Spotify Is Launching Its Own Award Show, Winners based on Streaming Data

Streaming Service Spotify has announced the launch of its own first-ever music awards- with the winners based solely on user-generated data.

“Your plays, patterns, and habits will help determine the award categories, finalists, and winners for the Spotify Awards by providing a true reflection of what fans are listening to,” the company said today when announcing the program. “You can get excited for an awards ceremony that actually speaks to what the people are streaming.”

According to Variety, the Spotify awards is essentially the Billboard awards of the current age. Billboard uses their chart data, and now Spotify will be using their streaming data, user engagement, and sales to determine their winners.

The other big music-biz award shows are the industry-voted Grammy Awards and the American Music Awards, which are determined by open fan polling.

Spotify, who first launched in 2003, said the goal of the awards is pretty transparent: The company wants to encourage fans to vote with their ears, by streaming as much music by their favorites artists on the platform. “Save the date — and get streaming,” Spotify said in the announcement.

The first Spotify Awards will be held next March in Mexico City. The streamer has teamed with WarnerMedia’s Turner Latin America division to broadcast the show live, on March 5, 2020, across TNT in all Spanish-language countries in the region.

According to Spotify, Mexico City is its biggest single market, with more listeners than other major metro areas, including New York City, L.A., London, and Paris.