Spotify
Global music and podcast streaming service
Communications Lead - MENAT+
Some in-person meetings are required, with flexibility to work from home.
About the job
- You have 10+ years of communications experience, with experience leading integrated work across consumer, corporate, reputation, and policy communications.
- You understand the media, cultural, and creator landscape across MENA, Türkiye, Pakistan, or adjacent markets and know how to build communications strategies grounded in local context.
- You’re a strategic thinker and adaptable storyteller who can work across earned media, executive communications, influencer engagement, and integrated channels.
- You understand how policy, regulatory, political, cultural, and media developments can shape reputation and can turn that context into thoughtful communications advice.
- You’re fluent in English and Arabic and/or Turkish, with the ability to communicate effectively with audiences, media, and stakeholders across the region.
- You bring sound judgment to sensitive or fast-moving situations and can give senior leaders clear, considered advice when the stakes are high.
- You’re comfortable working across a global, cross-functional organisation and can build alignment, share context, and influence without relying on formal authority.
- You’re curious about music, creators, culture, technology, and the changing media landscape, and you bring a collaborative, resourceful, and hands-on approach to getting great work done.
- Shape and execute an integrated communications strategy for MENAT+, putting regional creators, audiences, and culture at the heart of Spotify’s storytelling.
- Be a trusted communications partner to regional leadership, providing clear counsel on business priorities, reputation, emerging issues, and high-impact moments.
- Anticipate reputational opportunities and risks and help Spotify respond thoughtfully and effectively as cultural, media, policy, and regulatory dynamics evolve.
- Lead creator-first and earned-first storytelling that builds fandom, discovery, and cultural relevance, finding compelling stories in emerging scenes, communities, and moments that matter locally.
- Partner with Music, Podcasts, Product, Growth, Marketing, Public Affairs, and other teams to develop communications that support Spotify’s regional priorities.
- Connect MENAT+ priorities and perspectives with Spotify’s global communications strategy, while translating global priorities in ways that resonate with local audiences.
- Lead corporate, executive, internal, and B2B communications, including executive positioning, thought leadership, media engagement, and strategic messaging.
- Lead agency relationships and budgets with creativity and discipline, developing efficient approaches that deliver high-quality, locally relevant work across a diverse geographic footprint.
About the company
Spotify provides a digital music streaming platform that lets users listen to millions of songs and podcasts online. It runs a freemium business: a free, ad-supported tier and a premium, ad-free tier with perks like offline listening and higher audio quality. Users access content by streaming it over the internet, with the app recommending personalized playlists and radio based on listening habits. The company earns money from subscription fees from premium users and from advertisers targeting free-tier listeners. Spotify differentiates itself through its large library, user-friendly interface, and strong personalization features that tailor playlists and recommendations to each user. Its goal is to lead the global music streaming market by connecting listeners with a vast catalog and creators, while building sustainable revenue from both subscriptions and ads.
Company Size
10,001+
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Stockholms kommun, Sweden
Founded
2006
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Podcast Partner Program expands September 2026 into 35 markets, including Brazil and Mexico.
- Haryanvi listening doubled by December 2025, proving regional audio growth beyond Western markets.
- Bigbasket and HYPHNT tie Spotify to commerce, reading, and youth culture.
What critics are saying
- MLC’s royalty dispute still threatens €473 million from March 2024 through June 2026.
- Senator Hassan’s June 2026 investigation exposed 57,000+ drug-related podcast episodes before action.
- Podcast cuts in March 2026 show management keeps trimming weak creator businesses.
What makes Spotify unique
- Spotify’s editorial playlists still launch 80,000+ artists across 127 countries since 2026.
- Fresh Finds Forward, launched September 17, 2026, converts discovery into artist services.
- Taste Profile beta, rolled out September 23, 2026, lets listeners steer recommendations directly.
