Want to know when your favorite band is hitting the virtual road? Spotify can help.
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While attending live concerts is, for now, a thing of the past (or at least, it should be), virtual concerts are flourishing, and now there’s an easier way to find out when your gotta-see performers are going online.
Spotify just announced that it will now list both virtual as well as live concerts on its “Concerts” hub, which details online events by your followed artists plus “recommended” shows based on your listening history.
You can find the Concerts hub under Browse on the desktop Spotify app or by tapping Search on Spotify’s iOS or Android app. You can also check the “On Tour” section of the Spotify profile page for an artist.
The Concerts hub still lists plenty of scheduled in-person concerts, although most of them are slated (for now, at least) for later this year or (more likely) for 2021.
That said, some virtual events are already starting to pop up. For example, I see that South Korean boy band BTS is set to perform live at 1 a.m. ET (that’s a little past my bedtime) this Saturday with Coldplay, Kane Brown, Khalid, and more.
The detail page for a virtual event on Spotify’s Concerts hub lists when the concert will take place and who will be performing, while a “Find Virtual Event” button takes you to a site where you can purchase tickets.
The concert page also lists other “recommended” concerts, while a Find Virtual Event button will direct you to the third-party concert detail page, where you’ll be able to buy tickets.
Virtual concerts listed on the Concerts hub can be hosted by any platform, according to Spotify, including Twitch, Instagram Live, YouTube Live, or a self-hosted site.
The only requirement for artists is that they must get their virtual events listed through Songkick, a “discovery” app for online performances. Spotify also says that a “select number” of Ticketmaster events will be automatically listed in the Concerts hub.
Artists will be able to set an online concert as an “Artist Pick,” which will pin the event to the top their profile pages. Spotify will also send out email alerts (with easy opt-out options, one would hope) with “personalized virtual event recommendations” to listeners.
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Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he covers smart home and home entertainment products.