My Role
When I first joined Spotify, I was faced with a lot of ambiguity about Spotify's goal to launch in 80 markets. However, I knew that my team needed to create a product that would bring content from local markets to help Spotify gain a stronger footing in those markets. After clarifying product goals and ownership and defining definitions of done and scope, I created a clear product vision and strategy and developed a clear vision, mission, and OKRs. Within just four months, I was able to launch a product from concept and get feedback from users. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, I was able to keep the team focused on executing the strategy, leading the product to transition into harvesting mode within a year of launch. We now have hundreds of record labels relying on the product to deliver their releases every week. Additionally, I identified new opportunities beyond our original product goals, which allowed Uplink to support further use cases and user groups, as well as key company initiatives.
Key Metrics and Results
In Q1 2021, Spotify launched in over 80 new markets, bringing the total number of launched markets to over 170. Local content from Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea played a crucial role in this expansion.
Previously, the Uploader content support team had to manually ingest content, which took 8 employees working full time for 3 months. With the Uploader, the team was able to deliver the entire catalog of 5 labels (~50,000 products) in just 2 weeks.
Spotify’s marketshare grew in emerging markets: Digital streaming in Japan in 2022 exceeded 100 billion yen for the first time in 2022, up 17% YoY to 105 billion yen ($798m).
9 months after GTM the Uploader accounted for only 0.1% of the supply chain and 1.8% of the 90-day streamshare, indicating that the unlocked music content was highly popular compared to the total catalog.
The product enabled setting better deal terms with record labels, improving relationships and catalog quality standards. Additionally, it facilitated more direct deals, benefiting indie labels.
Label onboarding time was reduced from 50 hours to 48 minutes and file uploading time from 20 minutes to 48 seconds through iterations.
My Learnings
Participating in a high-profile growth initiative was challenging, as well as adapting to localization and internationalization challenges when launching in markets with different and unique characteristics. And then, of course, launching a product in a global pandemic.
Spotify Direct Label Uploader
In 2021, Spotify expanded its services to 80 new markets, including South Korea and Japan. To be successful in these markets, it was essential for Spotify to have local content, particularly in emerging markets. In order to compete with local streaming platforms, Spotify needed to provide content that was relevant and appealing to the local audience. The Direct Label Uploading product we built unlocked market launches and gave the world releases from bands like BLACKPINK
Kinga Asboth © 2024
