Spotify is bringing direct messaging back to its platform, encouraging users to recommend and share tracks, podcasts and audiobooks with fellow subscribers.
While there are various possible motivations that cynics might say are the real reason for Spotify to restore functionality that was previously ditched in 2017 - including hoovering up even more user-data or making it less attractive for subscribers to switch to rival services - the streaming giant insists messaging is returning to its app by popular demand.
“Spotify users have told us they want a dedicated space within the app to share songs, podcasts or audiobooks they’re excited about with friends and family, and an easy way to keep track of recommendations”, waxes an official statement. “Our goal”, it adds, “is to give users what they want and make those moments of connection more seamless and streamlined in the Spotify app”.
Because when you’re quietly listening to music on the tube a “moment of connection” as people bombard you with messages on yet another platform is just what you need.
That said, the official statement continues, users should still recommend and share content via other social platforms too, you know, to help promote Spotify within other ecosystems.
“You should continue sharing Spotify content directly through your favourite platforms like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, TikTok and more”, it goes on, explaining that “Messages on Spotify are designed to complement these integrations, not replace them”.
If users were to embrace messaging and build their own social networks within the Spotify platform, it could potentially make users more loyal and less likely to move to a competitor.
Previously, most music services offered access to the same catalogue for the same price point, but we are now in a marketplace where some services are a pound or two more expensive per month, which might make users more likely to switch platforms, looking for cheaper options.
If subscribers have spent years building personal playlists within one platform, that might put them off moving to a rival. However, Apple Music has just started to roll out a tool for importing playlists from rival services, which makes that process easier than relying on third party playlist transfer tools. Having a social network within Spotify is another reason why a user might not want to leave the platform.
It may also be that Spotify’s new push into messaging is linked to its plans in the superfan space, with ambitions to add extra messaging functionality down the line. Or it could be because it’s seen podcasters increasingly use platforms like YouTube to build a community around their content. Or it could simply be responding to public demand, as it insists in its official statement.
Aside from the technical implementation of messaging, the move does also pose other challenges for Spotify, in terms of ensuring the service is not open to abuse.
The streaming service has already faced challenges around content moderation - mainly in relation to podcasts, which pretty much anyone can push onto the Spotify platform - but having a social networking element within the app will add to those challenges. And at a time when, especially in the UK and Europe, regulators are expecting platforms to do more to ensure their networks don’t facilitate online abuse.
Aware of that, Spotify’s announcement about the new messaging functionality stresses that “users have the choice to accept or reject message requests from friends and family”. And, it adds, “Spotify’s terms of use and platform rules against illegal and harmful content still apply to Messages, so if something doesn’t feel right, you can easily report that content or account”.
Whether those rules are fit for purpose in this domain remains to be seen. But, for now, Spotify says, “this is just the beginning - we’re excited to continue building and refining the experience for more Spotify users around the globe in the months ahead”.