16-April-2018
Interview with Spotiplays
This week we caught up with the guys over at Spotiplays to find out how they listen to music in their own time, and why they’re supporting artists to promote their music through Spotify.
For those who don’t know yet, can you tell us what you’re all about?
Spotiplays is quite a new service where we help artists on Spotify to get on very popular playlists. We have two massive playlists at the moment, which we have built up over a number of years by using playlist sharing sites and similar. We currently have a playlist with over 85k followers and another one with 47k followers.
The idea came about when we realised the playlists had a lot of followers on them, but had the same old music as every other big playlist on Spotify. We thought it might be nice to give the playlists a bit of variety as well as supporting up and coming artists. And that’s how Spotiplays was born!
Why is music curation important to you and how did you get into it?
The Spotiplays team have always been big fans of finding new music and finding something a bit different to listen to. We have spent hours going through different playlists trying to find those hidden gems. So that’s how we got into making playlists for other people. This service is just an extension of that really. We’re helping bring new music to the masses.
Do you listen to music whilst you work? If so, what’s your favourite tune right now?
We’re always listening to Spotify in our office. We have loads of favourite stuff at the moment, but right this second, we are listening to ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’ by Sigrid.
Why is human music curation so important in a world of algorithms?
It’s very important because I don’t think algorithms will ever be good enough to help you find that new tune that no-one knows about yet. At Spotiplays, we think it’s essential that every artist has a chance to get their music heard, and not just the most popular tracks.
People are still tending to listen to music alone except for radio. Do you think there’s an appetite for people to share their playlists and listen together live?
Definitely. We think that’s the future. Music is so much better when you share it with other people, which is probably why the live music scene is still going strong. If we can share our favourite tracks with other people who are listening at the same time, it’s just going to enhance the listener’s experience.
How big an influence has technology been in making it easy to curate and manage playlists, for example using one of the big streaming services, like Spotify or Apple?
Music streaming has changed the industry forever. Now it’s so easy to discover new music without spending very much at all. Whereas you used to have to risk your money on buying a few albums a month and seeing if they were good or not. The Spotiplays team still like to buy albums if they like them though, it’s just helpful to hear them before you spend your money.
Can you remember the first playlist you made – where did you make it and what was it called?
Spotiplay’s first playlist was called XFM’s 1,000 greatest hits of all time and we had people vote on their favourite track. That took a while to put together!
Imagine you are about to start a BlueJay session on your phone that 10,000 people are going to join live – what 5 songs would you choose? [AND] Why? [AND] What would you call the session? [AND] Why?
We would choose:
‘Deadcrush’ by alt-j
‘Tic Tac Toe’ by Django Django
‘It’s a Shame’ by First Aid Kit
‘North Star’ by Future Islands
‘Clearest Blue’ by CHVRCHES
Basically because we think that everyone should be listening to these tracks.
We would call it the Spotiplays session, because we love a little plug!
To finish up we are going to do a quickfire round:
1. Records OR CDs? Records
2. Downloads OR streaming? Streaming
3. Albums OR singles? Albums
4. Human curation OR algorithmic curation? Human
5. Host OR listener? Listener
6. Popular playlist OR your own playlist? Own playlist
7. Play in order OR shuffle? Shuffle
8. Headphones OR speakers? Speakers
9. Tupac or Biggie? Tupac!
10. Lead singer, guitarist, OR drummer? Drummer
Thanks for taking the time to do our interview – let us know how people can get involved with Spotiplays
People can go to the website to see which playlists are available to place their tracks on and to get all the other info they need to promote their music!
Stream your own Spotify playlists to your friends and a brand new audience with BlueJay! Download the social radio app here: