Anyone who listens to metal, rap or pop music at the age of 15 will still like it in the years to come. According to various studies, one’s own taste in music develops in early adolescence. This phenomenon can be easily observed at the ubiquitous 80s or somewhat more special Depeche Mode parties, which still exist all over the country. The customers there are often over 40 – and dance to the music of their youth.
While young people in the 80s were still content with recording “their” music on cassettes for the “Schlager der Woche” on Bayern 3, today the video app Tiktok is the medium for discovering new music. And often in clips that are only 30 seconds long. Hearing sequences of notes without seeing someone dance to them, be it the original singer or school friends imitating the New German “moves”, is no longer an option for many young people. And in order not to fall behind here and not to lose the young target group, the world’s largest music streaming site Spotify is now adapting to this trend.
It is said to be the biggest change since the app was launched
Spotify is redesigning its app and introducing a new so-called “Home Feed”. And it’s not a simple list of songs, as you’ve known it from the streaming service so far. The new offer includes short video clips à la Tiktok, which suggest new music, but also podcasts and audio books to users. Spotify founder and boss Daniel Ek speaks of the “biggest redesign since the launch of the smartphone app”.
The new app version of Spotify is still quite unobtrusive. At first glance, not much has changed. The new Home Feed with the video clips is still hidden behind buttons at the top of the screen. So if you are satisfied with simple playlists, you can simply ignore the new offer at the moment. However, the Tiktok generation has to actively search for it in order to get into the area where the preview clips automatically start playing.
The Swede David Ek is the founder and boss of the music service Spotify.
(Photo: picture alliance / dpa)
But it will probably not stay that way. The format is being optimized, said product manager Gustav Söderström at the presentation on Wednesday in Los Angeles. And also: “The most important thing we can do for artists at Spotify is to reduce the distance between their art and the people they love.” Accordingly, you also measure how many songs and podcasts users make a note of when scrolling through the new video feed.
Spotify currently has around 489 million users. Of these, 205 million people pay ten euros or more for a monthly subscription so that the songs and podcasts are not interrupted by advertising. Founded in 2006 by Swede Daniel Ek, the service has shaken up and massively changed the music industry itself. The Tiktok generation only knows CDs from their parents’ shelves anyway – if they haven’t already bashfully carried their expensive collection (30 marks a piece!) down into the basement themselves and created a “family account” for partners and children on Spotify have. Now they have to change again – or they will reorient themselves and download the original, namely the Tiktok app.