Spotify is steadily becoming a less social service, even as most social platforms from Facebook to TikToc are putting music front and center. It’s a contradiction that’s not lost on some Spotify users.
“Today I found out that in the section ‘Discovered On’ there are no other playlists anymore than the ones curated by Spotify themselves. They don’t support people to create their own playlists and keep promoting nothing else than their own stuff. Another big disappointment in a line of many.” writes user danmix on Reddit.
“Time for something new…”
danmix was not alone:
“First they did away with messaging. Then they did away with song sharing to other users.,” writes RrentTreznor “Yeah, it’s the best streaming service (by default), but they completely ruined the social functionality part. No idea why, either. Could run just as well with users still communicating with one another.”
The net effect of fewer social features is that new music on Spotify is less viral, unless perhaps it gets placed on an official Spotify playlist. That is a major label game, say these Redditors, and many in the indie community agree. Some users also believe that the same major labels forced Spotify to remove social features specifically to limit music discovery.
“I firmly believe that Spotify removed social stuff due to pressure from the major labels that currently allow them to use their music,” writes Barncore. ” No more messaging, no more notifications, etc etc, basically no way for users to make things go viral. The labels have the influence/power to make things viral.”
Others chimed in saying, that at the very least, they should be able to message their followers on Spotify.
It’s Your Move, Daniel!
While there’s no proof of a major label kabal forcing Spotify to cut social features, it is true that more social options on the streamer would benefit independent artists and labels.
If Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek is going to be true to his word to “unlock the potential of human creativity – by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art, and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it,” he need to make it possible for them to talk to each other. Because if they can’t find music + social on Spotify, they’ll find it somewhere else.