Spotify is bringing stories to its app for some reason — check it out now
- nov
- 30
Spotify wants to join in on the Stories party, because everyone else is.
What you need to know
- Spotify joins a number of social media apps in bringing a stories feature to its application.
- The feature is currently in public testing as many users seem to have access to the stories. Spotify is mum on whether or not the feature will expand.
- The company has partnered with several celebrities to contribute to stories on various curated playlists, including Christmas Hits.
Whether you like it or not, Snapchat has started a bit of a social media revolution. The short form, disappearing videos inspired the likes of Instagram, Facebook, and most recently Twitter to implement similar features. Even Slack wants to implement a similar stories-like feature before the end of the year, in order to provide "a little bit more of a human way of giving updates". Now, an unlikely entry into the stories realm comes in the form of Spotify, who is now publicly testing the feature.
Listeners should be able to get a look at the feature in action by visiting the a few different Spotify-generated playlists, such as Christmas Hits or Tear Drop. Megan Thee Stallion also has stories featured on the enhanced playlist of her album, Good News. If a playlists has stories, there will be a prompt at the center of the banner, and clicking it will open up the stories, which function similarly to other apps. Spotify has teamed up with a few celebrities on the feature, which Engadget has confirmed is currently still in testing.
Spotify has stories now....
— TmarTn (@TmarTn) November 27, 2020
S P O T I F Y
This has got to stop pic.twitter.com/xsurbrJblx
Seeing as how it's still being tested; the feature is quite limited and straightforward. Spotify listeners don't seem to be able to add stories of their own, and it's unclear if that's even in the cards. "Some of those tests end up paving the path for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning," Spotify told Engadget. "We have no further news to share on future plans at this time."
It is curious to see if more popular music streaming services would make broader use of stories. Something like this would seem to make a little more sense on something like YouTube and YT Music, which is focused on video and has added a few social features lately. At the current pace of adoption, we may not have to wait long before others roll out this feature too.