Spotify, at its ‘Stream On’ event, announced the biggest evolution of its app on smartphones. All the new features announced will be pushed to Android and iOS devices.
The recommendations are generated algorithmically, similarly to TikTok videos and YouTube Shorts.
The Spotify update shows the new TikTok-inspired home feed, which includes video and audio previews for music, podcasts, and audiobooks. The company calls this new makeover “a new, dynamic mobile interface built for deeper discovery and more meaningful connections between artists and fans” and that it’s “our biggest evolution yet.”
The new feature aims to boost what the company calls “foreground discovery,” Co-presidents Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström told the Wall Street Journal. Rather than discovering new music through viral TikTok trends and coming to Spotify to stream it, the company wants users to unlock new tracks natively — a factor it believes is key to retaining users.
The company believes that the new generation of listeners wants to sample the audio before completely committing to it. And so, to provide an active experience, Spotify provides a sample of the audio in TikTok-inspired short-video style in the Home feed. All you need to do is tap on the Music, Podcasts & Shows, or Audiobooks feed to explore visual and audio previews of playlists in respective categories.
Spotify is also revamping the discovery feature in Search. Spotify users can scroll down and check out the Canvas clips from tracks of some of their favorite artists or genres. Everything, right from sharing with friends, saving the song to the playlist, and following the artist, can be done from one place.
