The Weeknd's new 45-minute concert film has launched exclusively on Spotify for 48 hours, marking a significant expansion of the platform's video content strategy. The special is part of Spotify's "Billions Club: The Series," which celebrates artists achieving one billion streams on individual tracks.

This release represents a major shift from previous Billions Club episodes, which featured Ed Sheeran and Miley Cyrus in six-minute segments. The Weeknd's extended special, produced by OBB Pictures, includes footage from a Los Angeles concert and features the artist's voiceover commentary.

Spotify's video expansion faces several challenges:

• YouTube recently overtook Spotify as the leading podcast platform in the US
• Content moderation issues persist, including unauthorized uploads and misclassified content
• Questions remain about what constitutes a podcast on the platform
• The service's Partner Program, launched in January, raises concerns about content quality and revenue sharing

The platform has been aggressively expanding its video content, partnering with Cineverse to add full TV episodes and bringing various shows to the platform. Despite these growing pains, Spotify continues to push forward with its video strategy, as evidenced by The Weeknd's special, which is prominently featured for his 117 million monthly listeners.

The move reflects Spotify's broader strategy to diversify beyond music streaming, though questions remain about content quality control and proper categorization as the platform expands its video offerings.

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