Spotify says the “cross-effect” of artist collaborations is amplified on streaming services.
The service shows how Run-D.M.C. teamed up with Aerosmith to make their own version of “Walk This Way”, which led to international success. He helped give birth to the rap-rock genre and remains the rap group’s biggest hit to date, gaining millions of listens on Spotify. And what about modern collaborations with streaming as the main distribution platform? Let’s take a look.
“I think one of the most important things is how musical collaboration can connect genres,” says John Stein, Spotify’s head of editorial in North America. “We see a lot more of these collaborations, and I think the core audience of each artist seems to be more open to these moments than in the past.”
Spotify has studied the 40 largest collaborations in the field of music over the past 12 years. It was found that six months after the release of the collaboration, 75% of artists who participated in the collaboration saw a 10% increase in their Spotify streams. More than 50% of these artists had an increase in the number of streams by at least 50%, and 30% had an increase in the number of streams by 100% in the six-month period after their collaboration stopped.
The remix of “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus is one of the best examples of this. In the six months after the release of this song, the number of listeners shared by the two artists increased by 390,000%. Spotify also highlights “Despacito,” released in 2017 by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. The song became popular on its own, but it exploded even more when Justin Bieber joined the remix.
Six months after the Justin Bieber remix, Louis’ audition count increased by 2,600%. Streams of his music in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada increased by 4,300% in the six months after the release of “Despacito”, helped by the release of the Bieber remix.
Spotify says cross-collaboration also increases the number of Spotify searches for artists involved in a popular collaboration. When Grupo Frontera collaborated with Bad Bunny on the song “un x100to”, this collaboration contributed to the growth of the status of Música Mexicana as an explosive genre. Daily searches for the group on Spotify have increased by more than 330%. At the peak, the number of Grupo Frontera requests increased by more than 1100%.
A recent study of Spotify for Artists fans also found that international artists gain more reach when collaborating with someone outside their home market.
