“Spotify is the Netflix of the music world.” That statement might have held a little more clout before the emergence of Apple Music, but it still rings true to some people nonetheless. If you’re unaware or unsure about what Spotify is, it’s a streaming website/app where you can listen to playlists and albums of songs for free. If you don’t want to listen to advertisements or be forced to listen to playlists as opposed to just choosing songs, it can cost anywhere around $4 to $10 a month. Moreover, they’re a company. Here are three notable things that they’ve done this year:
They Launched in Thailand
This might not seem like a massive deal to people living in the United States or the UK, but it’s a massive step for people in Thailand. Not only does this mean that Thai residents now have the option to stream their favorite songs as opposed to paying for each song, but it also means that they’re a little more connected with the rest of the Spotify’s users. Constantly hearing about something that most people take for granted can lead to a major case of FOMO (fear of missing out).
They Took a Stand Against White Supremacists
On August 14th, Digital Music News published an article that detailed 37 musically inclined white supremacist groups. As a result of the horrific events in Charlottesville on August 12th, this list was a starting point for Spotify to begin to remove them from their database in every single country that they had previously been available in. Spotify explained the importance of their actions in an interview with Billboard saying that “illegal content or material that favors hatred or incites violence against race, religion, sexuality or the like is not tolerated by us.”
They Managed to Get Taylor Swift Back
A little while before her latest single “Look What You Made Me Do” came out, Taylor and her music linked back up with Spotify. This is, of course, after she had previously left them in order to exclusively release her music on Apple Music. It appears that her return to Spotify was a brilliant move for the both of them because Spotify gets the streams and Taylor’s new song becomes the number one most streamed song within the space a day (8 million streams).
It appears that Spotify has (almost) done a little bit of everything in the last year. Shutting down racists and expanding a little more into Asia might not be wholly related, but they do all work towards the improvement of the company and, hopefully, all work towards the benefit of their users.
