Key takeaways:
- Spotify, the leading music streaming company, is reportedly testing out a new feature that lets artists promote NFTs on their profiles
- The music industry giant says the feature could roll out to all users if the feedback accumulated in the trial phase is positive
- Spotify won’t sell NFTs directly; instead, users will be taken to third-party NFT marketplaces
Spotify is testing letting artists promote NFTs on their profiles
Music streaming giant Spotify is trialing a new feature that lets artists promote their non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on their profiles, according to a report from Music Ally. The feature is currently in the early stages of development, available only to a limited number of Android users from the US. Per the report, popular artists and NFT enthusiasts Steve Aoki and The Wombats are participating in the testing phase.
Allowing Spotify users to support their favorite artists via merchandise and ticket purchases has long been available on the platform as a way for artists to establish extra income sources. Now, the company is examining the viability of doing the same for NFTs. It is worth noting that Spotify is not looking to directly sell digital collectibles, but will instead redirect interested users to external NFT marketplaces.
The NFT feature might receive a platform-wide rollout if the user metric data and feedback collected in the trial phase turn out favorable. “We routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve artist and fan experiences. Some of those tests end up paving the way for a broader experience and others serve only as an important learning,” a Spotify representative explained to Music Ally.
The news of Spotify testing out new NFT features comes about two months after the streaming giant announced it is looking for an experienced backend engineer who could leverage Web3 technologies and a senior manager capable of identifying potential moonshot projects. At the time, the specific job descriptions led many to speculate whether Spotify is preparing for a push into NFTs.
This is not the Swedish music company’s first foray into the world of blockchain. Spotify had previously collaborated with Facebook (now Meta) on the Diem stablecoin project, intrigued by the possibility of cutting out the middle man between fans and artists.
