Summary
- Recently, Spotify uploaded a full-length concert video stream onto its platform.
- Spotify is known primarily for music streaming, but the company has expanded its scope in recent years.
- I watched The Weeknd perform on stage through Spotify — here’s what it’s like using the service for long-form video consumption, and what it means for the future of the company.
Back in December, music streaming company Spotify hosted its first-ever Billions Club Live Show, which featured Canadian pop and R&B singer The Weeknd as its performing act.
The Weeknd was chosen as the performing act for the event, owing to the fact that he has garnered the most songs in Spotify’s Billions Club of any musical artist so far, at 25 tracks.
Spotify’s The Billions Club is an exclusive playlist of songs that have achieved the coveted milestone of more than one billion lifetime streams on the platform. The Weeknd’s list of billion-plus hits includes well-known singles like Starboy, Blinding Lights, I Feel it Coming, and Can’t Feel My Face.
Related
Amazon Music is copying Spotify, but not in a good way
Amazon Music is hiking the price of its Unlimited plans.
The live event, which was roughly 48 minutes in length, took place at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, with an in-person audience of close to 2,000 listeners.
“This 45+ minute video experience premieres only on Spotify, a reward for the fans who made him a streaming legend. This isn’t just a concert, it’s a celebration of a historic moment in music,” says Marc Hazan, Vice President of Partnerships and Marketing at Spotify.
Spotify
Spotify is a popular audio streaming platform that offers music, audiobooks, and podcasts. It can be used on mobile and on desktop, allowing you to listen to music in a ton of different places. You can even download music to your smartwatch.
- Premium Subscription
- $12 per month
- Free trial
- Yes
- Ad plans
- Free with advertisements
I streamed The Weeknd’s BIllions Club concert to check out Spotify’s playback prowess
Overall, the video playback experience was a positive one
I went ahead and watched the entirety of the Billions Club Live with The Weeknd: A Concert Film through Spotify — the company uploaded the video exclusively onto its streaming platform upon conclusion of the live event.
My biggest takeaway was the relative smoothness of the entire experience — Spotify is primarily an audio streaming service, and so I was somewhat concerned whether the video player would struggle to play back a full-length concert without buffering, stuttering or other common issues. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case, and I had an effortless playback experience from start to finish.
My biggest takeaway was the relative smoothness of the entire experience.
The addition of chapters — quick links to various song performances within the concert — is a nice touch. I’m a big fan of any and all features that allow for easy navigation throughout lengthier videos.
The desktop video player interface itself, however, is fairly bare bones: it provides a volume slider, a play/pause button, skip forward and backwards buttons, a mini player, and a basic playback progress bar.
The one hitch I encountered was with the video speed toggle, which was unresponsive and didn’t allow me to select 1.5x or any other setting. Switching over to the iOS Spotify app fixed this problem for me. The mobile experience also brought some additional options into the mix: a sleep timer, as well as a shortcut to cast the stream onto another device.
When compared with more dominant and entrenched video streamers like Netflix and YouTube, Spotify’s interface is fairly basic.
When compared with more dominant and entrenched video streamers like Netflix and YouTube, Spotify’s interface is fairly basic. It lacks a dedicated closed captions/subtitles option, and there’s no option to manually adjust the resolution to suite your preferences. These would all be excellent quality of life additions that I’d love to see added over time.
Related
How I jam out with Spotify using Google Gemini
Google Gemini has added extension support for Spotify. You can now request Gemini to play your favorite songs and playlists.
In recent years, Spotify has increased the scope of its service
The company clearly wants to be seen as more than just an audio streaming platform
Spotify / Pocket-lint
Spotify was founded as a music streaming service, with the company playing a key role in pioneering the recurring payment-based business model of music consumption.
Today, just about all of us access our music via internet streaming platforms, whether it be big tech solutions like , Amazon Music, or YouTube Music, or smaller players like Tidal or Pandora.
It’s become clear in recent years, however, that Spotify is yearning for an enlargement in overall scope. The company has introduced both ebooks and podcasts into the fold, spending big bucks on the latter form of media to secure the streaming rights for figures like Joe Rogan.
It’s become clear in recent years, however, that Spotify is yearning for an enlargement in overall scope.
The addition of video content in the form of concert performances — as is the case with the Billions Club Live with The Weeknd — is a logical next step for the streamer if there ever was one.
I’m rather curious about what lies ahead for Spotify in its medium to long-term future. There was some initial push back when the company took aim at the podcasting scene, particularly by incorporating video podcasts into the app, with detractors feeling that it bloated the platform and made for a more confusing user interface.
If Spotify can secure the rights to some big name feature films and TV shows, I can envision a future in which the company takes on Netflix and other video streamers. That being said, I believe the key to Spotify’s success in the video scene would come down to exclusive programming and in-house IP.
I believe the key to Spotify’s success in the video scene would come down to exclusive programming.
Clearly, the ability to stream video isn’t a problem for Spotify from a technical standpoint. If the company plays its cards right, it might just be able to increase the size and scope of its content operation.
Related
How Spotify’s hidden equalizer can dramatically improve your listening
Spotify has an in-app equalizer that lets you experiment with different sound frequency settings.
