Hi there! My name is Janko Roettgers, and this is Lowpass. This week: Spotify’s video ambitions, and VIDAA’s rebranding.

Spotify wants to be the next big video service 

Get ready for a lot more video content on Spotify. Sometime later this month, the service will start incorporating music videos into its app, and give US-based subscribers the ability to easily switch back and forth between audio and video versions of many popular songs.

And Spotify isn’t stopping there. “We're not just building features; we're creating a best-in-class video experience to rival the biggest players, like YouTube or TikTok,” the company declared in a recent job listing. Spotify is evolving “from an audio-first platform to also become a world-class video service,” that job listing states.

Spotify’s expansion into music videos comes after the company struck licensing agreements with the major labels and the National Music Publishers’ Association this fall that specifically included provisions for audiovisual rights.

“These deals secure broader video rights that we've long needed,” explained Spotify’s chief business officer, Alex Norström, on the company’s most recent earnings call last month. “This was a critical strategic objective for us because it unlocks our ability to innovate and launch more products and features.”

Subscribe to Premium to read the rest.