The Billboard Music Awards® are one of the most significant events in the musical calendar, and this year, it will be just nine days after another highly anticipated music event - Grammy Nominations!
Phew, that is a lot of musical goodness in a short time, but what can we expect from the collaboration between the BBMAs and Spotify?
What are the BBMAs?
The BBMAs, or the Billboard Music Awards®, is a massive celebration of the best and most popular artists and musicians across the music industry. As a stand-alone chart, the Billboard Charts is considered one of the music industry's authorities.
And, part of what makes them great is that they are, by design, to showcase the biggest and best achievements in the industry.
A year of musical achievements gets celebrated in one huge music event - the Billboard Music Awards®.
What can we expect from the Spotify and Billboard Music Awards® collaboration?
For the 2023 awards show, Spotify and the BBMAs have teamed up - and this is the first of its kind (hopefully the first of many).
Spotify is coming in hot with its ‘Fans First’ approach. The idea is that fans will get to see their favorite acts, and Billboard will be rolling out multiple ways for fans to engage.
Social media channels will be packed with insider information, BTS content, plus several awards and performances across the globe. With custom venues and sold-out shows, it is sure to be an unmissable night in music. As more artists, venues and news is realease, the Billboard blog is the place to be.
Spotlight on exclusive content
We already know that Spotify likes to do things differently when it can and that Billboard is big on exclusives. So, a big part of the collaboration will focus on exclusive content you won’t see at any other awards show.
There will be performances from the world’s biggest artists, but we will get to see behind the scenes, too. Not only that but winner celebrations and other never-seen-before content are set to entertain music fans for hours.
“This year’s show is an epic celebration of the fans who propelled their favorite artists to the top of the Billboard charts. To thank them, we are thrilled to work with Spotify and the artists themselves to offer their most loyal fans an experience they’ll never forget.” - Maddy Mesevage, Dick Clark’s SVP of Marketing.
Some of the other details available right now are that at least two exclusive acceptance speeches are happening, and they are being held at hotels under the Marriott Bonvoy umbrella.
The Marriott Bonvoy will give the hand-picked fans access to 5 of the hottest performances through their program Marriott Bonvoy Moments.
One of this year's big sponsors, Lexus, will offer one fan a private ride in a luxury vehicle with the full VIP treatment - topped off with a one-of-a-kind performance!
And, rather than just a step away from the traditional awards show, they have taken a giant leap. The pair are in no way trying to replicate or make the awards show feel or look like any other year. The typical format is a single stage, with multiple performers and awards announced as they go.
This time, it is an out-and-out celebration of the fans and the music that spans the globe.
What is the Fans First concept?
Spotify has used all of those listener statistics to do something truly brilliant. Billboard and Spotify have given ‘golden tickets’ to the fans who have pushed their favorite artists into the Billboard charts through their listening habits.
Each of the fans who gets a ‘golden ticket’ and will get to attend a once-in-a-lifetime performance that has been curated by the artist they love the most.
If you’re wondering what the Fans First Spotify program is, here is the info: The Fans First program was launched back in 2017 but really started to gain ground in 2018.
Spotify uses listener metrics to find the biggest fans, and they’ll get a surprise email - with something like ‘You’re one of the biggest fans of Ed Sheeran, Hozier, or any other artists - click for something cool.’
They are then reward with pre-sale/early bird tickets, merch, or exclusive purchase options. While the Fans First program is still pretty new, by 2018, Spotify had worked with over 200 artists and ran around 50 merch campaigns, check out #SpotifyFansFirst for some fan experiences.
Fast forward to 2023, and in collaboration with the Billboard Music Awards®, the Spotify Fans First program is being pushed into a whole new era.
So, if you ever needed a reason to listen to your favorite artists and enjoy those cool album covers appearing on your Spotify, this might just be it!
What exclusive features could Spotify offer for the Billboard Awards?
Firstly, and probably the most impactful, is that the 2022 awards aired on NBC, but this year, because of the collaboration with Spotify, it is heavily digital - in fact, you won’t find it on TV at all.
Dick Clark Productions said that the BBMAs are wholly reimagined.
“Performances and award celebrations will take place in global locations, in the midst of sold-out tours, and in custom venues — all with bespoke BBMAs creative. We’ve heard the fans loud and clear, and we’re excited to meet them where they are, and everywhere they want to consume music and content,” Maddy Mesevage, Dick Clark’s senior vice president of marketing.
