new feature is turning Spotify into a streaming app and social media combined.
Besides the existing interactive features, Polls and Q&As, the streaming app introduced the comment section for Podcasts. Spotify is creating a social networking experience for creators and streamers.
Spotify has been updating the experience towards interactive features since 2023. Last year, they introduced a feature similar to TikTok’s and Instagram’s discovery page. The possibility to post stories, list merchandise, and next concerts on artist's pages, allows artists to communicate with the fan base on the app.
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The comment feature is available for Podcasts only. Users can share their opinions about the episodes, give feedback, or even give ideas to the creators for future episodes. Up till now, this was not possible, the listeners had to use another social media platform to interact with the creators. Platforms like YouTube and Instagram were the ones used by fans to comment on artist's work. That is about to change because Spotify allows that directly, making the listening experience more complex.
Spotify’s VP of Podcast Product, Maya Prohovnik, revealed the statistics results they used to make the update. More than 9 million unique users have interacted with the already existing interactive features on the streaming app. Music streaming is more effective than before in terms of loyalty because of the Q&As and Polls because the users feel included.
Maya Prohovnik declared “We’ve found that listeners who interact with a show are four times more likely to return to that show within 30 days”. She also mentioned that this type of user listens twice as much as people who don’t. This proves that this interactivity is a need for the Spotify consumer.
This feature is available only for podcasts which makes the community question: Is this going to apply to music streaming as well? Artists will be able to interact with the fans on the comment section of their albums or singles? The official answer doesn’t confirm or deny the possibility. The music streaming service considers that and if they decide it will be beneficial to artists and listeners they will implement it.
This idea is not new, other streaming platforms like YouTube, Sound Cloud, or Genius have it. Even Apple tried to implement 2010 a social network app for music, called Ping, and a social network for creators, called Connect. However, Spotify is, according to statistics, the most popular music streaming platform, so consumers will benefit from and use this feature.
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