Spotify Discover What's Next - Business Insider

Over the next few weeks and into the new year the popular streaming music service is planning to release brand new features like collections, redesigned playlists, and a way to follow your friends and favorite artists.

The event was pegged as "discover what's next" and while we don't think the features warranted an event Spotify also held two panels.

One panel discussed how streaming music can coexist with traditional music with with Daniel Glass the founder and president of Glassnote Entertainment and Michael Hogan, Huffington Post Arts and Entertainment Editor.

The second panel brought together Sean Parker, a Spotify investor, Lars Ulrich of Metallica, Daniel Ek the CEO of Spotify, and?Michael Hogan. The group discussed Parker's relationship with Ulrich and how it went from hate to love.?

Ek also announced that Metallica's entire collection will be available via Spotify.

Keep reading for our live coverage from the event.

12:01 PM | The event just started.

We're watching a music video of various artists talking about music on huge screens.

12:04 PM | Founder and CEO of Spotify Daniel Ek is now on stage.

He's talking about helping to make the music industry better.

12:06 PM | Ek is taking us through a timeline of Spotify.

"We're about building something that helps artists."

12:07 PM | How is Spotify doing?

Spotify now has over 1 billion playlists. Ek calls them the lifeblood of Spotify.

12:07 PM | And it's growing too.

20 million active users and 5 million paying subscribers. In the U.S. There are now 1 million paying subscribers.

12:08 PM | Apps are doing good too...

Ek's favorite is TuneWiki.

12:09 PM | Paying back.

Spotify pays back nearly 70% of all the money they get in to rights holders. It's now paid back more than half a billion dollars?

12:13 PM | Spotify thinks its different from traditional music.

When a new album is introduced on Spotify users listen to an entire album, something really important to artists, Ek says.

12:14 PM | Ek is off stage

Now on stage, Daniel Glass the founder and president of Glassnote entertainment group along with Michael Hogan, Huffington Post Arts and Entertainment Editor.

12:16 PM | Glass and Hogan are discussing artist relationships with Spotify

"Download and streaming can coexist," Glass says. He believes that artists can make money off of Spotify.

12:17 PM | Hogan and Glass are now exiting stage.

Ek is back.

12:18 PM | Now, what's next.

What has spotify been working on?

12:19 PM | First.

Ek is defining the problem Spotify is trying to solve. Spotify users are telling it that its not great when you don't know what you're looking to listen to.

12:20 PM | Discovery

Spotify wants to make music discovery more seamless and intuitive. They're trying to make it more personal.

12:22 PM | Ek is now about to demo Spofity new web player.

It looks pretty cool, still in beta though.

12:23 PM | Spotify's new recommendations are pretty cool

We really like how the new web player looks. Recommendations are very personal.

12:26 PM | The new web player reminds us of Pinterest.

There are Pitchfork reviews and the apps are much better integrated into the service.

12:27 PM | There is also a new feature called "Collections"

Collections lets you browse your current favorites, recently added, suggestions and more.

12:28 PM | Spotify really wants you to try out new music.

There is now a new audio preivew feature, which instantly gives you a taste of a new song and doesn't forget where you were on the previous song.

12:28 PM | The discover section is beautifully designed.

We really like how it looks.

12:30 PM | Recommendations come from social too.

Today they're creating the music graph.

12:31 PM | Now you can follow people on Spotify.

Gives you the power to connect with anyone who might give great music recommendations.

12:32 PM | The follow system seems pretty useful.

You can follow artists, friends, bloggers, everything and these recommendations come up in the new discover feed.

12:33 PM | You can share your recommendations too

Share across social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr) or just to your Spotify followers.

12:34 PM | Artist can talk back to fans too.

That's pretty cool.

12:35 PM | New Spotify alerts too.

When an artist releases a new album you'll get a notification on your phone or tablet and all you have to do is swipe to listen.

12:36 PM | Now there is a video playing.

Spotify wants to brings great music into every moment of people's lives

12:37 PM | It looks like along with Spotify's new web player there will also be an app update.

It looks pretty cool. Well designed too.

12:38 PM | Using one of Spotify's integrated apps you can now buy tickets to shows too.

It seems pretty seamless.

12:39 PM | Sean Parker is out on stage.

They're also passing out more beer.

12:41 PM | Lars Ulrich is out on stage too!

Metallica's entire collection is now going to be available on Spotify starting today.

12:42 PM | Sean Parker, Lars Ulrich, Dan Ek and HufPo's Michael Hogan are all on stage for a panel.

Parker and Ulrich are talking about the first time they met.?

12:44 PM | Parker and Ulrich were able to turn their relationship around. At first it wasn't good because Napster users were stealing Metallica's music.

12:45 PM | Parker is talking about Napster

"We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into."

12:48 PM | Why is Metallica signing this deal with Spotify now?

Ulrich says they basically took control of their masters and entire catalog. It happened a week ago and now they have 100% control of everything they've ever recorded.

12:49 PM | Ulrich is on Spotify's side

"As far as I'm concerned Spotify is the only streaming music service."

12:50 PM | Parker became obsessed with Spotify.

He knew there had to be a solution to the problem with stealing music.?

12:53 PM | The group is discussing the future of music.

Ulrich is talking about how the younger generation interacts with music versus the older generation.

12:54 PM | Economics

Every time you play something on Spotify they pay the artist.

12:55 PM | When Parker met Ulrich.

Parker says Ulrich made interesting points about why they chose to sue Napster. It was because of control. Ulrich says it was never because of money.

1:00 PM | The panel is still going on.

They're talking about Parker and Ulrich's previous fued and misunderstanding.

1:01 PM | Parker is now talking about why he invested in Spotify.

"This company knew what it was doing, they were stubborn in a good way."

1:02 PM | When Ulrich was first introduced to Spotify...

he was stunned at the ease of the streaming service and thought it was effortless.

1:03 PM | Daniel Ek has huge ambitions for Spotify.

"I want every band in the world to be on Spotify"

1:04 PM | How do we get to there from here?

Ek's company is really focused on growth. They're paying out half a billion dollars to the music industry.

"If we had the scale that other music services have we would be double and triple the music industry of what it is today."

1:05 PM | Parker and Ulrich have exited the stage.

What's next?

1:05 PM | There's another treat for the audience now.

It's going to be a performance.

1:06 PM | Frank Ocean is here to perform.

He has a live band.

1:12 PM | Frank Ocean performing "Pyramids".

1:16 PM | Ek is back on stage to take questions.

Let's see who's first.

1:22 PM | Spotify is actively working to sign more artists.

Ek says, "we want all artists on Spotify."

1:23 PM | Are you paying Metallica more money?

Ek, "no."

1:24 PM | Are you going to support multiple users on one account?

Ek: "Like family accounts? It's something we're looking at it's getting more common, that feature request."

1:24 PM | You can expect Spotify's new features and app updates early next year.

They're in beta until then.

1:25 PM | Ek is closing up. That's it.

Thanks for reading!

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/spotify-discover-whats-next-2012-12

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