Spotify has introduced a new feature that allows users to follow their favourite music venues.
Over 20,000 venues across the world are listed on the app, and range from some of the busiest arenas to smaller, independent clubs.
The new feature is included for both those with free and premium accounts, and allows them to save their favourite locations and help discover new venues that align with their tastes. It also offers options to explore artist line-ups within the app.
It comes as somewhat of an extension to the Concerts Near You feature which was introduced to Spotify back in March, and has allowed all users to help discover and buy tickets for nearby performances from artists tailored to them.
As highlighted by MusicWeek, while the Concerts Near You feature gets weekly updates, the new live events feed will update on a daily basis to help bring forward the most relevant concerts happening in each user’s area.
A blog post from Spotify shared: “It brings together what listeners are streaming, where they live, and the genres they love, all in one personalised destination.”
It also added that it was introduced with the intention of “supporting the spaces that make live music possible”.
“Live music is the heartbeat of every community,” the streaming giant added. “It’s what brings people together and keeps local culture thriving. From historic theatres to basement stages, these are the places where artists grow, fans unite, and lifelong memories take shape.”
Spotify has launched a new feature that lets users follow venues directly in the app to stay updated on upcoming concerts, events, and announcements. The Live Events feed now refreshes daily and includes over 20,000 venues worldwide, making concert discovery easier than ever. pic.twitter.com/MWN41lru6i
— PrimePost (@Primepost99) October 21, 2025
In the app, users can follow a venue, and once it is saved to their library it is combined with tailored suggestions for other venues they might want to visit. Once an event that they’re interested in pops up, they can buy tickets through the event’s official ticketing partner.
The new feature should hopefully help support grassroots venues across the globe too, and is introduced as the UK music scene continues to face the “complete collapse” of touring, with huge areas going without live music, one venue closing every two weeks, and the uphill struggle for artists to afford to exist, let alone play live.
A Music Fans’ Voice survey carried out earlier this year showed that 93 per cent of fans agreed that £1 from every arena and stadium ticket should be donated to support the grassroots, and last spring, a government committee of UK MPs joined the call for a levy on arena and stadium gigs – as well as a cut in VAT.
The feature also comes amid a tumultuous period for the streaming giant, which has been put under the spotlight lately for its political ties and lack of support for artists.
Recently it was confirmed that Spotify founder Daniel Ek will be stepping down from the role of CEO.
The move was announced shortly after he sparked backlash for his involvement in the company Prima Materia. Over the summer, the brand led a €600million (£524million) investment into Helsing – a Munich-based company creating drones and artificial intelligence for military operations.
Due to the ties, a number of high profile artists pulled their music from Spotify, including King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, in a bid to “put pressure on these Dr. Evil tech bros to do better”.
Joining them in the boycott was Xiu Xiu, who shared plans to remove their music from the platform over Ek’s “investment in AI war drones”, Deerhoof, who said they didn’t “want our success being tied to AI battle tech”, and Wu Lyf, who took down their latest single ‘A New Life Is Coming’ from the streaming service.
The controversies surrounding Ek went back to 2024 as well, when he sparked backlash for his comments relating to the cost of “creating content”, with countless users and musicians describing him as “out of touch”. He would later walk back on his comments, saying that he had no intention of dismissing the struggles faced by musicians and using the “reductive” label of “content”.
The CEO also came under fire as it was reported that Spotify had made profits of over €1billion (£860million), but at the expense of staff being laid off, artists struggling to make any income from streaming, and subscription prices rising.
Artists faced even more trouble trying to make any money from the platform last year, when Spotify officially demonetised all songs on the platform with less than 1,000 streams. The policy was launched on April 1 2024, but had been planned by the platform for some time.
It was quickly criticised for making it harder for artists to generate royalties and restricting new artists looking to crack the music industry.
