The news was greeted with a mixture of excitement and outrage. Spotify has announced a new feature, which is being rolled out worldwide. It isolates parts of an album, playlist, or podcast for accelerated listening. Spotify wants to change the way we listen to albums and songs. In the wake of this news, at the beginning of February, many were outraged, and it almost seemed as if hell had just opened its doors. Soundiiz reveals the ins and outs of the story.
Why is this news important?
It may seem anecdotal to some of you, but the reality is more nuanced. Today, music streaming is the most popular way to listen to music worldwide. With this hegemony have come algorithms, recommendation systems, and their consequence: playlists.
In a previous article, we detailed the different forms of playlists and why they were essential for boosting an artist’s career.
Playlists are a godsend for discovering multiple songs and artists and highlighting little-known profiles. They correspond to precise moods and genres, and the algorithms are now so accurate that it sometimes seems as if they were designed for a single person. But with these playlists, the “power” of albums has diminished.
Songs are isolated and placed in the middle of others, and many listeners no longer listen to albums in the order in which they were created but select a few to listen to repeatedly. In addition, some artists and labels play TikTok’s game, calibrating certain songs to maximize their chances of being chosen by the algorithms. Albums are sometimes less works to be taken in their entirety than a means of placing songs in playlists. It’s not better or worse; it’s just different from what was done until the early 2010s. Of course, there are many exceptions, and we don’t want to sound like we’re stating general truths here. But it’s undeniable that playlists have somewhat weakened the album format.
Adapting and always improving
Another factor is the decline in attention span, which has been discussed extensively in scientific and psychological articles. This is due to the multiplication of messages on social networks and the numerous digital solicitations we face.
Other studies also show that song lengths have been declining for several years. Some songs have been shortened, with a verse cut off, to fit in with the new calibrations designed for radio. Against this backdrop, TikTok is gaining momentum and establishing itself year after year as an indispensable component of the record industry. TikTok is reshuffling the deck and sometimes even has the power to influence artistic decisions. A streaming platform is even about to be launched. In this article, we look at the power of TikTok and its impact.
Spotify understands all this. As the leading streaming service, they know they must stay ahead of the trends. With this in mind, Spotify has revealed a new feature that has caused quite a stir.
Spotify wants to change the way we listen to albums and songs: how?
Users have spotted a small vertical icon on some artists’ pages. Clicking on it opens a new page with a video pastille associated with a song. Spotify then showcases a video with an extract from the song in question. It is cleverly put together, as the animations are pretty attractive and offer a new glance at an audio file. Spotify intends to mix videos and music similarly to TikTok.
Once on this page, several options are available. You can add the track to your library, share it on your networks and elsewhere, or access the album from which it is extracted.
It’s not quite the affront some people think it is. This new feature, which has yet to be rolled out to all artist profiles, is a clever way of highlighting songs. Eventually, it will go further for listeners who’d like to discover it in its entirety or delve into the associated album.
Another new feature is the presence of hashtags at the bottom of the screen. These can correspond to the song’s genre or mood. Clicking on one of these hashtags will take you to other songs and categories, allowing you to jump from one discovery to another. It’s ambitious and radically changes the way we use Spotify daily.
TikTok’s influence on the way Spotify wants to change the way we listen to albums and songs
For now, Spotify is not planning to revolutionize album listening but rather to multiply the points of access to a song by playing with the codes of TikTok and the Internet. Undeniably, the navigation system, sometimes called “infinite scroll,” popularized by TikTok, has influenced Spotify’s conception of this feature.
And this is where most of the dissatisfaction lies. While researching this article, we read numerous tweets and articles fearing a “Tiktokification” of the music-listening experience. Indeed, TikTok has bad press with some listeners, who see the app as a means of standardizing content creation and, little by little, killing off artistic creativity. But that’s another debate!
At Soundiiz, we think this is a smart move, and we do not doubt it will find its audience.
This feature isn’t limited to artists: it’s also available for specific playlists and podcasts, giving you a preview of episodes before, perhaps, discovering them in their entirety.
At a conference in 2023, Gustav Söderström, Spotify’s Chief of Research and Development, introduced Spotify’s new interface, explaining that they aimed to focus on discovering new songs and artists.
This feature, which is still in its infancy, aligns with this logic. Where will Spotify take it? Will it be acclaimed, or will it be criticized, as it has already begun to be? Time will tell, but one thing is sure: Soundiiz will be there to analyze all this. And to inform you all about it!
Transfer your data to Spotify with Soundiiz
Would you like to try out this new feature from Spotify? But there may be an issue: you are an Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube Music, TIDAL, or Amazon Music user. Soundiiz lets you transfer all your data to Spotify in just a few minutes.
And by “all,” we mean your likes, playlists, the artists you follow, and the albums you’ve saved. Everything can be found directly on Spotify using our Transfer function. You’ll find all the details in this article, so you’ll understand what it’s all about.
And yes, in case you were wondering, our services are 100% legal because we don’t download or retrieve any audio files.
With Soundiiz, once your Spotify account is connected to your Soundiiz account, you can delete and update multiple playlists and manage everything in one place. You can keep your playlists up to date and never out of date.
Another feature appreciated by our users is the ability to sync playlists. Let’s say you’ve been a TIDAL user until now but decided to subscribe to Spotify. You’ve hesitated because you like TIDAL’s playlists, and you’d like to be able to continue listening to them on Spotify and benefit from their updates. Soundiiz makes it possible.
Using our Sync function, you can ask Soundiiz to retrieve updates to your TIDAL playlists at your chosen frequency. And you’ll be able to find them again, effortlessly, on your Spotify account.
You can now subscribe to Soundiiz and enjoy all our services have to offer!
