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# Spotify Launches Serendipity – A Real Time Global Listening Map, Artists In Residence Program
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/spotify-launches-serendipity-a-real-time-global-listening-map-artists-in-residence-program/
- Published: 2014-08-21T10:17:26.000Z
- Updated: 2014-08-21T10:17:26.000Z
- Description: Spotify’s first media artist in residence, interactive artist Kyle McDonald, has created Serendipity, an animated world map that shows when and where someone else is listening to the same song. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2014/08/spotify-launches-serendipity-a-real-time-global-
- Author: Bruce Houghton
- Tags: Music Tech, Streaming, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:38

[![Serendipity](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201a73e05dd2f970d-250wi "Serendipity")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201a73e05dd2f970d-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

Spotify’s first media artist in residence, interactive artist Kyle McDonald, has created Serendipity, an animated world map that shows when and where someone else is listening to the same song at the same time. In order to show up on [Serendipity](http://www.spotify.com/arts/serendipity/?ref=hypebot.com), two users must have started listening to the same song on Spotify within a tenth of a second of each other in different towns, cities, states, nations or hemispheres.

**"A Never Ending Worldwide Music Festival"**

“There are so many ways we’re connected to each other, but sometimes we forget, or we just can’t see it,” said creator [McDonald](http://kylemcdonald.net/?ref=hypebot.com). “In person, it’s easy to see the features we share, or when we share stories in online discussions. But we’re also connected in more ephemeral ways, and we can extract these relationships with new tools. Even though listening to music can be a very private experience, I wanted to see how often this experience is shared.”

[![Spotify logo](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201a73e05dd1a970d-115wi "Spotify logo")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201a73e05dd1a970d-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

“I’ve heard estimates that half a million people are in airplanes at any moment, forming a sort of city in the sky,” he continued. “Maybe [Serendipity](http://kylemcdonald.net/serendipity/?ref=hypebot.com) shows a similar sort of never-ending worldwide music festival. I hope that when people watch it they feel something that reminds them of listening to music with friends, and they think about what music can do to connect people.”

Serendipity, which provides a mesmerizing and jarring experience simultaneously, was built with the [Spotify Web API](https://developer.spotify.com/web-api/?ref=hypebot.com), [d3.js](http://d3js.org/?ref=hypebot.com), and [Storm](https://storm.incubator.apache.org/?ref=hypebot.com). See it in action [here](https://www.spotify.com/us/arts/serendipity/?ref=hypebot.com).

**Spotify Artists In Residence Program**

In a new initiative, artists are embedded with a Spotify team and given full access to broad range of development resources. Working alongside engineers the artists can collaborate, share ideas, and develop new work while in residence. The gaol is to inspire the Spotify team with new thinking and perhaps to teach artists something new about music and technology that pushes their work in new directions.

More info [here](https://www.spotify.com/us/arts/?ref=hypebot.com).

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