Spotify job ads calling for Web3 expertise hint at the streaming giant's NFT ambitions

• Job advertisements from Spotify point to the music-streaming company's ambitions in leveraging Web3 technology.
• Web3 refers to the next iteration of the internet and that includes the world of NFTs, or digital collectibles.

Spotify may be looking to expand its business into the NFT space, with the music-streaming company looking to hire people with deep knowledge about Web3 and other emerging technologies.

The music and podcasts platform, which had 406 million active users at the end of 2021, is advertising two vacancies for senior-level employees who will help drive growth through leveraging technological advancements. Spotify did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. The Financial Times first reported the job postings.

The ads — one for a senior backend engineer and one for a senior manager — call for candidates with Web3 experience. Web3 refers to the next evolution of the internet which includes nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. NFTs give people ownership of digital files linked to music, artwork, and other collectibles.

That expression of blockchain-based technology has been booming recently. Trading of NFTs hit $17.7 billion in 2021, a surge of more than 21,000% from 2020, according to a market report from Nonfungible.com.

"You will work facilitate collaboration with product, insights, and design to uncover the next growth opportunity leveraging new technologies, like Web3," Spotify's ad for the senior backend engineer said.

Meanwhile, the senior manager will work on the Innovation & Market Intelligence group, a "select team of futurists" focused on long-term strategies, identifying and designing "Spotify moonshots," and other duties.

"Expert familiarity with emerging trends, technologies, platforms and ecosystems, especially as it relates to the content, creator, media, web3, and emerging technology industries," said the senior-manager ad.

Any NFT efforts would come as musicians have increasingly looked to the technology as a way to boost their income from selling music, after years of complaints that the streaming subscription model from services like Spotify has lowered their earnings compared to sales of digital files.