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Benefits
Extensive learning opportunities, through our dedicated team, GreenHouse
Global parental leave, six months off - fully paid - for all new parents
Flexible public holidays, swap days off according to your values and beliefs
Flexible share incentives letting you choose how you share in our success
All The Feels, our employee assistance program and self-care hub
Spotify On Tour, join your colleagues on trips to industry festivals and events
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 0%1 year growth
↑ 0%2 year growth
↑ 0%HYPHNT footwear, Pan Macmillan and Spotify unveil world's first audiobook trainers. HYPHNT footwear, publisher Pan Macmillan and the world's most popular audio service Spotify have joined forces to launch the world's first audiobook trainers The collaboration seamlessly merges fashion with storytelling for the National Year of Reading. The £79 HYPHNT footwear 'Nova' junior trainer features embedded Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that connects wearers directly to audiobooks on Spotify, debuting with John Patrick Green's bestselling InvestiGators graphic novel series. A simple tap of a smartphone against the shoe instantly launches the Spotify app, where they can discover the featured audiobook. New books and stories from Pan Macmillan will be introduced over time, giving young wearers a reason to return, tap again and discover what's next. The launch addresses shifting youth literacy habits, backed by data showing audio's growing role in how children learn and explore. Nearly half (47%) of children and young people listen to audiobooks, podcasts, or both, and 56% of these listeners tune in at least once a week. Half (50%) of young audiobook listeners state that listening "feels like reading," while 37% say audiobooks actively sparked their interest in reading more broadly. Meanwhile Spotify's research shows that 68% of parents who listen to audiobooks use them to help maintain a strong reading culture at home. Don't Miss Grab your pair! Jason Black, founder of HYPHNT footwear, said: 'Pan Macmillan has always believed a trainer can be so much more than a physical product. Having used embedded NFC tech in its adult range to unlock music and gaming, bringing connected footwear to young readers felt like a natural evolution. Kids don't experience culture in rigid silos - they love trainers, tech, music, and books all at once. Partnering with Pan Macmillan and Spotify allows Pan Macmillan to bring those worlds together seamlessly. InvestiGators is just the starting point; kids can tap the same pair of shoes over time to unlock new audiobooks, making reading a high-status lifestyle statement on the pavement.' Jodie Williams, Head of DEI and Social Impact at Pan Macmillan, said: 'The National Year of Reading is about finding new ways into stories, especially for those who don't yet see themselves as readers. Libraries and classrooms will always be central to that, but reading should also pop up in the everyday moments of its lives. Embedding audiobooks into footwear sounds playful, and it is, but the idea behind it is simple: when books turn up in unexpected places like a pair of trainers, it shows that reading belongs anywhere.' Jamie Forrest, Communications Director, Macmillan Children's Books added: 'Bringing Mango and Brash off the page and into footwear turns reading into an active, everyday adventure. InvestiGators has captured millions of young imaginations, and giving kids an interactive way to step directly into their favorite series makes discovering a great book fun and effortless.' Roshni Radia, Books Editor at Spotify said: 'Pan Macmillan is always looking for new ways to help people discover great stories, and Pan Macmillan love the idea of giving young people quick and easy access to audiobooks in an unexpected part of their everyday lives. Its collaboration with HYPHNT and Pan Macmillan makes discovering your next listen as simple as tapping your trainers, and is a fun way to get more young people excited about books and storytelling.'
