Spotify is often named as a great promotional tool, but is it really that great for artists?
Pay outs are still low and when you discover a new artist in Spotify just must leave Spotify to find out more.
Early this year I was talking with a member of the Dutch band The Staat on how to enhance the benefits of Spotify for artists. He suggested to add a Flattr button to Spotify so listeners can show their appreciation by a small donation. A great idea, it could bring the artist more money but chances of Spotify implementing such a feature are close to zero I’m afraid. Also it would not make Spotify a better promotional tool.
Is there some other way to turn Spotify into a better promotional tool that also increases the revenue for artists?
How about linking the artist website to Spotify?
An (indie) artist is in full control of what is on the website. The artist can add a Flattr button, PayPal donation button, sell tickets merchandise, you name it. A link from Spotify to the artist web page could be the way to go, but how to accomplish this?
What you need first is some database and somehow link this to Spotify… The start of the Spoticonnect project.
Introducing: Webspotify
I contacted the developer of Webspotify and he was willing to connect my database to his web application.
So there it is: a working demo of my idea.
Open Webspotify and play a song by De Staat, click the homepage button next to the track and there it is.
It’s working but it is far from ideal. Webspotify has it’s limitations and can only be used if you have a Spotify Premium account. It’s a start, a proof of concept.
Spoticonnect bookmarklet
I have an alternative, a bookmarklet. It opens the artist web page when you play a song in Spotify or any other music application that scrobbles to Last.fm.
Do you have a Last.fm account and want to give it a try? You can create your personal bookmarklet at spoticonnect.com
What’s next?
Hang on. There is real developer working on another approach. If he can get it to work you will see something amazing…..
Are you an artist?
Add your website or a special landingpage to the database. Just play one of your songs, click the bookmarklet or use Webspotify and you will prompted to add the URL of your website.
Are you a developer?
How about connecting your application or website to Spoticonnect. Contact me and join the fun.
