Spotify turns to video with a new TikTok-like stream
Get ready: Spotify is following in the footsteps of every other social media company and turning to video. At the company’s annual Stream On event on Wednesday, it unveiled a new home stream that prominently displays video, in addition to song snippets, podcasts and audiobooks.
The new stream starts rolling out today, March 8, and will roll out to more users in the weeks and months to come. Your Music and Podcasts streams and shows will no longer be a series of album and podcast covers stacked next to each other. Instead, you will now see a vertical flow similar to ICT Tac And instagram which plays previews of content alongside videos made by creators that take up the entire screen. Spotify-curated playlists like Discovery Weekly and Rap Caviar will also have previews and videos.
Spotify is about to change a bit.
Credit: Spotify
Spotify’s update aims to help users find more content on the platform. The idea is that users will scroll through their feed and see snippets of content which they then save for later. But these changes seem to miss what people really appreciate about the app: all the music they love being in one place.
Right now, people aren’t opening Spotify to see videos from their favorite artists, but the company is looking to change that. It wants to become a one-stop-shop for content. These updates are another case of a social media platform trying to incorporate video first content in a way that may adversely affect the user experience.
The new streams were announced at Spotify’s second Stream On event, where it also unveiled an extension to video podcasts — a type of podcast that’s currently thriving on YouTube — and a partnership with Patreon.
These updates come weeks after Spotify launched its AI DJ which is used to recommend music to users. It integrates Spotify discovery playlists, so you don’t have to choose one by yourself.
Spotify continues its mission to be the one place you listen to everything and anything.
