How Spotify Used Data-Driven Campaign & Regional Curation to Expand in India
India is a huge country with a varied taste in music. What’s popular in Kolkata might not be popular in Mumbai. To cater to diverse preferences, it is crucial to offer localised content and curated playlists. That’s exactly what Spotify India did to keep its users engaged. In this blog today, we are going to explore how Spotify India used localised playlists with music from different languages and genres to cater to the unique cultural identities of each region.
Key Takeaways
- Spotify India has enhanced the visibility of local artists on a global scale.
- Streaming is now the preferred way to listen to music, especially among the younger audience.
- Spotify offers personalised playlists and recommendations, improving the user experience.
- Podcasts have gained significant traction, offering a diverse range of content for the Indian audience.
- Community features include collaborative playlists and help in developing connections among the users.
Using Local Artists – Impact on a Larger Scale
Music these days is not just about getting more and more streams. Today, it is more about how artists connect with their fans and grow their careers. That’s why it is interesting to see how Spotify changed the game for so many artists. To understand how Spotify used localised playlists, it is crucial to know how Spotify connected artists with global audiences.
Spotify India is a launchpad for local artists to reach listeners globally. Someone sitting in Bangalore can have fans from Paris or Chicago.
Did you know? In 2024, almost half of the royalties that Indian artists earned on Spotify came from audiences outside India. [source – Gallery Vision].
This shows that Indian music has made its place on the global stage.
Spotify for Artists – Empowering Creators in a Unique Way
Spotify is not just a place for uploading music. It is a platform for artists to understand their audience and grow their subscribers. Let’s understand what Spotify for Artists offers.
- Data analytics to keep track of listener demographics and trends
- Tools for creating and promoting playlists
- Easy interaction with fans through direct communication channels
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7 Core marketing strategies of Spotify
There is no denying that Spotify wants to be the No.1 audio service in every market.
1. Freemium model
You can have two types of subscriptions on Spotify – free and paid. The free version will allow listeners to access millions of songs and podcasts. But there will be ads and limited features. The premium version will remove the ads and unlock features like offline listening, unlimited skips, and high-quality audio.
The best part of high-quality audio is that once you have experienced it, there is no going back. Hi-Res streaming is becoming more and more popular. It is a smart move by Spotify. You get to hear with better clarity. Hear instruments and vocals with higher detail. That’s how you feel more connected to the music. High-quality music also reduces fatigue by placing less stress on your ears during extended listening periods.
From a marketing perspective:
- It helps in attracting and retaining users.
- Generate revenue from both subscription and advertising.
- It brings in a sense of urgency and exclusivity for the users to upgrade to premium.
- Spotify also offers discounts, trials, and bundles for existing and new subscribers.
2. Personalisation
Spotify uses AI and ML to create tailored playlists, experiences, and recommendations for every user. This is something else to know about how Spotify uses localised playlists. Spotify analyses user data, including the listening history, search, preferences, mood, behaviour, and context. That’s how they offer customised content that suits their taste and choices. Some examples of Spotify’s customised features are Release Radar, Discover Weekly, Daily Mix, Your Top Songs, and Spotify Wrapped.
Spotify India has stepped up its game with personalised playlists. You won’t get random song recommendations. The algorithms are smarter. As we mentioned above, Spotify is using AI to detect the preferences. Spotify AI learns your taste based on what you skip, replay, and when you listen to songs. You shall have a friend who knows your music taste. It’s crazy, yet it’s so cool how Spotify uses the localised playlist. They introduced local music trends to diversify the playlist, ensuring you don’t just get the same global hits all the time.
The best thing about AI is it is learning constantly. The more you use Spotify, the better recommendations you’ll get because it gets better at predicting your taste. Yes, it’s not perfect, but it’s close enough. Thus, it’s making music discovery much more fun and less of a chore.
From the marketing perspective:
It helps Spotify to increase user engagement and loyalty and enhance customer satisfaction.
Also, it differentiates Spotify from its competitors.
3. Minimalistic app interface
The app interface that Spotify has is simple, hassle-free, and user-friendly. It uses a dark theme with clean icons and bright colours while also ensuring a modern look. The app interface also focuses on the content. It highlights the playlists, album covers, and podcasts instead of focusing too much on functionality and navigation.
From a marketing perspective:
With a minimalistic app interface and design, Spotify has an excellent user experience. The minimalistic app interface reduces cognitive load, improves usability and also improves accessibility.
Also, such an interface offers a premium feel to the brand. This encourages consumers to purchase it while keeping the price reasonable.
4. Collaborating with artists
Spotify offers tools and resources for artists to upload, share, promote, and monetise their music on the platform. It also features artists on curated playlists, social media campaigns, and editorial content. That’s another way how Spotify uses localised playlists and local artists to capture the Indian market.
From a marketing perspective:
Connecting more and more local artists for collaboration is a great strategy by Spotify to build a community of creators and listeners.
Also, it improves the content quality and diversity.
