Does Spotify now want to be like TikTok?

Spotify wants to turn the entire home screen of its app upside down. What seems like a step in the direction of TikTok is intended to make it easier for users to find new content.

Spotify has developed into a central player for music and podcasts in recent years. In the fourth quarter of 2022, the streaming service already had 205 million users with a paid premium subscription to count. A year earlier the figure was 180 million.

But Spotify is also steadily increasing in monthly active users. Here the figure was in the fourth quarter of 2022 489 million monthly active usersan increase of around 20 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

But despite the considerable growth, the streaming service has now revised its central home screen and at the annual event Stream On presented.

What plans does Spotify have for its app?

The US magazine The Verge designated the new Spotify design as a mixture of TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. And indeed, after the makeover, the home screen looks more like the well-known short video feeds from social networks.

Because Spotify will also rely heavily on images in its design in the future. The screen is also designed for vertical scrolling. The group wants to make it easier for its users to find new content in the app.

Spotify wants more than just music streaming

The company has moved further and further away from pure music streaming in recent years. Over the years, the group has expanded its offering with podcasts, audio books and live audio.

But that’s exactly what made the app very confusing at times. Loud The Verge the redesign could help “make more room for all these new types of content.”

What should the home screen look like in the future?

The start screen in the Spotify app will continue to be peppered with suggestions in the future. The new design complements these with auto-playing previews, which users can now listen to or watch more easily with one click.

This preview function should enable users to discover new music, podcasts or audio books and save them directly or continue listening to them. Users can also share content with others via this preview.

But artificial intelligence also plays a central role here. Among other things, Spotify has also introduced the new Smart Shuffle function. The new random playback is said to be based on a more personalized AI.

The AI ​​temporarily adds tracks to the existing playlist. These are recommendations from the streaming service that users might like.

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