Spotify is offering their subscribers the chance to “tip” their favourite artists with the new Artist Fundraising Pick feature, in which fans can donate to an artist’s COVID-19 relief fundraiser of choice, or send some money to the artist directly. The streaming service launched this new initiative on Wednesday, in an effort to “support artists and the creative community who have been deeply impacted by the effects of the devastating virus” and “provid[e] the global reach of Spotify to artists who are fundraising during this challenging time.” By clicking on the feature, which appears on each artist’s page highlighting “COVID-19 support,” fans can “make a contribution” to the artist’s fundraising method of choice.
“First and foremost, this feature enables artists who are interested in raising money to support themselves, their bands, or their crews, to get the word out to their fans on their Spotify artist profiles,” Spotify announced in a blog post about the initiative. “We have a strong group of initial fundraising partners: Artists can choose to add a link to Cash App, GoFundMe, and PayPal.me.” Artists also have the option to “select any of the verified organizations participating in the Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief project” as their fundraising choice.
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“Given the urgency and impact of the COVID-19 crisis, we’re working as quickly as we can to develop this new product and get it out to as many artists as possible,” the blog post reads. “However, we’ve never built a fundraising feature like this before. We consider this a first version that will evolve as we learn how to make it as helpful as possible for the music community.”