They said that they had used Spotify’s listener metrics in combination with their own to create an award show, so extravagant and ambitious, it's never been done before.
One of the most incredible live features will be that some lucky fans will be able to celebrate their favorite artists' win with the artists themselves, life-changing fan moments with the help of Spotify.
Playlists on Spotify are one of the most significant app features - you can already find the Billboard Hot 100, through the Billboard profile on Spotify.
Acts will not just be performing radio singles, they will be performing what the fans are listening to. As an example, Morgan Wallen, who was announced on Monday, 13th November, to be playing, isn’t playing his radio single. Instead, he will be playing the massive fan-hit 98 Braves and is playing it at the Brave’s home field!
Performers are being revealed daily, and both the awards and the performances will be running across BBMAS.watch and all of the social channels for Billboard.
You can find coverage, reaction videos, fan content and more here: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok.
Spotify fans made a big impact with the interactive element
The partnership with Spotify and the Billboard Music Awards® was a game changer for fans.
Spotify offered the opportunity for fans to vote by doing the one thing they love doing - streaming their favorite artists.
While there was still voting on the Billboard Music Awards® website, the true measure of popularity was done through streaming.
There were many categories that people could stream artists from:
- Top Artist
- Top Male Artist
- Top Female Artist
- Top Duo/Group
- Top New Artist
- Top Song
- Top Collaboration
- Top Rap Song
- Top R&B Song
- Top Country Song
- Top Latin Song
- Top Dance/Electronic Song
- Top Rock Song
- Top Christian Song
- Top Gospel Song
All fans had to do was listen to their favorite artists once a day! A massive 100 million votes were cast through the system - showing that fan engagement is powerful.
This style of voting puts the fans firmly in the driving seat; here are the finalists for the BBMAs.
Are there Spotify and Billboard Music Award® playlists?
Yep! There is a whole range of great playlists that go along with the Spotify and Billboard Music Awards® 2023; here is the one that you need to know about:
This one is the BBMA official playlist curated by Spotify.
What has Spotify said about the first-of-its-kind BBMAs?
Spotify released its own press statement, which opened up by saying how thrilled they are to announce a partnership with the BBMAs.
The collaboration allowed Spotify users to truly support their favorite artists in a way that mattered and had a huge influence on the outcome. Not to mention that the biggest fans on the platform were rewarded with things like the ‘golden ticket.’
Why are Spotify and the BBMAs a great partnership?
Some strong reasons make this partnership ideal, and mean we are more likely to see it again in the future. For some quick perspective, according to Maddy Mesevage, 85% of music is consumed digitally - through streaming platforms, with Spotify being one of the biggest.
Spotify are always looking for ways to engage fans, partnering up with an award show with access to listener stats and music lovers makes sense. Now, the listening stats directly contribute to selecting finalists and winners.
Not to mention, with the relationship that both the BBMAs and Spotify have with artists, they were able to work together to create multiple events worldwide - and get the fans there, too. There are no restrictions to where the performances are happening, which means each artist and their team have created an experience like no other for their dedicated fans.
Each concept for every artist has been built from scratch - with the teams from Spotify, the artist, and the BBMA creatives working together. So, each experience will be completely unique and something we haven’t seen before.
A few secrets will likely be revealed as the date approaches or even as the performances are aired.
Is the Spotify and Billboard partnership a game-changer for the music industry?
A few factors make the partnership great, including the fact that it is spread across multiple other companies, including Lexus and Marriott Bonvoy. In an interview, Mesevage says they are looking at other ways to intentionally and thoughtfully work with brand partners in the future.
From a logical standpoint, the partnership between massive streaming platforms, which are all data-driven, and award shows like the BBMAs, which are also data-driven, is about as synergistic as you can get in terms of collaborations. Data from both sides brings artists and fans together for the first of its kind of music awards.
The connection between fans and their favorite artists is getting stronger, and the space between them is getting thinner thanks to collaborations like this.
Spotify isn’t just moving forward in terms of music partnerships, though; earlier in 2023, they announced that they were going to be the first audio platform that would be integrated into WPP solutions and products. - completely shaking up the advertising and marketing game.
Right now, we are seeing some of the most interesting partnerships coming from massive streaming platforms, and the Spotify X BBMAs could be the start of a few exciting years in the music industry.
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