Spotify is betting that the future of music discovery runs through live venues. The streaming giant just rolled out a feature letting users follow concert locations directly, turning venue pages into personalized event calendars. It's a smart play to keep users engaged while rivals like SoundCloud scramble to build their own live music ecosystems.
Spotify just made it easier to never miss your favorite venue's next big show. The streaming platform's new venue-following feature transforms how users discover live music, letting them treat concert halls and clubs like artists they can follow in their library. Users can now browse event calendars, get concert announcements, and filter upcoming shows by genre - all from within the app they're already using to discover new music.
The timing isn't coincidental. Spotify's also switching its live event feed from weekly to daily updates, according to TechCrunch's reporting. The move signals the company's deeper commitment to live music discovery, a space that's becoming increasingly competitive as streaming platforms look for new ways to engage users beyond just audio playback.
"This feels like Spotify finally understanding that music fans think about venues, not just artists," says one industry observer familiar with the platform's strategy. It's a shift that acknowledges how people actually discover live music - often through the spaces they love, not just the bands they follow.
The feature builds on Spotify's earlier experiments in live music. Earlier this year, the company launched "Concerts Near You" playlists, featuring 30 songs from artists performing in users' areas. But venue following takes that concept further, letting users create their own curated list of spaces to monitor.
Spotify's brief flirtation with direct ticket sales in 2022 didn't expand as expected. Instead, the company now partners with established players like Live Nation and Ticketmaster, letting users book tickets directly from artist pages. This approach seems to be working - it removes friction from the discovery-to-purchase journey without requiring Spotify to build an entire ticketing infrastructure.
The competitive pressure is real. SoundCloud partnered with Ticketmaster and Live Nation in February to on their pages. It's part of a broader trend where streaming platforms realize that live music represents both a revenue opportunity and a way to differentiate from competitors.
