Spotify Gains a Big New Partner in Samsung
posted Saturday Aug 11, 2018 by Scott Ertz
Ever since entering the US market, Spotify has owned the music streaming business. Apple has made some inroads since purchasing and rebranding Beats Music, but they still trail in music selection and userbase. Spotify has gained a bigger foothold in the industry thanks to their newly announced partnership with Samsung. As part of the relationship, Samsung will tightly integrate Spotify service into their devices, including phones, televisions and new Galaxy Home.
This partnership means that Samsung fans in the ecosystem will be able to experience what other users currently have: music continuity. The continuity sounds like it will mimic what Microsoft ecosystem users have experienced since Microsoft terminated Groove Music. Playing music on Spotify in the car through your Samsung phone will allow you to transfer the music to your television when you enter the house and play through the Galaxy Home in the bedroom.
This ability has always been the promise of Spotify's service, and especially the play-to capability of the client. The capability gets even more interesting and powerful with more integrated devices. Pairing to a Bluetooth speaker works well but doesn't travel around the house easily. It requires disconnecting and reconnecting to various devices, depending on where you are. Having Spotify integrated into devices means that you don't have to do anything special to play from room to room.
Having smart capabilities behind Spotify makes the experience even better. When paired with an AI, like Cortana or Bixby, it gives an even more direct and frictionless music experience. Asking Bixby for music recommendations will now default to searching Spotify, which means that playing music through Spotify won't require any physical interaction with a Samsung phone or Galaxy Home speaker, with Samsung Smart TV integration coming in the near future.
