Spotify Debuts New Scroll-Style Discovery Feed
Spotify, the leading global music platform, is leaning towards the endless video feeds that you might see on apps like TikTok and Instagram. The app's UI is getting a big redesign, and the focus is on offering previews to boost content discovery. The first major change is the discovery feed, which now features personalized recommendations for songs, playlists, and albums in the form of video slides.
These short video snippets offer a glimpse into the song and the artist behind it, complete with the track playing in the background. You can choose to hear a snippet, while tapping on a playlist or album preview will offer a glimpse of the tracks in that bundle. Folks that are paying for a Premium subscription will also see the AI DJ feature that offers a selection of songs and some history on the artist, song, or album.
Spotify is also implementing a similar approach for the dedicated podcast hub. Just like music recommendations, you will also see podcast recommendations in the form of video previews right at the top, where you can watch a short snippet of a video podcast episode. Interestingly, if the volume is disabled, you can get a taste of a recommended podcast through real-time transcript of the audio clip.
Boosting discovery with previews
Spotify is not leaving audiobooks behind, especially after expending a ton of money into the venture and even going after Apple to save its ambitions. The app's audiobooks hub will also offer personalized recommendations just the way you see get them for music and podcast. Unlike songs, which are short, audiobooks will be up for grabs into the following formats. Audiobook previews will be longer and up to five minutes in length.
But these previews are not merely eye candy. Aside from offering a teasing look at the recommended content, you will also find playback controls. More importantly, users will also be able to add the content to their library, line it up in a queue, and even download it through the preview card. The play button will launch the full song playback, while the "continue listening" option will seamlessly guide you to the full podcast episode.
Spotify says it has started to roll out audiobook, music, and podcast previews to users, both free and paid subscribers. Audiobook previews are currently limited to Spotify audiences in the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, while music and podcast previews are available globally, according to the press statement.