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Spotify is preparing to roll out what it’s hailed as the “biggest evolution” to its popular music streaming app to date.
Announced at its Stream On event this week and set to roll out over the coming months, its 500 million users will see their home screen get a substantial makeover that founder Daniel Ek says will see the platform “come alive” with different content – from videos to audiobooks.
But it didn’t take long for observers to point out that the new look was not particularly new at all. Quite the opposite, given its attempts to become an all-encompassing attention-sapper now has it looking like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram were piled into a blender and smothered over your phone screen with no room to spare.
Open Spotify once the revamp is complete, and your home screen could autoplay a video podcast you might like; tapping into the music or podcasts section will bring up a vertical scrolling feed of content, keen to entice you into trying new things and keep you “engaged”.
Remember when it just wanted to play music?
“Spotify must go back to the heart of its brand – put sound first,” says Grace Bilney of creative agency Redhouse.
“The new design is confusing and image-led. It sends the wrong message.”
It’s an assessment shared by many of those who watched the Stream On event.
Music producer Tommy Danvers, who has worked with artists like Kylie Minogue, Janet Jackson, and Tom Jones, thinks efforts to echo a TikTok-style user experience are a mistake.
“When you’ve already got an app that’s dominant within its particular field, which Spotify is, trying to compete on a different level doesn’t make sense to me,” he says.
“Muddying the waters is robbing something from the experience.”
The changing face of your favourite apps
In fairness to Spotify, it is by no means alone when it comes to apps trying to reinvent themselves.
While most would consider Spotify’s main…
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