Disclaimer: All materials featured were created for a graduate school assignment and were not created in any affiliation with Spotify.
Do You Want Your City to Have a Spotify Playlist? Look No Further Than “Your Very Own.”
Our recent campaign aims to uplift artists popular in regional and local playlists for your musical discovery
There is nothing like seeing your hometown positively represented in sports, history, pop culture, or entertainment. Finding out that the biggest singer in the industry is from your hometown, maybe went to your favorite cafe growing up, went to your high school, or even had their first gig at your local bar can not only make you feel connected to that artist but also proud to be a local to that exact city.
To be a local is to immerse yourself in the culture, understand what is popular, and try to embrace that to connect with your community. With music, what is popular depends heavily on the people and how a community relates to the instrumentals, the storytelling, and the overall genre. It is fun to relate to one’s community regarding the pop star from their hometown, but what about the up-and-coming artist living in that city or the artist who loves performing for the said community on tour? That’s where “Your Very Own” comes into play.
Here at Spotify, our recent campaign aims to tap into the wants and needs of regional and local users by not only understanding local markets with personalized playlists, but also introduce users to artists whose music aligns with said area’s genre popularity that may be more underground. In addition to our ongoing campaign, “Think Global, Act Local,” we aim to address what is attractive to users in specific areas, make our platform more personalized to each user, and connect them with their local, music-loving community.
“Localization is much more important within music and Spotify than it would be within most global brands,” Former Chief Marketing Officer Seth Farbman said. “That means we continue to maintain strong regional and local marketing teams, but it also gives us the opportunity to cut across all of it. No matter where you are in the world, there are shared experiences, and they are of interest to everyone.”
“Your Very Own” works by using data within your city first to see what is popular while tapping into elements like what artists call your city their hometown, who tours/plays live in your city often, and continuously filters what the community is relating to to create the perfect localized playlist. “Your Very Own” will act like an algorithm playlist (think Discover Weekly or Release Radar), in which your city’s playlist will use our software that tracks you and your community’s listening habits, suggest new music based on prior history, and promote artists who are building their audience. For example, if you live in Austin, we at Spotify would suggest artists from the local area like Willie Nelson and Janis Joplin, while tapping into the community’s eclectic taste with artists who perform in the city like Black Pumas and Faye Webster.
We at Spotify want to tap into your musical preferences while uplifting artists to find their audience, which is why “Your Very Own” mutually benefits our listeners and artists. Our artists who may be new to the scene can enhance their Playlist Pyramid (a current method we use to filter the global-popular music out of more specific-niche playlists) by tapping into communities that align with an artist’s musical journey. Once a song/artist performs well in a community, we test that popularity in other communities, moving up the pyramid and into the mainstream. The grassroots elements of “Your Very Own” allow you and your community to deem what should be popular and what should stay within your community. “Your Very Own” allows you and your community to call the shots truly.
“Your Very Own” will be available to all Spotify users on April 1 and we cannot wait to see communities come together through the love of music.
For questions, please contact PR@spotify.com
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