Spotify has teamed up with musical-knowledge database Genius to produce two new playlists designed to not only showcase the latest in hip-hop, however, also provide the lyrics and meaning behind each track. Starting today, you can listen to the Behind the Lyrics (Hip-Hop) playlist, featuring artists Pusha T, Tinashe, and Diplo. The feature is available to all iOS app users (except those with iPhone 4/s devices).
When listening to tracks in the Behind the Lyrics playlist, you will see excerpts of lyrics, fun facts, annotations, and stories provided by the artist, as well as by the Genius community.
While the newest playlist is centered around hip-hop, Spotify says that it’ll launch another one focused on popular hits in the coming week. Only these special playlists will offer an inside look at each song.
Participating artists have the opportunity to give fans a little behind-the-scenes look at their creative process. “Spotify and Genius are creating a really cool connection between me and my fans on another level than I normally can connect with them,” says Tinashe. “Not only are they able to hear the music and see the lyrics, however, they are also able to understand where I was coming from when I wrote them and kind of get inside my head, which is really cool.”
The release of new playlists comes as the company seeks to better compete against not only against Apple Music, however, also Pandora, Slacker Radio, and others. Just this week, Apple announced that it's 10 million subscribers, while Spotify’s last official count put it at 20 million paying subscribers. And with Pandora picking up what was left of Rdio and turning toward building a streaming music service, the marketplace is getting crowded.
This isn’t the first time Spotify has sought to use lyrics in its service. The company tapped Musixmatch in February to bring real-time lyrics right to the desktop, in an effort attract users fond of doing karaoke. The difference here is that Genius is showing more than just lyrics for songs, digging deeper into the stories behind each one.
Adding Genius to the mix will likely help distinguish Spotify from its competitors, further moving the streaming service in the direction of providing an all-around music experience. The service has already integrated itself into Uber rides and made itself available in Teslas, on Virgin America flights, and on Chromecasts. It also offers specialized playlists and utilizes a recommendation engine to help you discover new music. So why not also pass along information to help users better enjoy that content?
The Genius-curated playlist is only available on iOS, and Spotify has not said when it’ll be available for those on other devices.