Founded in Sweden in 2008, it is now the world's largest music streaming service, with 140 million monthly users (as of December 2017) in 61 countries. Captivating music lovers worldwide, Spotify has revolutionized the way people interact with music and the music industry.
And here in Japan, music from famous Japanese artists like DREAMS COME TRUE, Sakanaction, Yuzu, and Spitz has begun streaming music one after another, showing signs of its penetration into a wider demographic.
So, FASHION HEADLINE is launching a series titled "Music Journey—How to Use Spotify," introducing the appeal and uses of Spotify.
Spotify offers an infinite world of music. In this 12-part series, we'll show you how to navigate the world of Spotify. The musical journey you embark on after reading this series is up to you.
However, one thing is certain: a "musical journey" will definitely enrich your life.
What kind of service is "Spotify"?
First of all, music streaming services are a new way of listening to music that is becoming mainstream around the world, allowing you to enjoy unlimited music anytime. Most services offer a flat-rate subscription, where you pay a set monthly fee to listen to all the music registered on the service. In addition to Spotify's Premium Plan (¥980 per month), there are various subscription-based music streaming services available in Japan, such as "Apple Music," "LINE MUSIC," and "AWA." Here are three key features of Spotify's service.1. Free to Use Forever
Spotify's most distinctive feature is its "freemium model," which allows users to choose between two plans: a subscription-based "Premium Plan" and a "Free Plan," which allows users to enjoy all of Spotify's music for free. The free plan includes ads (revenue from ads is distributed to artists and other rights holders), but Spotify is the only service that lets you enjoy over 40 million songs in full, forever, for free. By installing the app on your smartphone or computer, you can access as much music as you want, anytime, anywhere, for free.
Also, if you sign up for the premium plan for 980 yen per month, you'll have more freedom, such as being able to remove ads and download and play offline. If you're serious about enjoying music on Spotify, we highly recommend the premium plan.
Differences between the Free and Premium Plans
2. A Wide Variety of Playlists
No other service puts as much emphasis on playlists as Spotify. Expert music connoisseurs, known as "music curators," update a vast variety of playlists daily. Their discerning ears ensure that the playlists they create are sure to be well-selected. You're sure to find a playlist that fits any mood, time, or lifestyle, as well as genres and new releases.
Users can also create their own playlists, and many artists and celebrities have also published their own playlists. Apparently, there are over 2 billion playlists created on Spotify.
By the way, FASHION HEADLINE also publishes playlists, so be sure to check them out.
3. Powerful recommendations let you discover music you love
Spotify collects playback data from users around the world and meticulously analyzes their tastes. It then recommends songs and artists "that you'll love." The accuracy is astonishing. The more you use it, the more you'll find yourself thinking, "Spotify knows what I'm talking about!"
Spotify calls itself a "music discovery service," and it's an excellent service for discovering new music.
To start, we've introduced three major features of Spotify. Don't you think these alone make it a very attractive service? But Spotify has even more features for enjoying music! We'll go into more detail in future articles.
Next time, as an introduction, we'll show you how to get started with Spotify.
