Facebook, Instagram, snap, Youtubeand other social media companies offer programs to connect creators with brands, and now Spotify is doing the same. The company Announced the launch of AUX, its new in-house “music advisory agency” for brands. While not necessarily a creators' marketplace, the program has a similar goal: it will facilitate connections between brands and emerging artists for various campaigns that benefit both parties.
For Spotify, AUX also represents another revenue stream, as the company says brands can pay Spotify to take advantage of the new service.
The consulting firm's first client is Coca-Cola, which partners the beverage giant with Berlin-based DJ, producer, singer and songwriter Peggy Gou. Together, the brand and artist have established a long-term partnership that will include live concerts, events, social media content, a branded playlist and promotional support on the platform.
The move sees Spotify take a more proactive stance to help facilitate connections and offer its music experience to brand partners, but also positions the platform as more akin to a social network, where creators strike deals with brands to pay for contributions. accounts. The launch, notably, follows that of Spotify. updated payment model, which arrived late last year and promised to generate an additional $1 billion for artists. But critics of the model said that did little to support emerging artistsand in fact, would cut payments to artists who already receive lessto boost payments to those who received the most.
Now, Spotify offers those artists excluded from the benefits of the new streaming royalty model a new way to make money by partnering with brands.
“Spotify AUX will expand the opportunities available to artists, offering them a platform for creative expression, financial support and strategic partnerships that go beyond traditional industry avenues,” the company explained in a blog post.
“We are proud to be one of the first partners of AUX, integrating the Spotify experience to enable authentic connections with music fans around the world,” said Joshua Burke, global head of music and cultural marketing at The Coca-Cola. Cola Company, in a statement shared by Spotify. . “This is a natural progression of our long-standing partnership with Spotify and marks a key milestone in our commitment to artists and the music community. “We are excited to launch Coke Studio on Spotify LA, which will provide recording support for emerging artists and a platform to promote their music.”
Although Spotify touts that AUX gives artists another opportunity to “make a living off their art,” artists and musicians would probably prefer to be paid better for their streams, rather than having to forge brand deals like social media creators do. and influential people.
However the overabundance of music Offered by today's streaming services, where more than 120,000 tracks are uploaded daily, means that it is more difficult for new and emerging artists to get discovered, build an audience and get paid. And while Spotify offers more than 100 million tracks today, ai tools could eventually generate an avalanche of ai-generated music, creating things. worse. Spotify's new royalty model, with its minimum threshold for song streams, further complicates an already difficult situation, forcing artists to consider brand deals as a way to increase their income.
“Spotify is always looking for ways to leverage our music ecosystem to deepen connections between artists, brands and fans,” Jeremy Erlich, vice president and head of music content at Spotify, said in a statement. “AUX is a natural step for us to help brands strengthen their music strategy and better connect with new audiences through the insights and observations of our music team experts, designed to meet brands' needs,” he added.