5. How Spotify used meme culture and other social media trends
Spotify uses social media marketing trends like memes and challenges to engage with its users and potential customers. Spotify has also partnered with social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat to integrate its features and content, including stories, stickers, filters, and sounds. This improves user experience and exposure.
From a marketing perspective:
Spotify engages in interaction and conversation with its target audience through social media campaigns around its brand and products.
Getting on board with the social media trends helps Spotify to increase its social media presence, reach, and influence while also attracting and retaining users.
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Special Mention: Spotify Wrapped – How Spotify Used Meme Culture
Spotify Wrapped 2024 brought a fresh wave of personalisation and nostalgia to music lovers worldwide. 2024’s edition introduced exciting new features like Your Music Evolution, which showcased how users’ tastes shifted throughout the year in distinct musical phases. Fans also got to see their Longest Listening Streak and received exclusive clips from top artists and podcasters, adding a personal touch to the experience.
Over the years, Spotify Wrapped evolved into a cultural event. Both users and artists eagerly wait for this mega event. Spotify Wrapped includes features like quizzes, audio aura visualisation, and expanded insights, making it much more interactive every year. Spotify memes are the best way to laugh at our predictable listening habits. The memes also bring in the fun at how the wait for Spotify Wrapped 2024 felt extra-long this year. Here is how Spotify used meme culture.
Source – X
Source – Mashable
Source- X
Here’s the best part! Did you know? Spotify Wrapped delves deep into the user experience principles to keep its audience coming back every year! We shall discuss the key user experience components that Spotify uses to tap into the psychology of its audience in the later section of the blog. Stay tuned! Let’s get back into the core marketing strategies for now!
6. Localization in India
This is one of the most important aspects of how Spotify uses localized playlists. Its locally curated playlists and podcasts cover a wide array of genres, languages, moods, and occasions like Indipop, Bollywood, Punjabi, Soul, Marathi, Classical, and much more.
When it comes to targeting the local audience, Spotify uses ads in different languages. Here is an example.
Now, a similar ad has been recreated in a different language to target the audience of a different location.
This is exactly how Spotify used a localization strategy to engage its audience throughout India.
Also, it features local artists and influences like A R Rahman, Prateek Kuhad, Nucleya, and Ritviz.
Source – Spotify
From a marketing perspective:
- This is excellent for improving user satisfaction, experience, and accessibility.
- Also, it helps to improve the content quality.
- Localization in India helped to enhance the diversity of local music.
7. Emotional ads for promotion
Spotify appeals to its audience using humour, nostalgia, and inspiration for effective and memorable ad promotion. Spotify uses relevant cultural references, trends, influencers, and celebrities.
From a marketing perspective:
- Emotional ads for promotion help in increasing brand awareness, recognition, and affinity. It also drives conversions and referrals.
- Also, the ads connect with the target audience, like millennials and Gen Z.
Source – Spotify Newsroom
Success Stories of Indian Musicians
There are innumerable Indian artists whose careers have taken off with the help of Spotify India. For instance, let’s consider Anuv Jain. He is an independent artist who built a huge fan following through Spotify India. The song “Baarishein” made him immensely popular amongst the Gen Z population. Here are some more artists who found more popularity through Spotify.
Arijit Singh – One of the most popular and most-followed artists on Spotify, not only in India but globally.
Source – Spotify India Instagram
King – King is gaining popularity with a unique blend of hip-hop and Indian sounds.
Jasleen Royal – She is known for her soulful voice and versatile compositions
The Role of Podcasts in Spotify India
If you think about it, there is no “one way” how Spotify used localised playlists. Spotify’s expansion in India is not just about music; it has also improved the podcasting scene. It offers a different kind of listening experience.
Growth of Podcasting in India
Podcasts have become popular in India. Spotify’s investment in local content and creators has helped increase this growth. It is not just about replicating Western podcast formats. There is an increase in content that connects with Indian listeners. The number of shows has increased exponentially, and listeners are growing rapidly. This is a great way to discover new audio content.
A Wide Array of Content for a Varied Audience
This is one of the best things about the podcast scene in India. You shall have a huge variety of content. You get everything – from Bollywood gossip to in-depth discussions on social issues, along with a ton of stuff in the regional languages. This is again where Spotify used a localised playlist. But this time, it’s not music; it’s podcast.
The diversity is crucial in attracting a wide array of listeners. The genres include:
- Comedy
- Education
- Storytelling
- Business
Podcasts have become a crucial source of information and entertainment. This is especially true for younger audiences who are always seeking something new and engaging.
Community Engagement and Social Features
1. Collaborative playlists and sharing
Spotify India learnt the idea of shared music experiences. Along with Spotify using localised playlists, they also introduced the concept of collaborative playlists. The collaborative playlist allows friends to create playlists together. It is a great way to discover new music and bond over shared tastes. Also, the sharing feature makes it easy to post your favourite tracks and playlists on social media. It’s more about spreading the music love even further.
2. User-generated content
There is no denying that Spotify is seeing more user-generated content coming up. This is not just about the official release anymore. Think about podcasts, music recordings, and even homemade remixes – all sorts of music are getting a space on Spotify. This opens up a lot of possibilities for the aspiring creators. It brings a unique flavour to the overall music experience.
