Spotify launches Live Events feed to help users find nearby concerts

Spotify has launched a brand-new feature named Live Events which was designed to discover new concerts taking place in your city. Spotify launched the update on Thursday last week, and we’re glad to see it’s an update that works in South Africa too.

The music streamer will do anything it can to avoid adding lossless audio. Despite promising the feature would be added before the end of 2021. But we’re not complaining (that hard). The addition of Live Events is definitely a welcome one.

No more scalpers

Live Events is a free feature available to any country (it seems) with concerts nearby. So… most places in the world. If you’re in a city like Johannesburg or Cape Town, Live Events will show any upcoming concerts and when they’re taking place.

But it’s not only to see concerts coming up. A chimp with access to Google could manage that. You’ll also be able to book tickets for these concerts, which should quell any doubts that the ticket site isn’t legit. Spotify has garnered the services of Ticket Master, and Eventbrite amongst a few other big names. Just how effective that’ll be in SA remains to be seen.

Live Events is coming at a great time. We’re only just beginning to feel ‘normal’ after the past two years. And people are started to feel a little too cooped up. What better way to get over the cabin fever than by going to a concert?

Another small detail worth noting; if an artist is appearing in your city, and the artist is one you listen to often, you’ll be automatically notified when tickets go on sale. That’ll give you a better chance of getting the front row seat you’re looking for.

For a country like South Africa, Live Events makes even more sense. When it comes to the music industry, South Africa definitely isn’t the first country you think of. Well, this could be a change. With more eyes on younger and smaller artists, it gives them an opportunity to spread their wings a little more, and attract a whole new crowd who may never have heard the music before.

Read More: How to use Spotify as your local music player

The Future of Live Events

This isn’t all Live Events will be capable of. Sam Sheridan, Spotify’s product manager for Live Event Discovery, said that the company would “work to even further integrate event discovery directly into the app, whether via more advanced search tools, new playlist formats, or new integrations into key surfaces—meaning event discovery is integrated right into the listening experience.”

We’ll need to wait and see exactly what Spotify means about this. It could mean a variety of different things. But first, Spotify, come on. Where is lossless audio? We’ve been waiting patiently. Please hurry up. In the meantime, if you’re curious to see what concerts are near you, just click here.