A Spotlight on Spotify

Welcome to the Experience Strategy Podcast! Today we are shining a spotlight on Spotify. Spotify has completely transformed how we listen to music forever. Launched in 2008, Spotify has grown to have over 356 millions users and includes a free or premium membership to access exclusive features of music listening, offline access, and ad free listening experiences. Spotify has found a way to connect with consumers on a deep level of emotional response by noticing our likes and dislikes in music and even offering new suggestions for you to discover. Your hosts Aransas and Dave welcome guest Margaret Callcott to talk about her own personal experience using Spotify for herself and her family. Margaret holds a PhD in advertising and consumer behavior from The University of Texas and has a long career in TV and digital content development. Tune into this episode as we speak with Margaret about her user insights and understanding how Spotify creates meaningful experiences with consumers.

In This Episode:

• [02:31] Margaret's background and start at HGTV, her main projects and goal to make sure that everyone in the family could enjoy the content
• [04:42] Margaret's previous music listening experiences with Apple music, and Amazon's Alexa echo. How they started using Spotify and what brought her and her family to continue using it
• [06:46] Spotify was an early adopter of AB testing and used that research to meet the needs across different generations in families as Margaret discovered on trips with her family
• [08:20] Margaret explains more about deciding to be a paying subscriber to Spotify and why that makes it worth the effort and commitment to create a really nice experience for all members of the family
• [11:00] How Spotify becomes personalized to you and your music preferences and how using it in your everyday life develops a connection to the music and feelings it gives you during that time
• [13:00] Spotify exposes you to new music that you wouldn't normally listen to, but can guess based on your likes 
• [16:17] Aransas describes what Spotify has done for its consumers; collecting music, and giving ownership and making collections feel personal to them 
• [20:45] Dave talks about the term "Jobs to be Done" in Experience Strategy and how it's used to approach consumers by assessing their needs and creating a solution
• [24:00] Music is used in everyday events in our lives and impacts us emotionally allowing us to feel and connect more deeply and how Spotify uses it's services to facilitate those feelings

Key Takeaways:

• Early on, Spotify made it their mission to understand their customer and to create a product that provided a very satisfying experience and that's a direct reflection of the fact that they did a lot of AB testing and user centered design. This helped them adapt and keep up with user needs  to focus on what was important to their customers. 
  
• Music gives humans a very emotional response to their everyday lives. Spotify has found a way to help their customers connect with music on an emotional level and also connect with other people by being able to share their playlists. Whether you need to destress, work, get ready for an event, or meditate, music is there to cultivate those modes. Spotify has done an excellent job at creating a meaningful experience for consumers with their music. 

Bio:

Margaret Callcott completed her PhD in Advertising and Consumer Behavior at the University of Texas, and was present at the creation of Home & Garden Television, the springboard to her career in television and digital content development for Scripps Networks and Discovery.  As our television viewing experience was transformed by a succession of digital innovations - including the Internet, the mobile phone and social media - Margaret developed a passion for consumer-driven insights and the creation of meaningful experiences in all the places where consumers interacted with their brands.