We kunnen bijna niet geloven dat het alweer deze tijd van het jaar is. Tijd om terug te blikken op de fantastische muziek van de afgelopen twaalf maanden.
Kijk terug met onze Eindejaarsterugblik en doe mee met een interactief avontuur door tijd en ruimte. Van het immense Spotify-universum tot jouw persoonlijke jaar in muziek.
We vieren de ongelooflijke 4,5 miljard uur gestreamde muziek op Spotify dit jaar. En we onthullen de artiesten en nummers die de wereld veroverden. We delen wat leuke Spotifeitjes van over de hele wereld. Als laatste tonen we ook de muziek die jouw 2013 omlijstte, in je eigen Eindejaarsterugblik.
Bedankt dat je deel hebt uitgemaakt van ons jaar. Op het delen van nog meer muziek in 2014!
Arctic Monkeys, Sigur Rós, alt-J en Portishead in juni 2013 naar Nederland.
Op 21, 22 en 23 juni 2013 vindt op evenemententerrein Beekse Bergen de eerste editie plaats van muziekfestival Best Kept Secret. Arctic Monkeys en Sigur Rós zijn de eerste headline-acts die dat weekend naar Hilvarenbeek komen. In totaal zullen meer dan 50 acts op diverse podia optreden, waaronder ook alt-J (∆), Portishead, No Age, Swim Deep en SKATERS. Spotify is blij partner te zijn van dit vooruitstrevende festival. Muziek van de eerste aangekondigde acts beluister je via Best Kept Secret Festival 2013.
Festivaldirecteur Robert Swarts (linkt to:https://twitter.com/rswrts) over het idee achter Best Kept Secret: ‘Als muziekliefhebbers en concertorganisator liepen wij de afgelopen jaren vol bewondering rond op Melt!, Way Out West en Primavera Sound. Die buitenlandse festivals focussen 100% op muziek, trekken met een aantal bekende namen een flink publiek, maar besteden minstens zoveel aandacht aan nieuwe acts, bands, uiteenlopende muzikale stijlen en artiesten. Dat doen wij ook.’
De muzikale ontdekkingstocht staat op Best Kept Secret festival centraal. Daarover zegt woordvoerder Niels Aalberts: ‘Wij denken dat festivalbezoekers in 2013 willen zien en horen waar ze thuis, onderweg en online naar luisteren: van indie en dubstep op 3VOOR12 naar hip hop op Spotify, garagerock op het blog van LeGuessWho, onderwijl luisterend naar alt-J op 3FM. Die brede smaak vertalen we op Best Kept Secret naar ruim 50 acts en verschillende podia. De bosrijke omgeving, nabij gelegen bungalows en camping, het strand, zwemwater, goed eten en drinken dragen bij aan de sfeer die we voor ogen hebben.’
De trailer geeft een goede indruk van het terrein, festival, de camping en line-up.
De Britse Arctic Monkeys en het IJslandse Sigur Rós zijn de eerste publiekstrekkers die Best Kept Secret naar buiten brengt, samen met alt-J, Portishead en enkele kleinere namen. Eerstgenoemde band brengt deze zomer zijn vijfde album uit en staat exclusief op Best Kept Secret. Landgenoten alt-J wonnen in 2012 de prestigieuze Mercury Prize met debuutalbum An Awesome Wave en eindigden bovenaan vrijwel iedere jaarlijst. Sigur Rós bouwde de afgelopen 15 jaar aan een eigenzinnig repertoire dat ook in Nederland grote zalen uitverkoopt. Minstens zo eigenzinnig is Portishead, dat na triphopklassieker Dummy (1994) een eigen koers bleef varen en inmiddels een geheel nieuwe generatie muziekliefhebbers aanspreekt. Ook voor Portishead en Sigur Rós is Best Kept Secret de enige Nederlandse festivalshow deze zomer. De komende maanden maakt Best Kept Secret nog enkele headliners en tientallen nieuwe namen bekend.
De voorverkoop van Best Kept Secret start maandag 14 januari 2013 om 10:00 uur via de website van het festival: BestKeptSecret.nl
We’re in the process of releasing an update to Spotify, version 0.3.23. We’ve made some minor bug fixes and added password protection to download purchases which you can modify in the preferences menu.
The other main change with this release is the addition of a ‘Related artists’ tab to the artist view.
This feature is pretty exciting for us as it’s the first time we’ve used our own data to power recommendations. Previously we’ve used genre and artist tagging from AllMusic for related artists which worked well, but did not cover a large portion of our catalogue. What we’ve done now is to go through months and months of listening data and look closely at what people listen to.
This allows us to see that users who listen to a lot of The Rolling Stones, for example, are also big fans of Iggy Pop or The Byrds. The new feature pulls some of this information together to show you a range of related artists in one tab.
The ‘Related artist’ tab is the first of many uses for this data and we hope you’ll be able to find some great new bands you might not have otherwise heard of.
