Spotify is expanding its TikTok-style song and podcast feeds to more places on its app.
The update is built around dynamic artwork and video, allowing users to scroll through an endless reel of condensed tracks and audio.
Song previews also feature hashtags that enable users to jump between feeds in different genres, from the relatively straightforward (pop and rock) to the esoteric (cinnamon).
The experience closely resembles TikTok and Instagram Reels, especially for tracks with visuals and video podcasts.
This being Spotify, the goal is to help users explore and discover new things, like a song you’d forgotten your favourite artist featured on, or new artists in a genre you love.
The feeds, which were previously limited to a handful of places on the Spotify app, are now almost everywhere.
Users can access them by clicking on a new GIF-style icon at the top of artist pages, album pages, podcasts and all playlists.
“This is all part of our ongoing effort to enable listeners to discover fresh finds, while also allowing them to quickly sample content they can enjoy later,” a Spotify spokesperson told the Standard.
As you scroll through a feed, you’ll be able to save songs, artists and podcasts to your library. There are also the usual controls for sharing stuff online, a mute button, options to add things to a playlist, and more. Podcast feeds, on the other hand, feel like a more solitary experience due to a lack of genre hashtags.
Spotify announced a major redesign at its Stream On event last Spring, with a focus on visuals and vertical scrolling that veered closer to social media apps like TikTok and Instagram. In addition, it offered artists the ability to share short vertical videos about a specific song or album.
The move likely pre-empted TikTok’s release of its own music streaming service - though that may have hit a snag recently after Universal pulled its music library from the app.
Spotify isn’t the only service to imitate TikTok and Instagram. In 2021, Netflix launched a feed of bite-size comedy videos dubbed “Fast Laughs.” The feature debuted on its iOS app, and was later tested on TVs.
