Spotify is throwing a ‘real world tour’ with rappers and hip-hop artists
Spotify may be bleeding money as it tries to win back the love and respect of artists, but that’s not stopping the music-streaming service from partying.
Starting this summer, Spotify is hosting a six-city tour in partnership with Live Nation, the company announced Tuesday. The series is called “RapCaviar Live,” which is named after one of the most popular playlists curated by Spotify. The playlist has more than 7 million followers.
This is the first time Spotify has ever thrown a concert tour. The service is famous for hosting intimate concerts with top artists at its office in New York City, along with sponsoring shows at tech conferences like CES, SXSW, and Cannes.
But this affair brings Spotify’s name as a concert promoter to the mainstream. The service is facing stiff competition from Apple Music, along with other competitors like Amazon Music Unlimited, Google Play, Tidal, and SoundCloud.
It's also under pressure to improve its finances and enter the public markets, moves that will be much easier if Spotify can find additional revenue streams such as live events.
Taylor Swift, who famously pulled her music from Spotify and then partnered with Apple, put her music back on the service earlier this month, signaling a new acceptance from artists.
Spotify’s tour begins in Atlanta with Gucci Mane at The Tabernacle on August 12. He’ll be joined by Mike WiLL Make it, along with other special guests, according to Spotify.
The tour will also stop in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto. More dates, venues, and artists will be announced soon.
The first tickets go on sale on June 30 at 10 a.m. ET and are available through Ticketmaster.
Topics Music
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
