Spotify starts selling concert tickets. Company says it’s just a test

Music streaming service Spotify has been trying to diversify its portfolio of offerings for several years. Podcasts have proven to be a new content category where the Swedish company has been able to quickly gain ground, and now Spotify is trying to create new revenue streams by selling concert tickets. The company began a test in the US yesterday, offering subscribers both in the app and on its official website the ability to buy tickets to concerts by their favorite artists.

Spotify could also become a ticketing platform

The first test is taking place in the US, with a limited selection of artists putting their tickets up for “pre-sale” on Spotify. These include Annie DiRusso, Tokimonsta, Osees, Dirty Honey, Limback, Crows and Four Years Strong, artists with less notoriety. Interestingly, however, Spotify is not trying to partner with a company that already sells such tickets, but sells these tickets directly, and their source is the pre-sale allocation from the artists’ portfolios themselves.

However, the company doesn’t seem to be committed to going in this direction for the long term. Spotify says this is just a test, at least for now:

“At Spotify, we’re always testing new products and ideas to improve the user experience. Some of these end up creating a path to an overall user experience, and others just serve as lessons we learn. Tickets.spotify.com is just our new test. We currently have no other news about future plans.”, Spotify representatives told Music Ally.

Since Spotify knows users’ preferences and other personal data very well, its algorithm could recommend tickets to concerts by their favorite artists taking place in their area. At the moment, these features are not available, but could be integrated in the future, if this test proves successful.

source: Music Ally