Serendipity is a beautiful new Spotify map for audiophiles that shows when the same song is played by two people in different cities, or countries, at the exact same time or within one tenth of a second of each person hitting play.

The song plays for a few seconds, and the map pinpoints where in the world the person is playing the song from on a map, as well as showing details from the song – the name of the artist, etc. You don’t navigate the map yourself, instead it jumps, swerves, turns upside down or swooshes from one location to the other on its own.

Serendipity isn’t live because it’s a pre-recorded representation of Spotify users’ listening patterns over one hour of one day. The data was collected using Spotify’s API and compiled by the company’s first resident media artist, Kyle McDonald.

“Although they might not speak the same languages, live in the same climates, or believe the same things, they’re playing the same song at the same time. We’ve always known that music brings people together — and now, we can see that togetherness in real time,” said Spotify’s  Eliot Van Buskirk.

It’s nice to see (and hear) how people from as far apart as Toledo and Honolulu can be united by their taste in music, regardless of their location or background. It also provides a nice listening experience and is quite mesmerising to watch.

Click over to Serendipity to view the music map – what’s interesting is that even though Spotify isn’t available in South Africa as yet, you still sometimes see songs occasionally popping up from the bottom of our continent.

[Source – Spotify. Image – Serendipity]