Spotify Is Testing Token-Enabled Music Playlists

Spotify has announced that it is moving into Web3 by releasing token-enabled playlists on its platform.

The pilot is currently only available for Android users in the US, UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.

Spotify, the music streaming service, is currently experimenting with a novel feature known as "tokenized playlists," enabling non-fungible token (NFT) holders to link their wallets and enjoy specially curated music.

The service currently is available to token holders within the Fluf Moonbirds, Kingship and Overlord communities. The curated playlists will be actively updated during the three-month testing period and can only be accessed by community members via a unique link.

On Wednesday, Overlord, the Web3 gaming and media universe, announced that owners of its Creepz NFT project featuring lizard themes can link their Web3 wallet with Spotify to access the project's "Invasion" playlist curated by the community. The pilot version is presently restricted to Android users in select regions, including the US, UK, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. Spotify seems to have confirmed this information in a tweet response.

Universal Music Group's NFT band KINGSHIP also shared that it had created a token-gated playlist for NFT holders featuring Queen, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg and Led Zeppelin.

A spokesperson for Spotify told CoinDesk that it "routinely conducts a number of tests in an effort to improve our user experience."

"Some of those end up paving the path for our broader user experience and others serve only as important learnings," the spokesperson said.

Spotify did not elaborate on their intentions to expand the feature to a wider audience in the future. With over 489 million users, the worldwide streaming service has previously tried integrating NFTs into its platform. For instance, in May 2022, a limited set of musicians, such as Steve Aoki and The Wombats, were permitted to publicise NFTs on their profiles.

At the same time, several Web3 music platforms have emerged to decentralise the experience of listening to music. Audius, for example, is a crypto-linked streaming service that allows users to earn AUDIO token rewards for interacting with its app while Royal and anotherblock allow creators to sell music royalties as fractionalized NFTs.