You may be tempted to roll your eyes at the news that certain playlists on Spotify will only be available to people who’ve bought certain NFTs. But bear with us: the streaming service’s latest test may have wider implications.
Spotify is working with a group of NFT collections including Fluf, Moonbirds and Overlord, as well as Universal Music Group’s Kingship virtual artist. Coindesk has the story, including the announcements by those NFT partners.
Essentially, owners of their NFTs will be able to connect their wallets to access exclusive curated playlists by those brands.
We, KINGSHIP strive to ALWAYS be at the forefront of technology and music.
Now, we're taking this commitment a step further by launching a brand new token-enabled playlist with @Spotify!
This is a special curated playlist exclusively for KINGSHIP Key Card (NFT) holders. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/5ftjk8OgC6
— KINGSHIP (@therealkingship) February 22, 2023
🌎 Thrilled to “explore” with you!
— Spotify (@Spotify) February 22, 2023
This is being described as a pilot, which puts it in the same territory as Spotify’s test last year of letting music artists promote NFTs on their profiles. The company is cautiously exploring what it might do with NFTs through partners, rather than (yet) piling into web3.
Now the implications: if Spotify can ‘gate’ playlists to certain token holders, why not in other ways too? Imagine artists launching exclusive playlists for the fans who follow them on Spotify, for example, or who are part of their off-platform communities or fan-funding schemes…
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