Spotify's New Campaign Is Basically Like A Huge Global Listening Party

Spotify is bringing people together through music, even when they're hundreds of miles apart. Its new global campaign makes it possible to see what people are listening to in different areas of the world at any given moment. Spotify's new "Listening Together" website connects you with users around the world who share your same taste in tunes.

If you've ever wondered whether someone in the world is listening to the same song as you — at the same exact time — then you'll be excited to check out Spotify's Listening Together campaign. The music streaming platform says more than 30,000 people around the world press play on the same song every second, according to their user data. Thanks to an experiment back in 2014, from media artist Kyle McDonald — who came up with the idea of finding two people who were simultaneously pressing play on the same song — Spotify's concept was born. The brand officially launched the Listening Together campaign on Thursday, May 7, which brings these global music connections together in a visual world map.

When you visit Spotify's new Listening Together website, which you can only access through the website link, you'll see a 3-D globe with location markers. The markers represent users who are hitting play on the same song in different locations. Spotify bases the data that you see on what's happening on the Spotify platform in the app and on the desktop version. Click on one of the markers and you'll hear the song that both of these users, connected by music, are playing in real-time. So when you listen to it on the site, you'll also be listening to the same song at the same time other users are. You'll find multiple music connections across the globe on the map, and can scroll through to find a song you like, so you can listen along with them at the same time.

Spotify uses listener data to provide the locations on the Listening Together website, but no identifying user information — like names or addresses — are shown on the site. The only thing publicly shown is a location tag, which lists which city and country the song is currently streaming in. However, the extent of what personal information is shared with Spotify in the process of receiving the location data is unknown, but it's done in line with Spotify's current privacy policy.

The Listening Together feature is not available on the Spotify app or desktop player, but using the website is easy enough to use. To scroll through songs until you find one you like, click the "Next Track" button, located between the sound button and the globe icon. You'll come across a variety of songs in different genres, depending on what users are currently jamming out to. For instance, when I used the site, I came across two users — one in the Philippines and one in Germany — who were both listening to Alicia Keys' "No One," as well as two users listening to Michael Jackson's "Earth Song" in the Philippines and India.

Once you hit a tag, the song will play automatically, but you can keep hitting the "Next Track" button to find different connections, or drag your mouse around the globe and click on them manually. You can mute the sound with the sound button on the left, and if you want to go back to the globe and manually scroll for a connection, click the globe icon. If you'd like to share the site with others, there's a share option on the lower right side of the screen.

This new website comes after Spotify launched Listening Together playlists curated by some of your favorite artists, like Selena Gomez and Normani. So if you're ready to feel like you're jamming out with good company, there are plenty of ways to get going on Spotify.