Spotify’s virtual studio introduces live collaboration tools

The development was revealed by the Swedish music streaming platform’s head of international artist and industry partnerships, Bryan Johnson, in an interview with Music Ally published this week. The new tools were unveiled in a Spotify for Artists Masterclass released yesterday.

Soundtrap also introduced a feature that allows commenting so that collaborators can exchange feedback in a section of their podcast or music projects. The tools are still in beta.

“Live collaboration and auto-save, which are currently in beta, means that we can show real-time changes between collaborators without a sync button,” Johnson said. “It shows real-time changes, and autosave is automatic, which means users can keep in that creative flow.”

Spotify acquired Soundtrap for about $30m in 2017. It offers users free unlimited projects with more than 4 880 loops, 440 instruments and sounds as well as 150 000 sound effects. A premium subscription costs $7.99 a month for music creators and from $11.99 a month for podcasters

The digital audio workstation lets creators record, edit and collaborate on different devices and upload their work on the cloud. Users can combine beats, loops and instruments, or connect their own tracks. It also boasts features including Auto-Tune, automation settings, amplifier and patterns beatmaker.

The new tools add to Soundtrap’s several new additions. In May 2019, it launched a podcast recording, editing and publishing tool called Soundtrap for Storytellers, offering recording, remote multi-track interviewing with video chat, smart transcribing and editing of spoken word audio files, and other features. Soundtrap also enabled Spotify to launch on Roblox through Spotify Island, offering music creation tools and virtual merchandise and games. The subscription sets users back $14.99 a month.

Johnson added: “We’re seeing more people creating songs, and wanting to create on the go, and with people around the world. Providing intuitive and accessible tools is important.”

The executive also addressed questions about whether Spotify will integrate its artificial intelligence music lab into Soundtrap in the future. Johnson said the goal is to innovate with Soundtrap.