3. Developing music communities online
Spotify India has become a hub for the online music communities. The way how Spotify uses localised playlists or how Spotify uses meme culture has become one of the best platforms for listening to audio. Now, it’s not only about launching music, but it has also become a platform for connecting with other fans. How?
- Artist fan clubs: These are dedicated spaces where fans interact with their preferred artist and each other.
- Genre-specific groups: These are communities centred around specific music genres like Electronic, Indie or Bollywood.
- Local music scenes: These are groups that support and highlight local artists and music events in different parts of India.
Such developing music communities are excellent for people to find others who share their musical interests, stay updated on the latest music news and trends, and discover new artists. It is more about creating an interactive and engaging experience for music lovers.
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Key UX Elements of Spotify Wrapped: The Psychology behind It
As we mentioned earlier, certain psychological elements in Spotify Wrapped grab the audience’s attention. How do they work? Let’s talk about it.
1. Personalisation and how it affects users
Yes, we have mentioned personalisation before in this blog. But here’s what’s different. While Spotify taps into its listeners’ patterns, preferences, and artists, it also offers hyper-personalised insights about the users’ listening habits. This brings a sense of ownership amongst the listeners. It makes them feel the app is theirs. This is again how Spotify uses localised playlists.
Using the self-determination theory, Spotify makes users feel seen and understood. How does it work? It gets into the self-identity of the user, making them feel seen and understood. Self-determination theory showcases the human desire for autonomy and individuality. That’s where Spotify Wrapped shines. It showcases the unique listening habits of every user.
2. Emotional engagement
We have previously talked about ads and how Spotify tapped into the emotions of the Indian audience using ads and celebs. Now, let’s talk about the design and presentation of Spotify Wrapped.
Spotify Wrapped reflects on the user’s music journey. It brings back the feeling of nostalgia and joy. This increases user satisfaction. It’s another way how Spotify uses localised playlists.
With Spotify Wrapped, users could revisit their personal music journey. It brought back the memories of the past year. By presenting familiar songs and moments, Spotify Wrapped brings pride and joy, deepening emotional engagement.
3. Data visualisation
When you present data in a visually engaging and easily digestible way, it improves engagement. That’s where Spotify Wrapped worked its magic.
Wrapped transformed raw data into interactive graphics and stories. This makes consuming information a fun way to explore.
Did you know? According to the Cognitive Load Theory, humans have a very limited capacity to process information. Thus, it is crucial to simplify complex data to understand things easily. Spotify Wrapped uses clean, colourful and minimalist visuals to reduce cognitive load. This makes the data enjoyable instead of overwhelming.
4. Shareability
Ensuring social sharing improves user satisfaction and also promotes organic growth. Spotify Wrapped is shareable on social media. This offers users a chance to showcase their music taste, which turns users into brand ambassadors. It improves Spotify’s visibility.
Did you know? According to the Social Comparison Theory, individuals compare themselves with others to understand their abilities, beliefs, and attitudes. With Spotify Wrapped’s shareable format, users can compare their stats with their friends and social circles. This increases engagement by building a sense of competition. Also, the validation from likes and comments improves user’s self-esteem.
5. Storytelling & gamification
It’s not just about how Spotify uses localised playlists; it is about adding elements of fun. The Spotify Wrapped brings quiz-like features, milestone celebrations, and storytelling features to keep things playful and rewarding. This keeps users excited and engaged.
Spotify Wrapped gamifies listening to music by rewarding users with fun stats and playful phrases. These rewards work as a positive element, encouraging more use of Spotify. Wrapped uses Cognitive Narrative Theory. It presents your listening habits in the form of a story. It turns boring data into a meaningful narrative. Humans are drawn to stories that improve memorability and emotional connection.
6. Retention & loyalty
With a great user experience, you shall have great brand loyalty and repeat engagement. Wrapped offers users about the value Spotify adds to their lives, building a strong connection with the platform and improving the chances of continued subscription.
Wrapped’s annual release brings exclusivity and anticipation. As a user, no one would want to miss out on the opportunity to share their stats. This brings back engagement and loyalty.
Conclusion:
To sum up, Spotify has done a great job growing in India by using smart and local strategies. One big reason for its success is how Spotify uses localised playlists. These playlists are made for different regions and languages in India so people can listen to music that feels familiar and special to them. Whether it’s Bollywood hits, Tamil songs, or Punjabi beats, Spotify makes sure there’s something for everyone.
Another smart move is how Spotify uses meme culture. In India, memes are a fun and popular way to talk online. Spotify uses funny and trending memes to connect with young people and make them laugh. This helps the brand feel friendly and relatable, and it encourages people to share Spotify content with their friends.
By using data to understand what people like and mixing it with local culture, Spotify has built a strong bond with Indian listeners. These efforts show that knowing your audience and speaking their language, both literally and culturally, can make a big difference. Spotify’s approach is a great example of how global companies can grow by thinking locally.
