Music streaming giant Spotify announced the acquisition of CrowdAlbum, a startup that aggregates photos and videos taken at concerts. The acquisition is intended to help
artists using Spotify’s platform understand their audiences better and provide those artists with new means of monetization.
Spotify didn’t announce how much it paid for the company or
whether the acquisition is solely for the tech, or if Spotify will keep CrowdAlbum’s service alive. The CrowdAlbum team will join Spotify’s team and reportedly be working on products
specifically designed for artists.
The streaming service did say to VentureBeat that “…having an understanding of an artist’s ticket purchasing super-fan audience
on social media is a great compliment to Spotify’s unparalleled insight into fandom information based on streaming behavior. Together we can give an artist an ever clearer picture of their
audience and offer more ways to connect with them.”
Touring helps many big artists make a lot of their money since streaming became a popular form of music consumption. For instance,
Adele concert tickets can easily go for more than $175. Outdoor multi-day multi-stage music festivals with multiple headliners have also become much more mainstream in the last few years. Nearly every
major city and region hosting at least two or three in the summer concert season.
It’s safe to say that the vast majority of those concert attendees own smartphones and are taking
pictures and videos at least once during the concert—all of which can be used to help artists understand their market better.
Spotify’s biggest competitor, Apple Music, surpassed
13 million subscribers as per the latest Apple earnings report (which was full of downturns in just about every other section of the company).