Spotify's New Live Events Feed Highlights Concerts Near You

pcmag.com:

Spotify has replaced its Concert Hub with a new Live Events Feed(Opens in a new window) that—you guessed it—promotes concerts the service thinks a particular user might be interested in attending.

The company is populating the Live Events Feed with information from Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, and other ticketing companies. Spotify claims this amalgamation of data from these platforms means that it "now has most of the world’s concerts listed on-platform in our major markets."

It seems the Live Events Feed will be fairly prominent in Spotify's apps. The company says it will display information about upcoming events in the feed itself, show them in-line when people are listening to a particular artist, and directly message users about shows featuring artists they like.

"All in all," Spotify says, "the Live Events Feed will help make you even more aware of events you might be interested in, and help you to make more confident decisions when purchasing tickets—all by putting the right event in the hands of the right fan at the right moment."

But it won't stop there. Spotify's product manager for Live Event Discovery, Sam Sheridan, said in a statement that the company will "work to even further integrate event discovery directly into the app, whether through more advanced search tools, new playlist formats, or new integrations into key surfaces—meaning event discovery is integrated right into the listening experience."

This renewed emphasis on live shows makes sense. People have been cooped up for the last two years, and even though the pandemic isn't over, many artists have started touring again. (Even if that means they risk having to reschedule or cancel shows due to health concerns.)

Spotify will need to strike a balance