Spotify playlists were only introduced a few years ago but have since proven to be one of the best ways to discover new music. Artists have built careers around their songs being playlisted, as it’s basically guaranteed to get your track 100,000+ streams, automatically.
Today, the Swedish company announced that they will begin a program which allows major record labels to pay for their artists’ music to be featured in some of the service’s most popular playlists. Spotify also mentioned that these paid placements will not be discoverable for their loyal subscribers, but rather non-paying users only.
In response to much criticism, Spotify told BBC News, “We are always testing new promotional tools that deliver the highest relevancy to our users.” Stay tuned for the latest.