Pre-Save to Spotify Glossary

Pre-Save to Spotify

Pre-save for Spotify is functionality that allows your fans to connect on Spotify and have an upcoming album, EP or single automatically added to their Spotify library and a playlist of their choosing on the day it is released.

Spotify Web APIs

Spotify's Web API lets third party applications fetch data from the Spotify music catalog and manage users' playlists and saved music. The Spotify API is based on simple REST principles, and the Spotify Web API endpoints return metadata in JSON format about artists, albums, and tracks directly from the Spotify catalogue. The API also provides access to user-related data such as playlists and music saved in a 'Your Music' library, subject to user's authorization. Pre-Save for Spotify applications leverage this API when getting permission from users to save an upcoming album or single release. Pre-save applications also use the Spotify API to follow the artist and add music to a user's Spotify account.

Spotify

Spotify is a music, podcast, and video streaming service, officially launched on 7 October 2008 by startup Spotify AB in Stockholm, Sweden. Spotify is a 'freemium' service, meaning that basic features are free with advertisements, while additional features, including improved streaming quality and offline music downloads, are offered via paid subscriptions. Spotify is available in most of Europe, most of the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia. It is available for most platforms and mobile devices. Spotify currently provides access to over 30 million songs. The service currently has 100 million monthly active users and about 50 million paying subscribers (March 2017).

Deezer

Deezer is a music streaming service launched in 2007 in Paris, France. As of July 2016, Deezer listed on its website 187 countries where the service was available. It is available for most platforms with a focus on mobile devices, given its partnership with mobile carriers. Deezer currently provides access to over 40 million songs and 30,000 radio channels. The service currently has 16 million monthly active users and about 6 million paying subscribers (Jan 2017). Deezer is currently supported by our pre-save campaign platform (See: Nicky Jam Pre-Save Campaign for Spotify and Deezer).

The 'Day of the Release' Pre-save for Spotify Approach

This pre-save approach creates a default Spotify playlist into which an upcoming album or single gets saved on the day of the release. Users are NOT able to select or create a Spotify playlist at the time of activation (when they initially connect).

The 'Standard' Pre-save for Spotify Approach

This pre-save approach allows users to select or create a Spotify playlist at the time of activation (when they initially connect) into which an upcoming album or single gets saved on the day of the release.

The 'Click and Done' Pre-save for Spotify Approach

This pre-save approach is similar to the 'Day of the Release' approach where a default Spotify playlist is created on the day of the release into which an upcoming album or single is saved into. Users are not able to select or create a Spotify playlist at the time of activation (when they initially connect). This approach is even simpler than the 'Day of the Release' approach and can be delivered using a button or even link and lacks most of the user interface and branding elements found in other approaches.

The 'Quiet' Pre-save for Spotify Approach

This pre-save approach does NOT create a playlist with the upcoming album, but does save both the album and tracks in the user's Spotify library. In some cases the user is asked to follow the artist's playlist, which is then used to deliver the new album on the day of the release. The Depeche Mode Spirit Pre-Save for Spotify campaign is a classic example of this approach.

The 'Evergreen' Pre-save for Spotify Approach

This pre-save approach does NOT limit itself to the artist album, but provides 'Evergreen' updates as new singles, EPs or albums come out. Many times the artist provides additional incentives, such as discounts on tickets or merch to fans in order to reward them for giving the artist permission to build this type of long term pre-save relationship on Spotify.

The 'Pre-Access with Spotify' Approach

This is another name for the 'Evergreen' Pre-Save for Spotify approach. This marketing terminology was developed by Metablocks to refer to evergreen pre-save campaigns that reward fans with early access to music and exclusive content in connection to a pre-save campaign for a music artist.

Click and Done

Term coined by Metablocks in late 2015 to refer to our streamlined social media activation approach. The concept similar to Amazon's '1-Click Ordering' except applied to Spotify sweeps, pre-save and other promotional campaigns. Users simply click the connect button and are automatically entered in the promotion or activation without any additional information collection or user interface elements. This is a standard approach found on many of our Spotify sweepstakes and pre-save applications and relies heavily on our single sign-on technology.

Long Runway

Marketing strategy developed by Metablocks that seeks to build and grow momentum by capturing fan attention and engagement sooner as opposed to later using pre-save campaigns. The idea is to use a standard pre-save campaign or better still, an evergreen campaign, to start soliciting fan support much sooner than conventional campaign. This 'long runway' gives an artist much more time to 'collect' fans (and future streams). Conventional pre-save campaigns generally have 4 or less weeks to build and gather momentum (the timing usually coincides with pre-order campaigns on other plays), while 'long runway' campaigns can start up to six months before the release of an album. While the benefits of traditional pre-order campaigns are well-known, 'long runway' campaigns can have even more pronounced benefits than either pre-order or pre-save campaigns. By 'activating' a large collection of fans acquired over many months, it is easier for an artist to jump-start marketing buzz and generate streams when successfully applying this strategy.

Instant Gratification Tracks

Feature introduced by iTunes that rewards users who pre-order an album by allowing them to download specific, pre-defined tracks before the official release of the album. Our pre-save platform implements a similar concept by automatically adding currently available tracks from an upcoming album in a user's previously selected or created pre-save playlist. This feature is available on standard pre-save campaigns (see: The 'Standard' Pre-Save for Spotify Approach).