Spotify now lets listeners tell its algorithm what they want. Spotify's Taste Profile gives eligible Premium listeners a way to describe what they want to hear next. Here's how to use it, and why this matters. Sep 23, 2026 Spotify is rolling out Taste Profile (Beta) to Premium listeners 18 and older in the US, following a test in New Zealand. The feature lets people see a short account of how Spotify understands their listening across music, podcasts and audiobooks, then tell the app what they would like more or less of on their Home feed. Usually, listeners shape recommendations through what they play, skip and save. Taste Profile gives them a way to state an interest before their listening history reflects it: they can ask for more of a genre they have just discovered, music that suits a particular part of the day, or less of something they have moved on from. These requests guide recommendations; they do not issue commands. Spotify says Taste Profile cannot follow an artist on someone's behalf or enforce rules such as "always show" or "never show." How to use Spotify Taste Profile. Eligible listeners can open the Spotify mobile app and: * Tap their profile picture, then select Taste Profile. * Read Spotify's summary of their interests across music, podcasts and audiobooks. * Under Tell Hypebot more, type what they want to change and send the message. Someone might ask for more contemporary jazz, more music for an early morning run, or fewer recommendations tied to a passing obsession. Spotify says changes typically appear within a few hours. Listeners can edit or delete their notes, or leave their profile alone if they like what Home already shows them. The beta is available to eligible Premium listeners in the US and New Zealand; Spotify has not announced a broader rollout in its September 23 post. What could change for artists? For independent musicians, the interesting possibility is that a listener can now express curiosity before they have streamed enough music to demonstrate it. If someone tells Spotify they want to explore a particular sound, relevant artists could have another opportunity to appear in that listener's Home recommendations. Personalized recommendations already play a substantial role in discovery. Spotify has said that 35% of discoveries on its platform in 2024 happened through personalized recommendations in algorithmic contexts. Taste Profile adds a listener's stated interests to the picture, but Spotify has not described a way for artists to target those notes or see which request led a listener to their music.
Spotify Taste Profile lets listeners steer the algo. Published · Sep 23, 2026 Why Relve is Watching this Spotify is testing a user-editable Taste Profile with US Premium listeners, a concrete move toward steerable recommendations at platform scale. Expect ranking transparency and in-app controls to emerge as competitive features before year end. Key Takeaways * Spotify Taste Profile rolls out to US Premium users, letting listeners view and edit how Spotify reads their tastes using natural language. * Beta in the US targets ages 18 and up in Spotify's largest market. * Recommendations affected include Discover Weekly, Made for You, and Spotify Wrapped. * Access via profile on mobile, changes appear within hours. What happened. Spotify Taste Profile is rolling out to US Premium subscribers, letting listeners see and edit how the service interprets their tastes using natural language. The beta brings algorithmic steering into users' hands. The feature shows how Spotify understands preferences across music, podcasts, and audiobooks, then applies adjustments across the Home feed. It informs suggestions in Discover Weekly, Made for You, and the annual Spotify Wrapped, TechCrunch reported. Powered by Spotify's AI, Taste Profile was first unveiled in March at SXSW by co-CEO Gustav Söderström. It initially ran in beta in New Zealand, and now expands to the US for listeners aged 18 and up. On mobile, users tap their profile, open Taste Profile, and submit adjustments under Tell Relve more, with Home recommendations updating within hours. Listeners can ask for more or less of a genre, artist, or vibe. Why it matters. User-steerable recommendations could curb repetition, surface more diverse catalogs, and cut churn for streaming platforms. They also raise expectations for transparency around how ranking works and governance disclosures, pushing platforms to expose controls and clearer feedback when edits are applied at scale consistently. Constraints remain. The tool is Premium-only, US-only, and still in beta, natural-language edits are opaque, changes arrive after hours, and casual listeners may not engage, echoing the AI inventory diligence buyers now demand for verifiable inputs and clear feedback loops. In some ways, Taste Profile essentially gives you the keys to Spotify's algorithm. Sarah Perez, TechCrunch Bottom line. Key indicators are adoption and discovery engagement, and whether Spotify broadens access beyond US Premium or moves from beta to general availability. Another marker is whether user edits diversify recommendations at scale without denting satisfaction metrics. For product leaders, steerable recommenders are becoming table stakes, with preference editors and audit trails moving onto roadmaps. Vendor evaluations increasingly score control and transparency, as teams benchmark against consolidated copilot experiences, a trend tracked by Relve, an AI tools intelligence platform.
