In more big news for music and Web3, the audio streaming platform Spotify has entered the metaverse via blockchain gaming-giant Roblox. The company, which is debuting its virtual space Spotify Island today, says it’s the first major music streaming service to join the platform.
Spotify Island, the company’s virtual venue in the Roblox metaverse, will let users create music and hang out in a virtual space, as well as get exclusive access to virtual merchandise from artists.
The virtual island on Roblox stays true to Spotify’s brand: heavy on the green with familiar icons, shapes, and colors. And one perk of entering Spotify’s metaverse is that users can collect heart-shaped “Like” icons and exchange them for merchandise and digital goods.
Spotify claims that in-game virtual merchandise will help artists earn money and connect with fans in new and exciting ways. It also says that a portion of all sales from digital assets like NFTs will go to the artists — though no royalty percentages were given.
Here are some other things users can do on Spotify Island:
- Hang out and interact with artists
- Complete quests for prizes and unlock exclusive content
- Collect merch for a chance to climb to the Top of “The Charts”
- Use “beat-maker” stations powered by Soundtrap to create your own music
Furthermore, its first themed experience, “K-Park,” will be debuting in a couple of weeks, giving users who enter Spotify Island the chance to interact with K-Pop artists Stray Kids and SUNMI. Merchandise by SUNMI is already on sale on Spotify Island, and merch is coming soon for Stray Kids.
Musicians Embracing Web3 and the Metaverse at a Rapid Pace
Spotify might be the first music-streaming platform to have a presence in the Roblox metaverse, but music labels and musicians have been embracing Web3 and the metaverse in a big way.
Here are just a few recent headlines related to NFTs, music, Web3, and the Metaverse:
- Snoop Dogg Vows to make Death Row an NFT label
- Universe Music Label purchases Bored Ape #5537
- Warner Music Group partners with Splinterlands for P2E game
- Universal Music develops NFT collectibles
- Diplo sells NFT song on Royal
- Snoop Dogg drops first metaverse-filmed music video
It should come as no surprise that musicians are embracing the new models enabled through Web3, crypto, and NFT technology. Perhaps no other group of artists has been as historically under-compensated for their work and notoriously taken advantage of by the industry. Even Spotify has been criticized by musicians for its streaming model that requires artists to generate millions of streams before making a decent wage.
There’s still no telling if Spotify Island will be great for Spotify’s artists but partnering with Roblox — a platform dominated by younger users — could help the platform stay relevant as the world, and especially musicians, shift towards Web3 and NFT technology.