Bye Bye, Miss Old Spotify

For anyone worried about the potential TikTok ban, fear not. Yesterday, Spotify announced a significant redesign of its app – and it’s giving TikTok vibes.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told CBS Morning that users can expect a home screen that’s been “completely redesigned from the ground up.”

Most notably, the new design will add Previews, aka a vertical “discovery” feed that you can swipe through a la TikTok – except each clip is an audio and video preview of whatever content is being recommended. Though unlike TikTok’s “For You” page, users won’t be shown Previews as soon as they open the app.

Other features of the redesign include:

• AI DJ: Just like it sounds, an AI-powered DJ will play music that matches your tastes, and talk to you while doing it.
• Smart Shuffle: A new play mode that builds on Spotify’s existing Enhance feature by automatically updating your playlists with recommended tracks (with Enhance, you had to add them manually).

📸 Big picture: The changes are meant to increase what Spotify calls “foreground discovery” – introducing users to new content at the start of a listening session, rather than hope for it to happen during or at the end.

Though Spotify’s move may not be just about improving user experience. According to TechCrunch reporters Sarah Perez and Aisha Malik, the feeds also introduce a prominent new surface for running ads.