Zivame opens first franchise store in noida, expands NCR retail footprint. bigbasket Partners with Spotify for I-POP Icons LIVE 2026. bigbasket, a TATA Enterprise, partnered with Spotify for I-POP Icons LIVE 2026, Spotify's invite-only live music property celebrating India's growing independent pop music culture. 22 Sep 2026 17:49 IST bigbasket, a TATA Enterprise, partnered with Spotify for I-POP Icons LIVE 2026, Spotify's invite-only live music property celebrating India's growing independent pop music culture. As the Quick Commerce Partner, bigbasket brought together music, food, and lifestyle through a mix of on-ground and digital experiences designed around a culturally relevant consumer moment. Held at Mehboob Studios, Mumbai, I-POP Icons LIVE 2026 brought together Spotify fans, creators, influencers, media and guests for an evening celebrating India's evolving independent pop music movement. At the venue, bigbasket created a dedicated bigbasket Street featuring food, snacking and participating F&B brands.
Spotify launches flagship Haryanvi 101 playlist, reports over 100 percentage growth in Haryanvi music listening. Sep 21: Spotify has launched Haryanvi 101, its flagship playlist for one of the fastest-growing regional language music categories on the platform. Haryanvi music listening on Spotify has more than doubled year-on-year as of December 2025, with its audience expanding well beyond Haryana and Delhi NCR. Jaipur, Agra, Meerut, Bhopal, Lucknow, and Bengaluru are now among the top cities for Haryanvi listening on the platform. Haryanvi pop, hip-hop, folk, and more are all seeing momentum on the platform, and that range is showing up in listening patterns too: Hot Hits Haryanvi has grown by over 29% in the past year, Trending Now Haryanvi by over 58%, and Rap 91 Haryanvi by over 18%. Spotify has been building around this momentum since launching its dedicated Haryanvi Hub in January 2026, and Haryanvi 101 is the latest step in giving listeners more ways into the language's music. The artists tell that story as well. Banjaare, the Haryanvi duo known for their contemporary take on folk and pop, currently have two songs in the top 10 of Spotify's Weekly Top Songs India chart: Bairan and Barsaat. Dhanda Nyoliwala has taken the language into hip-hop territory, building a loyal audience with tracks like Russian Bandana, with over 240 million streams on Spotify, and Tension. He currently has six tracks on Spotify India's Top 200, and his 2026 album Kohram is in the top 15 of the Weekly Top Albums India chart. Unni Nambudripad, Head of Editorial, Spotify India, said: "The audience for Haryanvi music was always there, but the emergence of fresh, modern sounds coupled with rooted storytelling is driving the growth of the language to a whole new level. Today, nearly 100 Haryanvi artists feature in Spotify's Top 5,000 artists in India, proving how rapidly this talent pool is expanding. Our flagship playlist IP, Haryanvi 101, will help accelerate this growth and seamlessly connect these artists with fans not just across India, but across the world." Dhanda Nyoliwala said, "Streaming has changed the way regional music can travel. As a Haryanvi artist, I've seen my music reach listeners in places I never expected, and having six songs in Spotify India's Top 200 at the same time is special for me. It shows that when the music connects, the language doesn't have to be a boundary. The launch of Haryanvi 101 is exciting because it gives Haryanvi music another dedicated space to reach listeners across the country and discover the artists and sounds coming out of Haryana. The vision I had for Haryanvi is becoming a reality. I pray the next generation takes it even higher." Banjaare said, "When we started making music, we never imagined that songs in Haryanvi would travel this far. The journey from 'Bairan' to 'Barsaat' and seeing 'Barsaat' connect with listeners across the country has been very special for us. It shows us that you can stay rooted in your language and still reach people who may not speak it. The launch of Haryanvi 101 is exciting because it brings together more of the music being made in Haryanvi today, and we hope it helps even more people discover the sound and feel proud of where it comes from." Haryanvi music is no longer a regional story. With more artists finding their voice in the language and more listeners finding them across the country, it's a sound that's just getting started.