UPDATE: Spotify is rolling out a feature that allows users with a Premium subscription to watch music videos in the US and Canada, thanks to a new direct license agreement between Spotify and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA).
The videos will begin appearing today, although Spotify says it’s launching with an “initially limited catalog of music videos.” The first artists to let you watch videos include Addison Rae, Ariana Grande, Olivia Dean, and Tyler Childers.
You can check if you have access by heading to a song that displays Music video under its title, before the artist’s name. (Spotify gives Olivia Dean’s “Nice to Each Other” as one example.) When the song plays, a new button labeled “Switch to video” will appear.
On the desktop version of the app, you’ll find it on the right-hand side panel. On mobile, it’s above the song’s title when viewing a now-playing track.
Original Story 11/13:
Spotify first added music videos in March 2024, but not in the US and Canada. That’s set to change in the “coming weeks,” a Spotify spokesperson confirms to Variety.
It’ll work in a similar way to other countries, where users can switch between audio and video for supported tracks. Spotify hasn’t confirmed if the feature will be available for all subscribers. In other markets, you have to be a Premium subscriber to access music videos.
The news comes after Spotify announced a new direct license agreement with the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA). “These new agreements mean higher royalty payouts for independent music publishers and songwriters, and in exchange, Spotify will receive new rights to build video features that better connect artists and fans,” Spotify said.
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Spotify has long offered a Canvas feature—brief video loops that appear as a song plays. But they don’t sync up with the music, and don’t really compare to a fully fledged music video.
According to February 2024 data from Chartmetric, 36 of the 40 most-streamed tracks on Spotify in 2023 had corresponding music videos.
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“On average, these videos garnered 374M views, whereas the tracks themselves accumulated an average of 1.1B streams,” Chartmetric said. “This resulted in an average gap of 731M between the number of views on the videos and the number of streams on Spotify. While this data does not offer a comprehensive view of the entire music industry, it does suggest a shift in the role and impact of music videos compared to previous eras.”
The rise in popularity of short-form videos means fewer people are sitting through minutes-long music videos repeatedly, Chartmetric says. “Traditional music videos…require jumping through hoops like ads on YouTube before you can even watch them,” unless you have a YouTube Premium or YouTube Music subscription.
(Credit: Spotify)
Audiobooks on Spotify are also set to get a new Recap tool designed to help you catch up on a title that you haven’t listened to for a long time.
It will be activated after you’ve listened to 20 minutes of a book. From there, it’ll use AI to work out where you were in the story and give you the latest plot details without spoiling anything coming up later. The feature is available for select users on iPhone with what Spotify calls a “limited selection” of audiobooks.
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