We wanted to let you know about a little promotion that our good friends over at Fiat are running for the next four weeks in the UK. Fiat has put together the 500C feelgood playlist to collect the best summer tunes out there and they need your help extending the list.
Head over the the Fiat’s 500C site and submit your favorite feel good track and be entered to win a Spotify Premium account of your own. Once you’ve added to the list sit back and listen to it grow.
This is the first of our guest blog posts. Jamie Cullum is an award-winning musician and a big fan of Spotify.
Spotify.
I can’t work it out. I have been a music consumer my whole life. Obsessed by it, saved for it, longed for it. Now it appears that feverish collecting is coming to an end. Spotify even has those hard to find, Japanese Herbie Hancock albums. It is however missing quite a few independent gems. Hardly any Rhythm and Sound – a lot of stuff on some great labels – Stones Throw etc. Maybe physical releases will be purely for muso-head types, pitchforkers. I still go to Soul Jazz in Soho, Rough Trade in Notting Hill for recommendations and ensuing purchases. Always Ray’s Jazz for jazz; Portobello road for vinyl – Intoxica, Honest Jon’s. But I’ve also been buying stuff off of Boomkat for three years now – in fact a lot of my new artist discoveries come from their brilliant emails. I also am an Emusic subscriber – like iTunes with a better independent catalogue and much better editorial – like subscribing to melody maker with the ability to have each act you read about. Beatport for the finest selection of electronic music. And then of course iTunes itself – easy, massive and reliable. Deep down I still love to physically OWN music but Spotify……..oh my are we having a love affair!
Spotify is easy and beautiful. I had a Herbie Hancock day yesterday – building big, beautiful playlists from his interstellar catalogue. Who knows what I’ll decide to listen to today – maybe a Deep Purple day?
I don’t know what this means as a musician, but as a listener it’s very exciting.
In an idealist, rose tinted world it means that you only survive if you push yourself to be great, greater, unhomogenised. When everything is available with one click there is no need to keep listening. So you’d better make it brilliant. Perhaps in the real world it will mean it is even harder for the seething mass of undiscovered talent to peek through. I guess then, that is what record companies will still be needed for – nurturing and breaking talent.
I’m off now to finish my album to make sure sure it is brilliant.
Typed at great speed in the back of a cab.
Jamie’s new album will be released later this year and you can catch him on the Jazz World Stage at Glastonbury on 27th June. For priority on gig tickets, the latest news and exclusive content, sign up to the mailing list on jamiecullum.com. Also check out the playlist he’s put together with some of his favorite tunes.
In the past couple of months we’ve announced a number of deals to add more classical and indie content to Spotify. Today we’re announcing something a little different, we’re really happy to let you know that we’ll be bolstering our punk and alternative rock catalogue with amazing content from Epitaph Records.
And while announcements are great, even better is actually getting the music so we’re really excited that the first batch of music from Epitaph is available in today’s music update.
Our good friends at Luger were kind enough to give us three pairs of concert tickets to Swedish hiphop artist Petter and we want you to have them. All you have to do is record a video of you doing your best hiphop move to Petters hit single, Så klart, send it to us, and you and a friend will have the chance to see him perform live. The venue is the small, exclusive and very charming Fasching in Stockholm on Thursday the 19th of February.
The video clip should be no longer than 30 seconds. E-mail your video, name and contact details to pettertickets@spotify.com by noon Wednesday, February 18th to be eligible for the contest. Three winners will be contacted the following Thursday. This contest is open to all Spotify users in Sweden.
Ska vi riva hela haket?! (Excuse the Swedish.) Petter – Så klart!
Disclaimer: Your video clip could be used in future communication by Spotify.
We get a lots of email and feedback from people looking to get an invite to join Spotify and we are sending out more and more every day so patience will pay off. But if you’re in Sweden and really want to join Spotify one quick option would be to go with our partner Bredbandsbolaget. Existing Bredbandsbolaget clients can sign up right away and get their service free until April 9th, if at any time you no longer want the Bredbandsbolaget service you can cancel at any point.
If you’re not a Bredbandsbolaget client but have a friend or family member who is, there’s a good chance they’ve recently been given invites for our free service that they can share, so don’t be shy and ask around.
We’ve got the perfect present for the music lover in your family or circle of friends. With Spotify Premium gift cards you can give the gift of six months of ad-free music, as well as a range of exclusive benefits such as album pre-releases and VIP contests for prizes. Plus, Spotify Premium users get invites to Spotify Free, which they can share with family & friends.
Gift cards can be purchased from our site and will be mailed directly to the recipient. To be sure that they arrive before the holidays make sure to place your order by December 19th. Gift cards are available in Sweden only.
Our friends over at Ford have been running a contest for awhile now where users can enter to win a one month Spotify Premium account, there are 2000 accounts to be won. They are also handing out a number of invites to join Spotify Free, simply if you register for the contest.
The contest comes to an end on December 15th so you better hurry if you want a chance to win a premium account or even if you’re just looking for a free invite to Spotify before the holidays.
