Spotify is launching a streaming chart list of the most highly-shared songs on its platform today. Dubbed the Spotify 50 and Social 50, this feature is similar to the Billboard Hot 100 Charts, which already includes data from Spotify and Rdio. But according to the Wall Street Journal, Spotify is looking to break out on its own here with charts that can be easily embedded on other websites, while allowing users to stream the music listed. These charts will also contain data from past weeks, with an update each Monday around noon EST.
Top 50 Streaming Charts
Spotify thinks this new data on top of charts could prove valuable by exposing new bands to users. Its head of operations in the US Ken Parks, said that information about people’s listening habits and social media sharing has already pointed the company toward discovering some interesting new artists that it hopes to “break” in the near future. Spotify has also been rumored to be interested in actually producing its own music content, however these rumors have been denied by CEO Daniel Ek. But regardless, today is another major step in curating and providing more insight behind the type of music listened too by its 24 million users. “Data is our secret sauce,” said Parks. “What’s so powerful about the streaming charts is they let you hear what people are really listening to, right now, and not just what they’re buying,” explains Steve Savoca, Head of Content at Spotify.
Play Counts
Also according to The Next Web, Spotify has also announced play counts for all tracks, a week after the feature started to appear for some user. So for any artist, you can now see their total number of global plays since the Spotify service was launched in October of 2008.
This feature is launching initially for the desktop client only, and if you’re not seeing it show up yet in your account, it will soon in the coming weeks!
“We want to be the best artist promotional platform in the world and showing play counts is a clear step in that direction,” adds Savoca. “Now artists can get immediate feedback from their fans on how their music is performing on Spotify.”
Are you on Spotify yet? What do you think about these new features?
A preemptive strike against Google?
I think it’s a nice touch. But I find more value in Last.fm’s charts. It collects data from the music played on multiple platforms….and they’ve been doing it for a LOT longer! http://www.last.fm/charts 🙂