Happy Spotify Wrapped Day to all who celebrate! And apologies to all who don’t (hey there, Apple Music users) because your Insta stories are about to give you some major FOMO.
What happened: Spotify released its annual year-in-review feature to users yesterday, aggregating their top songs, artists, and listening habits from mountains of personal data.
- This year, the streamer added several new aspects and (to achieve maximum sharability with the youths) introduced new integrations with Snapchat and Roblox.
Why it matters: Wrapped is a user engagement bonanza for Spotify. Last year, over 120 million users accessed it globally. And since people love flaunting their immaculate taste, Wrapped stories were shared over 60 million times across various social media platforms.
So, why don’t all companies do this?
One reason: It’s a big effort. Spotify’s head of Global Music Programs told Forbes his team starts working on Wrapped as early as April every year.
- Spotify puts out a highly sharable, hyper-detailed product which takes time and money. Companies might feel their resources are better spent elsewhere.
Another answer: They are, just not very well.
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Apple Music and YouTube Music put out their respective years-in-reviews well before Spotify this year, but neither had the same impact.
- Meta has year-in-review features for Instagram and Facebook, but they’ve triggered backlash in the past for dredging up bad memories.
Plus, not all apps are suited to a year-in-review. For our sake, we’re relieved Uber Eats is yet to put out a recap feature showing how often you ordered McDonald’s after midnight.