Music snobs will love this new Spotify feature

September 16, 2015

If you're the type of music fan who says things to your friends like “I've been listening to [insert band here] for years,” “since before their first album even came out,” or “since before they even knew they were a band,” then Spotify's new 'Found Them First' feature is something you'll likely find handy and beneficial to your tastemaker status. It will basically confirm whether you've been listening to an artist longer than most of the rest of the world. However, it could have the opposite effect by knocking you down a peg, letting you know that you're not as far ahead of the curve as you think you are and that you should probably cool it on all the hyperbole. But really, we all have at least one band we know we discovered before all our friends, right? We've all got a little bit of that 'Found 'em First' smugness in us.

Anyway, Spotify explains that only the “top 1-15 percent of listeners are considered 'early listeners' and will be able to see this ranking.” It seems that in order for an artist to qualify as a “breakout artist” they must have accumulated more than 20 million total streams between January 2013 and June of this year, along with a growth of at least 2,000 percent in that same time frame.

You can check out the new Spotify feature here which will tell you—based on your listening habits—if you've discovered any breakout artists. It'll also provide you with a starter pack playlist to get you in the loop on up-and-coming talents of various genres so you can get back to boasting in no time. Some of the artists gracing the new feature's promos include FKA twigs, Zella Day, Charli XCX and Years & Years. Who were you listening to way before your friends discovered them on the radio like out-of-the-loop chumps?

Filed under:

found them first,