Streaming giant brings 3 nights of live music, interactive experiences to Seongsu this weekend
Spotify House Seoul returned to Seongsu-dong on Thursday, with Grammy-winning DJ and producer Diplo leading the opening-day lineup of an event that puts some of the streaming platform's familiar features into a temporary physical space.
Held for the second year at Anderson C, the four-day event combines live performances with rooms where visitors can try out Spotify features, interact with content from participating artists and explore music based on their own listening habits.
On the third floor, the Artist Room is lined with album artwork and covers from Spotify's "This Is" playlist series. Among the first things to catch the eye is an old-fashioned telephone sitting beneath a board that reads "Call Now!" and lists numbers for participating artists.
Dialing 107, the number assigned to girl group Rescene, brings up a recorded message from member Woni welcoming visitors to Spotify House. Hearing her voice through the old-timey receiver actually gives the brief impression of being on the other end of a call with the artist.
Elsewhere in the room, visitors can write postcards to participating artists and drop them into a mailbox, with the messages to be delivered after the event. A nearby vending machine is stocked with snacks selected by the artists — Diplo's pick is Sour Strips — each paired with a Spotify Code that leads to the artist's music on the app.
Next door, the Mix Room is centered on Spotify's personalized playlists. Codes placed beside objects around the room, including a T-shirt and headphones, can be scanned using Spotify's in-app camera.
Scanning the codes pulls up different mixes based on the user's listening history, meaning two visitors scanning the same object may not necessarily get the same selection of songs. A memo wall nearby lets visitors write down what they got and compare their results.
The Play Lounge turns several other Spotify features into simple group activities. Blend lets visitors compare their music tastes, while Jam — which allows multiple users to add songs to a playlist in real time — is adapted into "Jam'ga," a game in which participants respond to prompts by choosing songs and gradually build a shared playlist.
There is also a slot-machine version of daylist, Spotify's personalized playlist that changes according to listening habits at different times of the day. Pulling the lever produces the kind of oddly specific playlist title associated with the feature.
At the Spotify World Music Cafe, codes link to playlists from different countries and regions. Visitors can pick one and listen either through headphones or in a shared listening area.
Down on the second floor are the more conventional elements of the pop-up, including a merchandise shop and photo booth. A stamp tour also runs throughout the venue, with visitors collecting stamps from different activities that can be exchanged for merchandise.
3 nights, 3 genres
Spotify House Seoul debuted in the same Seongsu neighborhood last November. This year's edition is larger, with live shows divided into a different genre focus on each of its three performance nights.
Diplo is joined by Riize, Rescene and Yves for Thursday's Electronic x K-Pop program. Friday shifts to indie rock with Jannabi, Hyukoh, Silica Gel, Kardi and can't be blue, followed by a hip-hop lineup on Saturday featuring Dynamicduo, The Quiett, Kid Milli & Okashii, Haon, Camo, Nowimyoung and Raf Sandou.
Tiger JK and Lil Moshpit have also been added to Saturday's bill in connection with "Roots," a new Spotify Singles track bringing together artists from different generations of Korean hip-hop. The song will be performed live for the first time on Saturday.
Spotify House Seoul remains open through Sunday, with its interactive spaces and other programs available on the final day.
jaaykim@heraldcorp.com
