I'd love to hear what bands think of this. This type of data can be truly unique especially if they pair it with audience information and perhaps audience affinities to other sounds and bands (e.g. I as Band A may not have known that my listeners overwhelmingly also/like listen to Band B and C, and perhaps there is an opportunity to tour with them as a result). Might also give the bands more confidence in the royalties they are getting paid by Spotify. Excited to see where this goes!

Being an x-founder of a music-tech startup 5 years ago that tried to solve this problem for artists (giving them insight and access to their fans), I think this could be a HUGE step. Not sure exactly what insights or access they will have to their fans, but anything is better than what they had currently. I loved how @justinbieber teamed up with @lyft last week to basically give away his new album. In return the rider would grant the label access to their email address. This sounds small, but historically there is no other way for artists to directly connect with fans without paying for ads through parties who have access (Spotify, YouTube, etc).

Looks interesting, did anyone get access to it yet?

You can read the Spotify announcement on their blog here Keen to hear from anyone who has managed to get access...

We've been working hard on Fan Insights and refining the product based on feedback from a small group of artist and manager alpha users. It's great to start to get more feedback on the product now that we're in private beta and publicly announced. If you're an artist or manager and want access, request access here: https://artists.spotify.com/fani...