News + Trends
YouTube expands its podcast division
by Livia Gamper
Spotify gets a new design - it reminds of TikTok
9/3/2023
Translation: machine translated
The streaming service is rebuilding its app. Spotify's homepage will soon have video suggestions for scrolling. There are also some other innovations.
This is the new homescreen
Open the Spotify app and you'll soon see short preview videos. They replace the previous home screen with the favourites tiles, these will only be displayed at the top. The homescreen becomes a home feed with videos and pictures of your favourite artists, new music, albums and podcasts. Like TikTok or Instagram, you scroll vertically to see everything from new videos to singles, albums and playlists.
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The preview of the video clips is determined by Spotify's algorithm. When you start scrolling down, you will only see videos on this home page feed. You can add them to your favourites or watch them in full length with one click - and discover new artists. Sharing or saving is also possible.
In the feed, it will also be possible to discover related music genres and similar artists via hashtags - a feature that many subscribers have requested, according to Daniel Ek. It is also meant to help discover new music.
That Spotify is now focusing on videos on the home screen is not surprising. After all, apps with short videos - first and foremost TikTok - are increasingly determining how users discover new music.
The music app is also intended to help users discover new music.
The music and podcast tab remains
On the top of the new home screen, as before, the music and podcast tabs are displayed, where you can sort by category. If you press on one of the tabs, the discovery feed with videos will appear again for you to click through. Only at the top you can still see the suggested music mixtapes and podcasts.
With podcasts, all artists are also given the opportunity to provide video podcasts. Until now, only those who use Spotify's Anchor platform were able to do this. With this, Spotify is probably trying to catch up with Youtube, which recently expanded its podcast division and is now focusing on video.
This is what else is new on Spotify
In addition to the revamped home screen, the streaming service has announced a few other new features: There are even more videos, namely on musicians' profiles, where they can now embed 30-second videos. There, they can show personal insights or, for example, the background of a song. The function is called Spotify Clips and is intended to strengthen the possibilities for interaction between fans and artists.
Further features are available on Spotify.
In addition, podcasts will in future have chapters with time information for jumping back and forth. There is also a new "Smart Shuffle" function. With this, you can add song recommendations to existing playlists.
Not a word was said about the expansion of the HiFi offer. Spotify promised this a while ago, but it has not yet been implemented.
The update with the redesigned app will be rolled out for premium and free accounts in the next few days. Spotify does not disclose an exact schedule by country.
Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.
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