This year's Spotify Wrapped campaign will email you links that take you straight through to your favorite artists' merchandise pages.
This is all possible thanks to a recent integration with the e-commerce platform Shopify, which took place in October 2021. This update provided bands and soloists with the tools they need to manage their inventory levels and control which products they want to list on their own artist profiles.
Spotify has occasionally been criticized for not fairly compensating the musicians who stream on their app. With this functionality, they are offering a new way to drive additional revenue towards their creators.
Artists on Spotify can already use the feature to list things on their profile like t-shirts, vinyl records, and concert tickets, which can be the lifeblood of their careers now that album sales are not quite as strong as they used to be.
If you want an example of what this looks like, scroll to the bottom of Taylor Swift's page and you will see that there are some items on sale next to the "About" section. Meanwhile, Remi Wolf's profile contains links for bucket hats, CDs and tie dye T-shirts.
Spotify Wrapped 2021 Will Send Out Links to Merch Pages
For this year's Wrapped campaign, Spotify will be sending out emails to individual consumers, listing their top artists of the year.
Within this personalized roundup, you might also find links to performers' virtual merch tables, where you can support them further by purchasing an item or two.
Speaking about this in an interview with Newsweek, Brendan Codey, Associate Director for Creator Growth and Programs at Spotify, said: "This is the part I'm most excited for with this year's Wrapped. We are [sending] out special emails to fans and these will feature their top artists of 2021, alongside a link to shop for their [respective] merch."
"Wrapped has become this cultural moment that is charged in a really positive way. Artists and fans take the opportunity to thank each other for the year, and they have these really beautiful interactions on social media.
"This is just a continuation of that. We're thinking about different ways to include products and features that foster different kinds of connections. You'll be able to support your favourite artists on Spotify, in a way that goes beyond simply listening to their music."
Reflecting on the implications of what this means for Spotify Wrapped, Codey continued: "I'm really excited for that email to send. It seems very simple [but] it is the beginning of the next stages of where Wrapped could actually go. So maybe it's moving beyond this social moment, where the internet kind of explodes, and we are going to start tying in some of the other things that we're focused on.
"I think that it points towards a future where we're enabling more connections between artists and their fans, in ways outside of just putting on a pair of headphones and listening. And the more that we can build those features in, the more that Wrapped is going to grow."
The shopping links will be sent through over the coming weeks as the Wrapped campaign continues. It will only work for artists with connected Shopify accounts and who currently have at least one merch item listed on their page.
For a more comprehensive overview of how Spotify Wrapped has evolved over the past few years, read our full exclusive with Brendan Codey here. Meanwhile, we also have a separate interview with up-and-coming pop star Mazie, which talks about what the campaign means to independent artists and how it benefits their careers.
Finally, if you want help accessing your own Spotify Wrapped feature, read our easy guide here.
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