While a few months ago the Swedish giant was cutting nearly 6% of its employees due to the difficult economic context, Spotify is now trying to recover and renew itself by offering some new features to its users.
As a matter of fact, earlier this month, the streaming platform introduced Clips, a new feature allowing artists to add 30-second videos to their profile and to their album page.
But what’s the point?
A progressive domination of short video content
A few days ago, Spotify announced new features and updates that would change the user experience on the platform. Among them, the announcement of a new user interface focusing on short video content. The updated interface would offer an endless vertical stream of short videos and recommendations that can be browsed indefinitely on the home screen. A concept reminding us a lot of TikTok, Instagram Reels, or even YouTube Shorts…
Another feature related to short video content: Clips. This feature allows artists to add 30-second videos to their profile, with the possibility of linking this video to a track or an album.
In reality, with these new features, Spotify is simply trying to keep up with trends on social platforms. The rise of TikTok has changed the game considerably: the short video content format has reduced attention spans, especially among Gen Z, and users are moving away from long-form media. And most social applications have figured this out.
Why this new feature?
The introduction of Clips was a conscious decision. Indeed, while Spotify was facing economic difficulties, they had to find a way to recover, relaunch the platform and find the right feature that would allow them to improve their results.
Regarding Clips, Spotify insists that Clips is a feature aiming to highlight streams, not likes. The development of this feature actually illustrates a desire to retain users, which benefits artists: users stay longer on the artist’s profile (and therefore on the platform), and streaming tracks is easier for them. In addition, videos are not deleted after 24 hours, which means for artists that, unlike other social platforms, they do not have to constantly create new content.
What consequences for artists?
Clips are displayed on artist profiles in a dedicated section, but it is possible to link them to an album or a track. This way, when a user watches a video linked to a track, they have the option to go further and listen to the corresponding track.
But then, in what context should Clips be used? The will of the streaming platform in releasing this feature is to go further in artists storytelling. Here are some ideas for which you could use Clips:
- Share the story of one of your tracks: this will allow you to show your fans how it was created.
- Introduce yourself as an artist: a short video presentation on your artist profile will allow your new listeners to discover who you are, and your fans to dive deeper into your universe.
- Announce your upcoming releases: create excitement among your fans by announcing the release of a track or an album.
The idea is to be creative and make your fans and new listeners want to go further and listen to your tracks. The possibilities are endless!
Clips is currently available to a small number of artists, and will continue to be spread throughout 2023. So what do you think about this new feature?
