Concert Films The Latest Feature For Music Streaming Aussies

Concert films are the latest feature being offered by major music streaming services in a bid to get and engage users. 

It will pit them against video platforms such as YouTube, Amazon Prime, or even Netflix.

In January 2025, Spotify launched a concert series featuring acts in its Billions Club, whose tracks generated over a billion streams. Spotify has a 31.7 per market share with 640 million users, including 252 million subscribers. 

This concept was hinted at last month when Universal Music Group and Amazon Music struck a deal “designed to benefit (its) artists and enrich the experience of their fans”. It included “further innovation in visual programming” and “its investment in live-streamed content.”

Amazon Music ranks fourth most popular, with 80 million users worldwide and an 11.1 per cent share of the global music streaming market.

Apple Music – with 88 million users and a 12.6 per cent share – was thinking along those lines months back with the October launch of its Set Lists feature, which turns concert setlists into streaming playlists. 

It integrates with the concert discovery platform Bandsintown. Individual concerts, entire tours, or residencies are automatically published on the artist’s Apple Music page, Shazam profile, and event pages and promoted across social media.

“This can be a fun way to announce a future tour, reach fans who couldn’t make the live experience, or reconnect with those that were at your show,” Apple Music said.

Billion Clubs Live

Not surprisingly, the first act on Spotify’s Billions Club Live series was The Weeknd, who leads the club with 25 tracks achieving that status. 2020’s Blinding Lights is currently the most-streamed song on Spotify.

He is the fourth biggest artist on the platform, with a total of 62.61 billion streams. He follows Taylor Swift (92.63 billion), Drake (80.42 billion) and Bad Bunny (76.38 billion).

Among other songs in The Weeknd’s 48-minute film are The Hills, Blinding Lights, Can’t Feel My Face, I Feel It Coming, Die For You, Earned It and Starboy. The film is produced by OBB Pictures.

The show was held in December in an aeroplane hangar in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, before 1,700 of his Spotify fans. Also in the audience were d4vd, Ava Max, Jimmy Tatro, Patrick Ta, Adam Savani and Teezo Touchdown.

“Spotify is known for bringing fans and artists together better than any other platform, which is why we’re excited to see the reaction to our first-ever concert film celebrating The Weeknd’s milestone of 25 songs with one billion+ streams,” said Marc Hazan, Vice President of Partnerships and Marketing at Spotify. 

“It’s a reward for the fans who made him a streaming legend. This isn’t just a concert; it’s a celebration of a historic moment in music.” 

“What a beautiful and unforgettable experience as an artist,” The Weeknd added.

In the film, the Canadian rapper talks about the milestones of his career, previews new singles, Timeless and Sao Paolo, and explains his upcoming album Hurry Up Tomorrow will be his last under his stage name, The Weeknd.

It will be the third of his trilogy 2020’s After Hours and 2022’s Dawn FM.

He’ll now make music under his real name, Abel Tesfaye. “As The Weeknd, I’ve said everything I can say.”

A companion psychological thriller movie, also titled Hurry Up Tomorrow, arrives in US theatres on May 16. It is directed by Trey Edward Shults and stars Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan.

Hazan noted to the Hollywood Reporter that Billions Club Live with The Weeknd: A Concert Film marks a new era for the world’s biggest streaming platform. 

“Video in itself is becoming a bigger part of the Spotify experience. What it does allow us to do is create these really amazing moments with artists and bring them not only to those that are in the room but to everyone on the platform.”

Rather than just relate to Spotify through their ears, its 626 million monthly active users (including 252 million premium subscribers) will relate via ears and eyes.

“They’re going to have long-form video content in a way that they’ve never had before. Our users and fans of The Weeknd are going to get to experience this first on Spotify.

“It is part of that kind of evolution of a platform where consumption evolves from being about just your ears to your eyes and your ears. I think this is the direction of travel.”

Music Video

Spotify’s latest venture comes after introducing its music video feature to Australia in October 2024. It was part of a roll-out to 85 new markets for Premium subscribers.

The feature came in beta in March 2024 in 12 countries – the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Kenya and Egypt.

According to Spotify, music videos deepen the relationship between the act and the fan.

Users who discover a song and then watch the video on Spotify are 34 per cent more likely, on average, to stream it again the following week.

Songs discovered via music videos are 24 per cent more likely to be saved or shared in the following week.

Australians could seamlessly switch between video and audio and discover new music videos through video indicators and search features.

Latest Features

The move by different music streaming services to keep users engaged comes as they work out how the cost of living will affect the growth of the sector around the world. 

Early indications are that growth continues but at a slower pace, and there’s less time spent listening.

Two things stand out in how music streaming services will try to increase user activity in 2025.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) will personalise playlists to extraordinary lengths, to mood, time of day, movement, and even in real-time. Call for  “upbeat pop for a workout”, anyone?

Rather than music discovery recommendations based on past listening, listeners might get recommended from wider trends and even encouraged to have more input into the works of their heroes, or even create their own music.

The continued integration of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) will see more live concerts streamed. Beyonce’s halftime performance at an NFL game last month reached 27 million Netflix viewers and proved a point.

Some AI and music executives are tentatively discussing a new business model that will see new licensing deals specific to AI companies where individual copyrights are not needed. It will be interesting to see if streaming platforms somehow become part of this discussion.

The greater emphasis on making money out of superfans indicates that streaming will become more “deep” in offering an immersive relationship with artists through back catalogue, narratives and exclusive content, for instance, that goes beyond fleeting trends. The trend towards greater integration with social media promises amazing results.

Aussie

16.6 million Aussies subscribe to a music streaming service. The Australian music streaming market is projected to grow by 3.24 per cent (2025-2027), resulting in a market volume of US$467.80 million in 2027.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Spotify remains the biggest music streaming in this country. It is used by 43 per cent of adults. YouTube Music is in second place with a 19 per cent share (down from 21 per cent), while Apple Music stayed at nine per cent and ABC at six per cent.

What To Expect In 2025

With 2025 marking Spotify’s 18th year, its AI-powered personalisation will focus on upgrading its standout new feature, AI DJ 2.0. It provides users with personalised playlists combining recommendations and narratives delivered by a digital voice that mimics a radio host.

After numerous delays and excuses, the hi-fi tier could still make it out this year (priced around US$17 and $18, according to CEO Daniel Ek) with the expansion of new features such as interactive polls, Q&A sessions and live podcast streaming.

Analysts suggest Amazon Music will expand two AI features introduced last year – the playlist generator Maestro and Topics, which makes it easier to hunt down podcasts.

Possibilities are that we’ll see the integration of more social features so users can share playlists or see what friends are listening to in real-time, as well as collaborations with other media services for bundled subscriptions with video services.

Apple Music will make music discovery a priority. During the recent holidays, it introduced three new radio stations, covering EDM, Latin and chill. 

Its move to commission a second series of Amy Shark’s globally accessed station on the Australian scene has seen one senior US executive suggest a greater coverage of Australian music and, way down the track, a permanent studio in Sydney.

Among the five new features from late last year were SharePlay, which extended to family and friends without needing a subscription, and Music Haptics for hard-of-hearing users.

Expect expansion of its hi-fi tier, more personalised and curated playlists, and greater integration with other devices such as Apple TV and Apple Watch.