Spotify now looks like TikTok for some reason
TikTok's endless scroll has come to Spotify along with features you may recognize from other social media apps
Spotify has received a major redesign that brings the audio streaming app closer to the look and feel of social media platforms like TikTok.
Hot on the heels of a subtle change to the plus button, a bunch of major new features have been added and the home screen overhauled to make it easier for users to discover new artists, podcasts and audiobooks.
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Spotify update
💅 Spotify has been given a TikTok-like makeover
📱 The audio streaming app now includes an endless feed of content
🔎 It’s designed to make discovering new artists and podcasts easier
🤔 The Spotify home screen now looks like many social media apps
As described in an announcement blog post, the Spotify app is now packed with an endless vertical scrolling feed of song, show and artist previews, rather than rows of album covers. It apes the algorithmically driven layout of social media apps, coaxing users to try new shows by serving them an ever-evolving playlist of content.
“We’ve found that the next generation of listeners craves better ways to sample audio before fully diving in,” reads the blog post.
“So get ready for a more active experience with advanced recommendations, a spotlight on visual canvases, and a completely new and interactive design—all to make discovering new audio easier than ever before and help introduce users to their next favorite artist, podcast, or book.”
The search tab has also been overhauled to include a personalized feed of short song clips taken from some of your most-listened genres. You’ll again be able to save songs, playlists and artists, or preview tracks, removing yet more barriers to discovering content.
“Thanks to both of these new feeds of visual clips, you can scroll purposefully through music, podcast, and audiobook previews until you find something you like,” reads the blog post.
“And don’t worry—your Favorites aren’t going anywhere. Your shortcuts, or most recently played, will still appear at the top of your Home feed, so you can easily dive into whatever you were listening to last.”
A new Smart Shuffle feature will keep the music coming with tracks to “match the vibe of an original user-generated playlist”. It will supplement your chosen songs with Spotify’s own recommendations that it reckons will be “perfectly tailored suggestions”. An autoplay feature has also been added for podcasts, which will initiate the start of another episode – supposedly picked to match your taste – as soon as the previous pod ends.
The update is a major overhaul to Spotify that signals its future direction. The app is increasingly looking more like a general audio streaming platform than one specifically designed for music, and these new features seem calculated to nudge users into the many podcasts, audiobooks and streams they may not have been aware of.
Just as Twitter recently adapted its feed to push algorithmic content, Spotify’s makeover looks similarly TikTok-inspired. For those who rely on the app to discover new songs and podcasts, it might be a boon. For those who don’t like the oppressive addiction of endless content suggestions, it might feel more like an unwelcome distraction.