Spotify is letting artists pay to recommend new music to users

Spotify is testing a new feature in the United States that will allow artists to directly recommend new music to users.

“In this test, we will let artist teams pay to sponsor these recommendations, giving them the power to tell their listeners on Spotify about their latest release,” the company said on Thursday.

According to the company, the recommendations will be based on artists that users already follow or listen to and will pop up on the mobile app.

Artists can then “sponsor” these pop-ups, suggesting that this could be a different revenue stream for the streaming company.

“You’ll now hear from a wider range of artists, which means you’re less likely to miss out on new releases from your favourites,” Spotify explained.

Though both Premium and Free users will receive the recommendations, only the former can turn the feature off.

Meanwhile, to remind users of old favourites, the company last month launched two new personalised playlists in the form of “On Repeat” and “Repeat Rewind”.

Feature image: Spotify