Electronic music site Beatport has a new partner: Spotify. The former competitors have just formed a partnership that allows Spotify access to much of Beatport's content, including its curated playlists and video footage of Beatport's live music events.
This latest deal puts Spotify in even closer competition with Apple Music, which has become steadily more popular since its launch last month, threatening Spotify's position as a favorite music streaming subscription service. With Apple Music focusing on curated content, this partnership signals Spotify's move in that direction to become more competitive with Apple.
Spotify's weak spot is generally curated content: it just doesn't have a lot of it. There have been a few instances of playlists getting put together by others (Spotify recently asked One Direction to curate songs for the weekend), so Beatport, founded 11 years ago, brings with it the strength of its DJ-curated content, although that content only features electronic music. But it's a first step in Spotify trying to retain its position as the leader of subscription streaming music services.
"We're very excited to be the first streaming service to partner with Spotify," said Beatport CEO Greg Consiglio to Billboard. "We have a unique perspective on what's trending, which new artists are breaking. We're taking that expertise to Spotify – we'll be curating unique weekly playlists that really only Beatport can do."
Spotify has recently upped its efforts in making its services more personal, including its new "Discover Weekly" feature that puts together a two-hour-long playlist every week specifically chosen for each user based on what's been listened to and what others with similar musical tastes like.
This new partnership with Beatport takes that a step farther, though, particularly for those fans of electronic and dance music that Beatport already has expertise in curating.
This new deal also gives Spotify access to video on its platform, something the company recently announced that it wanted to focus on. Spotify plans on benefiting from Beatport's unique video content, including live footage from music festivals around the world.
"They bring some interesting and unique content opportunities to the table," said Sachin Doshi, Spotify vice president of content and distribution, to Billboard. "Maybe more importantly, great video content."
