Business News Digital The Great Escape 2015

Why streaming services are now curators

By | Published on Wednesday 8 April 2015

Sam Lee

Ahead of this year’s Great Escape, CMU Business Editor Chris Cooke is chatting to some of the people set to share insights and expertise within the CMU Insights conference that sits at the heart of the TGE convention this year.

And today he’s questioning Sam Lee, UK & Ireland Editor at Deezer, who will take part in a wider discussion on playlists in the streaming space looking at how playlists and playlist owners are an increasingly important part of the music marketing mix. “Right now 37% of all daily streams on Deezer come via playlists”, Lee says. “So they are hugely important to us and our users”.

As for how his team influence the playlists on the Deezer platform, Lee explains: “We are constantly on the look out for the best new music, and then we work with our Label Relations team to ensure it is on the service. The tracks that get suggested to you as a user on Deezer are the result of our algorithm, which learns what you like and what you don’t like, and then serves up new music as curated by us in the editorial team, as well as picking tracks from our huge library of tracks”.

So do labels now PR the Deezer editorial team like any other media? “Labels are really starting to understand the importance of playlisting on the service. Now more than ever they are approaching us and pitching tracks for inclusion in our weekly playlists, whereas previously it was more of an afterthought, with priority being given to other forms of editorial coverage. Because of our editorial slant we have always been open to being approached in the same way as more traditional forms of media, and playlists just give us another opportunity to promote the music we love”.

Read the full interview with Lee here. Playlists will be under the spotlight as part of the CMU Insights conference strand Music Marketing Is Broken: Let’s Fix It, full details on which are here. And buy yourself a TGE delegates pass here.



READ MORE ABOUT: | |