Disney gets song hub on Spotify to showcase music library

Brief:

Disney this week got a central place to showcase songs from its movies, TV shows and theme parks on streaming audio platform Spotify. Listeners in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, South Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand who type "Disney" into their search bars will see a collection of playlists at the Disney Hub, according to materials shared with Mobile Marketer.
The playlists include "Disney Hits" for songs from the biggest Disney and Pixar films, "Disney Favorites" that go back further in time, "Disney Classics" for nostalgia fans, "Disney Sing-Alongs" and "Disney Princess" for music from movies like "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid." It also has music from Marvel Studios movies and the "Star Wars" series.
"Let It Go," the hit song from Disney's "Frozen," is the most streamed Disney song on Spotify, followed by "How Far I'll Go" and "You're Welcome," both from "Moana." The most repeated songs from the past month is "A Whole New World" from this year's live-action version of "Aladdin."

Insight:

With this week's much-anticipated release of the live-action version of "The Lion King," whose animated version stands as one of Disney's biggest all-time hits, the entertainment giant aims to leverage the film's massive publicity into other media channels. Walt Disney Pictures spent more than any other studio on film marketing last week, with an estimated media value of $5.64 million for 1,290 national ad airings on 42 networks Variety reported.

A music hub on Spotify can help fans find music from "The Lion King" while helping them to discover more songs from its extensive library or re-discovering their favorite tunes. The Disney Hub may be another reason for people to listen to Spotify, which doesn't have exclusive rights to stream the Disney songs.

The streaming audio giant and archrival Apple are working to differentiate their services in a number of ways, such as with podcasting. Apple plans to pay for original podcasts that would be exclusive to its audio streaming service, according to a report this week. Spotify this year also has made significant investments in original content, including $400 million to acquire three podcasting companies. Spotify is Apple's biggest rival for audio streaming, and commands about 10% to 20% of the podcast market.

Apple Music this year overtook Spotify in U.S. subscriptions, but Spotify still has a strong lead globally. Growing competition from Apple compelled Spotify to file an antitrust complaint against Apple in Europe, alleging that the iPhone maker abused its control over which apps appear in its App Store.