It was only a matter of time before Spotify jumped into the Web3 fray. The streaming giant has posted two jobs listings looking for workers who can help the company build out its Web3 dreams.
The first job opening is for a senior manager of Innovation and Market Intelligence who has expertise in emerging trends, "especially as it relates to" creators, Web3 and other technologies. That candidate will report directly to Spotify's head of Innovation and Market Intelligence, Máuhan Zonoozy, who stepped into the new role last year to identify so-called "moonshot" ideas.
Spotify is also hiring a senior back-end engineer who can help "uncover the next growth opportunity leveraging new technologies, like Web3." The candidate will work within the company's experimental growth team on its freemium side.
The company's foray into Web3 and all that could come with it — you know, dapps, NFTs, DAOs and whatnot — is natural, especially given the crypto industry's interest in the music sector. Snoop Dogg is a big NFT collector, and artists including Kings of Leon and Grimes have sold their music as digital art. Songs, lyrics and albums can be turned into NFTs, which could help artists make more money.
Other tech companies with large creator communities have leaned into Web3 in recent months as well. Earlier this year, Twitter began allowing Twitter Blue subscribers to use NFTs as their profile photo. Shortly thereafter, YouTube announced that it was working to implement NFTs onto its platform. Even the music-piracy site LimeWire is being resurrected as an NFT marketplace.
Meta also has plans to make NFTs a central part of users' experience on its platforms, and Mark Zuckerberg said that push is happening even before his dream of the metaverse takes shape. At SXSW this week, he said that NFTs will come to Instagram first, and the metaverse will eventually allow users to mint their virtual assets as NFTs.
But not all pushes into the blockchain have been well-received. Salesforce employees signed a letter last month rejecting the company's plans to open an NFT marketplace, citing climate concerns. (Minting NFTs can be a carbon-intensive process if done on proof-of-work blockchains like Ethereum.) Workers at several gaming companies, including Ubisoft and GameStop, have pushed back on potential NFT plans. In addition to the climate damage, some tech workers have viewed the pivot to implementing blockchain tech as unnecessary.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Máuhan Zonoozy's start date. This story was updated on March 17, 2022.
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.Image: Climate TRACE