The Independent announces Spotify partnership

The Independent has teamed up with Spotify for the first time to allow users to listen to Spotify content while viewing relevant music-related features on independent.co.uk.

From Wednesday, the Spotify Play Button will be will be available to independent.co.uk’s growing audience of 15 million global unique users. Readers using the Spotify Play Button will be able to listen to individual tracks, playlists or whole albums on independent.co.uk for the first time, alongside selected music-related reviews and editorial.

The new application builds on the Independent’s pioneering reputation in social media and commitment to its digital users. It joins a host of other successful social media features on the website, including Facebook ‘Recently Read’, which launched in September 2011 and reached 1 million users in less than 2 months and now has more than 4.7m users.

This latest innovation also follows the launch of an enhanced website for independent.co.uk last November, as part of Independent Chairman Evgeny Lebedev’s ongoing investment in the title’s digital future and underlines The Independent’s commitment to providing its AB audience with pioneering ways to interact with content on the site. It will engage with independent.co.uk’s global audience, which each month deliver between 60 and 70 million page impressions and extends to over 125,000 iPhone, Blackberry and Android monthly smartphone users.

Zach Leonard, MD Digital for The Independent and London Evening Standard: ‘The Spotify partnership is yet another pioneering development for independent.co.uk and testament to The Independent’s commitment to digital innovation that builds an even more integrated, streamlined and intuitive experience for our growing global AB audience.’

Jack Riley, Head of Digital Audience and Content Development, said: ‘The addition of the Spotify Play Button is another fantastic way for our readers to interact with our stories in new ways. It adds a fresh dimension to independent.co.uk that uniquely mirrors the way our users want to consume media – taking them beyond reading a review of an album, to actually listening to it – and builds on the unprecedented successes of previous initiatives such as Facebook ‘Recently Read’.’

“We’re hugely excited to be launching the Spotify Play Button today, in partnership with the brightest and best sites on the web, such as independent.co.uk.”, said Gustav Söderström, Chief Product Officer at Spotify. “From today, the Spotify Play Button gives sites the ability to share access to any song, album or playlist through Spotify, creating a personalised soundtrack to their website or blog. Spotify is lighting up the internet with music.”

Articles featuring the Spotify play button can be found here