Regardless of possible DSP integration, Martin makes an important case for the self-hosted MP3 solution: the Future Islands activation happened before the release of the album, so it wouldn’t have been possible to stream it from a DSP. However, if Martin can find clarity and agreement from DSPs, he will create a Listening Party that allows fans to choose to stream via Spotify or Apple Music – beneficial for artists as this removes costs associated with hosting the music files and adds towards their streaming numbers. Spotify’s solution for developers is a little more complex: streaming music from its Web Playback SDK only works on certain desktop browsers, and its Connect Web API acts a bit like a remote control for a user’s open Spotify app – not necessarily the simplest solution for fans. There is hope for DSP integration: Apple Music’s response was that there will probably not be any issues – as long as labels are okay with it – and Martin has already built a version based on Apple Music’s streaming API that he may eventually launch. Martin has plenty of experience building DSP-powered platforms, and he notes that there isn’t much clarity from the platforms on what third-party developers are allowed to do when it comes to building a commercial offering onto a DSP. Crazy thought!” Even so, Martin is gathering feedback as the platform develops and he knew the main feedback was going to be the suggestion that the platform is built onto a DSP, and thus driving streaming numbers as the app is used. This harkens back to the days where an artist could simply send a simple URL and be confident all visitors could listen. As Martin puts it: “They only need to click play and it works great from any device. There are some advantages to the music being hosted MP3 files as opposed to from a DSP: the stream is accessible to everyone, including fans without a premium streaming account. This means it’s a communal, simultaneous moment, and fans can discuss the release together while it’s being revealed. This mechanism keeps all listening fans in sync, ensuring the stream is at the appropriate point when a user arrives. In the beta version, the client hosts the audio files – and the stream itself is powered by the technology Martin created for the Future Islands campaign. The audio component is the biggest point of friction for a platform like Listening Party.
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Some other customisation is possible: besides the release artwork, a main page colour can be chosen, plus an image or short looping video can be uploaded – Martin describes it as, “the Spotify Canvas area of Listening Party.” To get a feeling for how active the listening party is, there’s a real-time ticker showing how many people are currently listening. Other useful features include promotional links under the stream that link to whatever else is important in the campaign: Pre-saving, buying the album on the official store, YouTube videos, tickets, newsletter signups, and so on. (Fans’ messages on the platform won’t be posted as Tweets.) Martin says he chose Twitter as it’s easy to access and is a network often used to discuss real-time events. The artist’s Twitter account is highlighted so that it is clear in the chat when the artist is joining in.
At the moment, the chat room is enabled by a Twitter login, to identify participating fans. The chat delivers a social component right next to the album stream, a feature that we know well from YouTube livestreams. ( You can view a demo version of the platform here.) However, his Listening Party web platform – which has been in beta since the beginning of the year – aims to make this kind of activation more accessible.Īt the core of the platform are the three components Martin sees as crucial for a good listening party: the audio stream, a chat, and promotional links.
Martin previously worked at Silva Artist Management, SoundCloud and Songkick, and has developed custom music experiences or listening party solutions for many artists, including for the recent new version of REM’s “Monster”. This innovative campaign was the catalyst for Martin building his own platform, Listening Party, which lets artists and podcast creators throw listening parties for their fans. Lee Martin was the developer of what we crowned the ‘Best Listening Party’ in our Sandbox 2020 best music marketing campaigns report – for Future Islands’ album ‘As Long As You Are’.
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