Spotify’s Head Of Music Jeremy Erlich Talks All The Changes Coming To The Streamer

It’s been a very busy week for Spotify as the Swedish streaming music giant hosted a Stream On event that serves as its own version of Apple’s AAPL annual WWDC event. The showcase was able to reveal what the company’s upper management has been working on, what changes are planned for the site, and why these are important.

Many of the new features and updates focus on music discovery and help more musicians make big money through Spotify. The company hasn’t offered every problem it regularly raises or a magical solution that will soothe everyone, but some of the most notable changes going forward are for both listeners and artists alike. seems to be of great value to

We spoke with Spotify’s Head of Music Jeremy Erlich shortly after the Stream On event to find out why these changes were implemented and how they affect the millions of artists looking to earn cash by listening. I got his insight on what to do.

Hugh McIntyre: What excites me most is the focus on discovery, both for listeners and artists trying to be discovered. What made you decide it was one of the more important things to focus on?

Jeremy Erlich: What Spotify has always been proud of since the first day of playlists. Spotify is synonymous with discovering new music and creating connections between artists and fans, and we felt it was time to innovate. It does not mean that. Personalized playlists are working really well. How can we push it further to enable more connections between artists and fans? Whether it’s on the user side, I hope the new Discovery Feed leads to more things… I always see it as an artist falling down the rabbit hole of their creative vision, or helping artists push their music onto the platform. I equate it with falling into a tool. to their fans.

It’s just layering more ways for people to discover and rediscover. I think discovery and rediscovery are equally important. As an employee and as a user, I am excited to play around with all the features.

Forbes detailsSpotify’s Stream On Update Events: Here’s what’s coming to the streaming music platform in 2023.To Hugh McIntyre

McIntyre: I love going down the rabbit hole and I do it all the time. It had a long list of features. There are many here. Are there any new referrals you think will have the most impact?

Erlich: I think the new home feed is probably the most influential. I think it will really change the way people scroll through music and I think it will be a very positive change. I think it will lead to more discoveries and fandom. So i am excited about it.

Let’s connect the dots. There is a discovery feed that leads to consumption. You can discover it quickly and then consume it for a long time. Hopefully it will be a very powerful tool.

Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing how the Clips feature evolves. That’s because we had a specific use case in mind when designing this feature: “How do artists talk about this song and how do they enter the discovery process?” What I love is when you put it in the hands of artists and bring their creativity to life. Somewhere along the line, some kid must have found a really novel use for breaking the system and going viral.

We get to work in the fields that we do and work with creative geniuses…give them a toolbox and they build cars and things that our imagination never lets go of. Make a car in no way. I’m really looking forward to seeing how people use it.

McIntyre: Homepage… I think it’s the most talked about topic. For obvious reasons, we already have.

Erlich: surely.

McIntyre: Why is it time to change it now? I can’t imagine how long it’s been going on.

Forbes details5 key numbers from Spotify’s annual music royalty reportTo Hugh McIntyre

Erlich: We know the younger generation is really skewed [toward] visual format. They lean into simple snacks like mini-feeds until they fall into something they like. It reflected action.

We’ve been talking about versions or elements of this for a very long time. Engineers have been working day and night to make it happen. Spotify is a company that tracks and measures how people use our platform. As such, we believe that the way we serve content to people will continue to evolve until we find the place that leads to the most discovery and consumption. our ambition.

McIntyre: One feature I’m excited about is the ability to preview all of our New Music Friday and Discover Weekly playlists. Basically, skip and sample. What led to that change? Is that the way other users are doing it, or is it a shorter attention span?

Erlich: No, I don’t want to be a platform that boils down to a 30 second clip, so I don’t think it’s a short attention span. We believe in the songs, we believe in the albums, we believe in the artists. What we want is to give you the greatest chance for more songs to be listened to and consumed completely.It reflects your habits.

We are all typical consumers, and I do the same: watch New Music Friday, listen for 30 seconds, then skip. Instead of building something that reflects how people already consume it, the goal remains the same. Discover songs, discover albums, discover artists.

McIntyre: There was talk of a homepage redesign and clips, all seemingly aimed at a younger audience. I wonder if it hopes to take them from one platform where they’re discovering music to another.

Forbes detailsMusic from ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ to star in new Disney+ documentary seriesTo Hugh McIntyre

Erlich: yes. We want to be a hub for music discovery. Others are doing a good job… I wouldn’t say they invade our lane, but they walk our lane, create products that work, and facilitate musical discovery. wants to make sure that our product is suitable for its function.

That said, we want to build meaningful and deep discoveries. We don’t want people to snack through music as an after-product. When you look at Clips, it’s a tool made for artists to express themselves. It’s not a pure UGC tool that music is plugged into. It’s an artist expression tool, not a short video tool. [another] A way for artists to express themselves.

I really enjoy the feed and am getting a little older. In general, younger people tend to discover and consume music, so we need to cater to that audience.

McIntyre: At the moment, we go to Spotify to discover and listen, but artists go to other platforms to promote and help discover. Is there hope that people will spend more time on Spotify?

Erlich: We will always, through our marketplace tools, [we can] Create more marketing and promotional tools for artists. The ones on the market like Marquee are very efficient. Basically because we are promoting or promoting to users who already love music and want to discover it. With the wider social network, you never know what you’re really getting. I’m a music fan when I’m on Spotify, so it’s a very effective promotional space.

We always want people to spend as much time as possible on our platform. I think it means that you are reading This is the metric we want to maximize and the time spent.

Forbes detailsThe music director of ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ shares how the music for the unlikely hit was put togetherTo Hugh McIntyre

McIntyre: Another thing that bothered me was looking at how many artists are making a living or making $1 million on Spotify. Those numbers are incredible. What made you want to express it in concrete terms?

Erlich: It’s a long road to the larger mission of millions of artists making a living from their work, but as we do this work and update Loud & Clear, we also look at the stats and think, ‘Oh my god! , which is pretty good.” Clearly, we’re not there yet. There is really no “there”.i will always do [about] We make it better for our artists and allow them to live more sustainable lives, but we felt a certain amount of pride in these numbers… sharing them. I think it’s an important number.

There is also a lot of misinformation about who receives what. So rather than anecdotally tell the story of someone we helped, as much as we can, let’s look at these numbers today. If you look at last year and he five years ago and he five years from now, trends are always going in the right direction. Because that’s what we focus on, and when Spotify focuses on something, it usually delivers on that. Once a year we work on these goals to make it easier for artists to make a living and share the numbers.

McIntyre: Do you have a real internal goal, like ‘I want 1 million artists to make $10,000 by this year’?

Erlich: yes. I think that formula has a numerator and a denominator, so they’re not very specific. Only the molecule is really of interest. We have targets for subscribers and ad revenue and are starting to set targets for fan commerce. There is a certain amount that we are trying to achieve.

As the team that builds these products, promotes them, and gets artists to buy them, we maintain very high standards of what we want to achieve each year, and the numbers are generally aligned with our goals. It’s pretty dizzying. But that is our mission.

We’ve announced a lot about fan commerce, merchandise sales, ticket sales… I think it’s going to be an exciting time for artists as it’s a whole new revenue stream that can supply artists and grow their market. increase. They are increasingly looking to find ways to leverage their fanbase and monetize it in ways they see fit with their creative vision.

Forbes detailsWhat do A&R professionals really do in the music industry?To Hugh McIntyre