Spotify is partnering with e-commerce giant Shopify as part of a new beta integration launching Wednesday (Oct. 20) to allow artists to sell merchandise directly through the streaming service, the company tells Billboard.
The move will allow artists across the world to earn additional revenue from the streaming service, which has over 365 million monthly users in 178 markets.
This isn’t Spotify’s first foray into merchandising as the company has had a partnership with Merchbar since 2016, but adoption of that has been limited. Spotify says artists will be able to choose three items to display from their Shopify stores on their artist profiles.
In an interview with Billboard, Camille Hearst, the head of Spotify for Artists, said the goal for that program is to provide "the information and resources that artists need to grow their fan bases and ultimately get paid for them," and the Shopify partnership is the latest example of that. "As we think about what are all the ways we can help artists get paid, what are the ways we can help artists maximize additional revenue streams, merch is one of the things that comes top of mind," Hearst says. "That's why we are announcing this partnership with Shopify because we think it really is the next step in creating a holistic audience development platform."
"It's just a natural fit for Spotify in many ways," Hearst continues. "It’s exactly what artists will need to give them nimble control over their merch. It's really simple to decide what items are featured on an artist's page and it's easy to swap new merch in and out. Inventory management, any artist will tell you can be a pain. I've done a ton of interviews with artists where they talk about having piles of merch stacked in their living room, and Shopify eliminates all of that."
"Spotify is an important partnership for us because we see artists and creators as the next generation of entrepreneurs," says Shopify president Harley Finkelstein in a statement to Billboard. “Shopify has thousands of artists using our platform today to connect directly with their fans," Finkelstein continued. "Now, with our Spotify channel, we’re allowing artists to directly connect their online store with their Spotify artist profile so that they can sell products and engage with their fans where they listen, all while managing their businesses from a single platform. Artists like Remi Wolf and Ellie Goulding were early adopters of our integration, and we’re excited to now bring it to artists on Spotify globally."
Shopfiy is offering all artists on Spotify signing up for the first time a 90-day free trial for its services. The rates for a store on Shopify can vary depending on its scale, but the company charges a monthly fee that starts at $29 a month, along with a small percentage of each item sold. Spotify is “not taking any fees for this current functionality,” a spokesperson tells Billboard.
This is the latest partnership for Shopify with another high-profile service, after introducing an in-app shopping experience for TikTok users in August. The new integration will only be visible to Spotify users in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, and New Zealand during the beta period, but artists globally will be able to add a virtual merch store to their Spotify profiles immediately.
Just days after landing her fourth No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Drop Dead,” Olivia Rodrigo is now getting major recognition from Niall Horan.
In a recent conversation with Rolling Stone published April 30, the former One Direction member shared insight into how he approaches songwriting, highlighting the comeback of bridges in pop and pointing to Rodrigo as a key influence behind it.
“It’s great to hear [bridges]. I feel like Olivia Rodrigo has been a big influence on that for pop writers,” the Irish artist said, before singing part of the “Drivers License” bridge. “What I like about Olivia’s music is [that] you feel like you’re getting one song and then you get a completely different song. It completely flips on its head musically, goes somewhere different, brings you to a bridge, brings you to some weird musical breakdown thing. Whatever [she] and Dan Nigro are up to is a good little team they’ve got going there. It’s definitely influencing people, including myself.”
Horan also spoke at length about his upcoming project Dinner Party, set to arrive June 5 through Capitol Records. He has already released two tracks from the record, including the title cut and “Little More Time,” both produced alongside Afterhrs, John Ryan and Julian Bunetta. The album rollout will be paired with an extensive 22-date tour across Europe, Ireland and the U.K. The Irish singer’s new release follows 2023’s The Show, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. During the interview, Horan also mentioned that his next era leans more into rock elements, something he connects back to his long-standing love for bands like Blink-182.
“That drum sound is something that we were trying to chase, and that comes from that late-’90s, early-2000s punk-rock era,” he said. “Rock’s been a big influence in my life since I was a child. I write pop songs, but dressing them up in a different way sometimes is quite cool. And now, the way my career is going, I’m completely thinking about live shows all the time. I learned so much from being on the road and being out there every night. There’s only so much sitting on Spotify you can do and reading comments before you actually get an idea of what people actually think. You can see it in the room. The rockier stuff really goes off at the shows.”
The “Slow Hands” hitmaker also has two U.S. stadium dates lined up for this year. Joining longtime friend and Grammy-nominated country artist Thomas Rhett, Horan is set to perform at GEODIS Park in Nashville on July 9 and Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania on July 19, with Live Nation handling promotion for both shows. Kashus Culpepper and Emily Ann Roberts will open the concerts. With such a packed touring schedule, all four remaining members of One Direction are expected to be on the road with new music this year. When asked about attending his former bandmates’ shows, Horan gave praise to Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.
“I went to Harry’s show a couple of years ago, and that was just wild. Madness going on there,” he said. “It reminded me of the 1D stadium shows where it was just seas of people jumping up and down. Watching the things going on on the floor, all the fans dancing around, I love that. You feel a sense of pride watching the boys doing what they love to do, and the communities that they’re able to create. I’m going to try and get to a Louis show of some capacity in the next few weeks.”
Horan is now the fourth One Direction member to drop a new album this year. Tomlinson released How Did I Get Here? in January, Styles hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally in March, and ZAYN followed with Konnakol earlier this month on April 17.
