redefine the need to buy because access is, in effect, ownership. It’s the community of like-minded consumers that they’re buying into. They’re paying for more than access to products. They’re paying for access to a collective who believes in an ideal. And that ideal could change retail, for better or worse.

By Web Smith | Edited by Meghan Terwilliger | About 2PM

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Tag: Spotify