Spotify is testing playlists exclusively for NFT holders

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Music streaming giant Spotify is testing token-enabled playlists that will be offered exclusively to holders of specific non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Some of Spotify’s partners in the new venture announced the launch of the token-gated playlists on social media. According to Kingship, a premier metaverse band signed to the Universal Music Group, these playlists will only be available to Android users in five countries initially.

Pump to this playlist. 💪🏻

You can unlock the music by using your KINGSHIP NFT on @Spotify pic.twitter.com/2j16p18Fwq

— KINGSHIP (@therealkingship) February 25, 2023

Kingship Key Card NFT holders in the U.S., the U.K., New Zealand, Germany, and Australia will have access to the playlist, which will include hits from rappers Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliot, and British rock bands Queen and Led Zeppelin.

“This is a special moment. We’re all about unlocking real value for our community and pushing the boundaries of music and blockchain, and having our holders be at the forefront of this space,” according to Kingship, which launched in November 2021.

Overlord, an NFT project, will also be part of the pilot. Holders of its Creepz NFT tokens can connect their Web3 wallets to the streaming service to access “Invasion,” the project’s community-curated playlist.

While Spotify has yet to make the official announcement, it confirmed the partnership in a tweet reply.

🌎 Thrilled to “explore” with you!

— Spotify (@Spotify) February 22, 2023

However, a spokesperson for the company told one outlet that the pilot is one of many that the streaming service conducts and is not guaranteed to roll out to the 489 million Spotify users.

Spotify “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,” she stated.

NFTs have become increasingly popular in the music industry. And while Spotify is only dipping its toes into the NFT waters, others like Soundoshi have been at it for a while.

Founder Michal Scislowski launched Soundoshi to deal with the Spotify problem, where revenue is shared proportionally. As such, a smaller artist’s earnings depend on whether bigger artists release new music that gets more streams.

“Even if you are generating a few million streams, you can’t really make a living from Spotify,” Scislowski told CoinGeek.

Soundoshi is giving artists an alternative; create music NFTs that consumers can buy directly. While the listening experience on Soundoshi is similar to other platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, it gives artists all the control over their music, and they can set the prices and sell directly to their consumers.

Watch: Soundoshi offers new revenue stream for the music industry