A new direction
Spotify has been testing a vertical video feature in recent weeks in an attempt to cater to a growing demand for short-form video content. It was first spotted by the inventor of the hashtag, Chris Messina, on TestFlight, a platform designed for brands to test early versions of emerging platform-wide developments.The platform is, however, not necessarily known for its short-form video content or even for its affinity to keep up to date with current social media trends. It has, historically, dominated a market of its own to become the most popular music-streaming platform of its generation.
A familiar face
It may have only been discovered but critics have already noticed a number of similarities between its interface and that of TikTok with users swiping vertically to refresh their feed and tapping a heart button to like a clip.In response to these claims, however, Spotify defended its actions by reminding users that it routinely tests its features to improve user experience: “Some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning. We don’t have any further news to share at this time,” they said.
As part of a wider strategy
This news does, however, make sense with the music-streaming platform achieving great success with its hugely popular Canvas feature that was released in 2019. It allows users to upload a short 3-8 second looping video that is shown whilst a song plays.It, therefore, has the potential to transform its approach to video content and continue on its wider strategy towards capitalising on visual branding.