The popular music app Spotify has finally made the leap from audio to video, albeit months after announcing the newest addition to its platform for iOS and Android users.
Originally publicized this past May, the streaming service plans to provide video content from BBC, ESPN, Comedy Central, Vice Media and Maker Studios.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Spotify plans to roll out its video streaming capabilities in the U.S., the U.K., Sweden, and Germany by the end of this week and next week, beginning with Android and adding iOS a few days later. While right now the video content will consist mostly of short clips, the company might add longer stuff in the future, as indicated by Tastemade, which is creating live musical content for the platform.
Web videos might also be a big driver due to prior popularity, like Maker Studios' Rap Battles in History series.
"We are at the end of a journey of testing," said VP of product Shiva Rajaraman in an interview with the WSJ. "We are going out effectively as planned. Our goal was largely to get a wide breadth of content and experiment and test."
Even with all of the new changes afoot, the company is stalwart it has no plans to switch efforts from music streaming, which caters to 20 million subscribers and 75 million users, to vid-only.
"Obviously, our primary user is a music fan, and they are not necessarily leaning in and looking into the app," continued Rajaraman. "So there are no particular recipes for how to get this right."
"It will be interesting to see how they can leverage data and audience insights to inform a programming strategy," he added. "[It's] fundamentally about giving music fans what they want."
Via: The Verge
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Photo: freestocks.org | Flickr
