Spotify has had a good year: expanding into original content with video, live radio, and podcasts; and breaking streaming records; while quietly plotting to take the company public.
And with giant infusions of cash from venture capital firms, the music-streaming company is looking to capitalize on its 20 million paid subscribers and 75 million total users — with their data.
Spotify announced Tuesday that it would release its user data to artists, record labels, and their employees through its Fan Insights portal. This allows musicians to discover exactly who their audience is, what they like, and how to deliver more of it.
The data was previously revealed only to a select group of musicians and managers, according to Recode, but opening it up to artists who request access could have benevolent implications for Spotify critics, such as Taylor Swift, who accuse music streaming of underpaying the talent.
News of the research project comes more than two months after the company changed its privacy policies, a move that many characterized as “creepy” and eerily similar to government surveillance.
Spotify originally said it would collect information stored on mobile devices, including contacts, media files, and location data. The company amended its stance in an apology statement that emphasized users’ rights to opt out of data collection and clarified that all data would be anonymized and used to enhance the music-listening experience — specifically by sharing the information with third-party partners and advertisers.
That policy change was foreshadowing for this new data release, aimed at helping musicians share their craft in the most effective way possible, including planning tour stops that might have gone unnoticed before. Contrarily, Fan Insights could also be used to only deliver audience-proven hits rather than experimenting with new sounds and styles.
“We have an open dialogue with artists, managers, and labels. We work with them to help them achieve any number of their goals,” Spotify previously told ThinkProgress.