Music videos can be cultural touchstones, think of Michael Jackson's Thriller, The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony, Britney's Baby One More Time or even Childish Gambino's This is America. You could soon be able to stream them on Spotify.
That's right, according to Bloomberg it seems Spotify will soon offer full-length music video streaming. With the incoming addition of music videos and the supposedly imminent launch of its hi-fi audio tier, it seems that Spotify is set for a dramatic overhaul very soon. Whether it will be included in the default Spotify Premium plan, as part of a 'Super-Premium' plan or perhaps even in the free plan is not yet clear.
Spotify does currently feature 10-second Gif style 'canvases' that artists can curate but the introduction of full music videos would definitely be a step up in competing with the likes of YouTube and TikTok. One of Spotify's biggest competitors, Apple Music, already has music videos.
Of course, not every song has a music video so expect these canvases (and static images) to continue for album tracks and smaller artists. On a similar note, many music videos are not family-friendly so hopefully there will be some discretion from Spotify or a way to keep more mature themes away from younger eyes.
Of course, using mobile data to watch music videos will be very data-heavy, but just like with the canvases, expect a setting to be introduced to only play music videos over Wi-Fi. But for those that love a good music video, it'll be very nice to have an ad-free alternative to YouTube.
With Spotify's big move into podcasts seemingly not having paid off, it's interesting to see the future of the service. Audiobooks are another recent edition and if video proves popular, perhaps one day we could see Spotify taking on the best streaming services as a one-stop entertainment hub. But for now, it looks like it could be time to do some stretches, get your headphones on and get ready to learn your favourite dance routines.
