Photo credit: Melanie van Leeuwen
According to Spotify, the “crossover effect” of artist collaborations is amplified on streaming services.
The service highlights how Run-DMC teamed up with Aerosmith to create their own version of Walk This Way, which became a smash hit internationally. It helped birth the rap rock genre and remains the rap group’s biggest hit to date, racking up millions of streams on Spotify. But what about modern collaborations where streaming is the main distribution platform? Let’s take a look.
“I think one of the biggest things is how music collaborations can bridge genres,” says John Stein, Spotify’s North American editorial director. “We’re seeing a lot more of these collaborations, and I think each artist’s core audience seems more receptive to these moments than they’ve been in the past.”
Spotify takes a look at the 40 biggest crossover collaborations in music over the last 12 years. It found that six months after a collaboration was released, 75% of the artists involved in the collaboration saw their total Spotify streams increase by 10%. More than 50% of these artists saw their streaming numbers increase by at least 50%, while 30% saw their streaming numbers increase by 100% in the six months after their collaboration ended.
Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’ rendition of the “Old Town Road” remix is one of the best examples of this. In the six months following the release of this song, the combined audience of both artists increased by 390,000%. Spotify also highlights “Despacito,” released in 2017 by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. The song was already huge on its own, but got even bigger when Justin Bieber joined the remix.
Six months after the Justin Bieber remix, Luis saw his streams increase by 2,600%. Streams of his music in the US, UK and Canada increased 4,300% in the six months following the release of “Despacito” due to the release of the Bieber remix.
According to Spotify, crossover collaborations also increase Spotify searches for artists involved in a popular collaboration. When Grupo Frontera collaborated with Bad Bunny on un x100to, that collaboration helped Música Mexicana elevate its status as an explosive genre. Daily Spotify searches for the group increased more than 330%. At its peak, searches for Grupo Frontera increased by more than 1,100%.
The latest Spotify for Artists fan study also found that international artists experience greater reach when they collaborate with someone outside of their home market.