Vertigo, the social listening app, has launched Artist Lounges, virtual rooms where artists and fans can listen, interact, and bond over streaming tracks and live audio/video. These artist-driven spaces are built to give artists and their teams a place to gather fans and host unique events, from release celebrations and listening parties to new video premieres. And every time a fan listens to a track or watches content with music, it’s a paid stream.
“There’s a huge gap between streaming services and social platforms, between eyeballs and streams,” explains Vertigo Global Head of Creator Services Phoenix Stone, whose career as a music executive has led to 200 million records sold. “Artists, managers, and labels are always hunting for new ways to get more people to listen on music streaming services. We’re closing the gap between eyeballs and ears so that streams happen at the moment content is consumed by the fan. This gives the artist a unique opportunity to boost streams in a listening lounge or by creating content at any strategic time.”
A promo powerhouse, Vertigo unites the interactive excitement of social media, where many artists find and gather fans, with the career value of streaming music services, where accredited streams boost artists’ ability to chart and earn revenue. Vertigo’s patented tech links subscribers’ streaming accounts and synchronizes them, so that no matter whether they subscribe to Apple Music or Spotify, they can listen with others, as well as share high-quality video, audio, and text to enrich the interaction. Artists also can use Vertigo to show a new music video for the first time, and every eye on that video also generates a paid stream, thanks to Vertigo’s syncing tech.
“Video premieres and first-listen opportunities with an artist are a powerful way to reach fans on other social media platforms, but it does not add to the artist’s streaming revenue or chart position.” says Stone. “Vertigo makes it easy; artists get verified and walk into their Lounge. The music’s streaming, it syncs perfectly with their video, and fans can join and interact.”
Vertigo has already tested this approach with several dozen artists playing everything from country to synthwave, including The Midnight, Alfie Templeman, The Vaccines, Lucas Hoge, Laci Kaye Booth, Nina Nesbitt, and Restless Road, with more joining daily. The organic, growing interest in Artist Lounges comes as no surprise to Stone: “Artists need streams. They shape an artist’s career. For example, if an artist is on my label or I manage them, I won’t consider taking them to terrestrial radio until they cross 30 million streams,” he explains. “Yet labels spend so much time and money spinning wheels, chasing audiences on Instagram or Twitch or TikTok, seeing what becomes a viral hit there, just to get the fan to go and stream the music somewhere else. Instead, you can hop in your Artist Lounge, play your music, and get accredited chartable streams, as every eyeball counts as a stream. It’s a no-brainer stop on a promo tour.”
