According to Quartz, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek made the revealing statement about Metallica during a recent conference call. He suggested the technology is enabling musicians to better understand their audiences, which logically leads to the thought that artists will use this information to create a more personalised live experience.
“You have an artist like Metallica, who changes their setlist on a city-by-city basis just by looking at Spotify data to see which the most popular songs happened to be in that city,” said Ek.
“We’ve never before been at a place in time where you could make as many informed decisions and understand your audience as well as we can do now as an artist.”
It’s a far cry from how live shows were curated in past decades, and certainly a reflection on the effect streaming services continue to have on the music industry.
While the statement hasn’t been confirmed by Metallica, it’s easy to remain hopeful that our Spotify plays are contributing to that long-forgotten deep cut you’ve been waiting to hear for years being added to a setlist. You’re welcome.
Catch up on the time Metallica fought for their rights against Napster here (which, for the record, Kirk Hammett totally stands by).
Image via Shamil Tanna.
