A few years ago the joke was that Google would finally add a separate messaging service in all its apps, regardless of how little the meaning was. Fortunately, the research giant has given up on that idea, but Spotify is here to make it alive, in a certain sense.
The streaming giant has just announced the messages, which – you guessed – is a messaging service built in Spotify. Why? Well, according to Spotify, users said they “want a dedicated space within the app to share songs, podcasts or audiobooks of which they are enthusiastic about friends and family and a simple way to keep track of the advice”.
Here’s how the messages were born. It will begin to launch this week to both free users and premium subscribers of age equal to or over 16 years “in selected markets”, but interesting only on mobile devices.
Spotify says that “the right recommendation can trigger an excellent conversation with those closest to you” and “messages are a quick and convenient way to share and chat on what you are listening to with the people you care about”, but never once explain in its official press release because you cannot do it in WhatsApp or iMessage or Instagram or Facebook Messenger or Telegram.
Spotify messages are only one against one, unlike the above apps where you can also share (and talk about) in groups. You can share Spotify content and start a message with people you interacted first through Spotify. Otherwise, you will have to use a message request system.
When you listen to a song, a podcast or audiobook, you can touch the sharing icon, select a friend and send it to them. Once a message request has been accepted, you can react with emojis, send messages and “perfectly share spatify content back and forth” – you know, just as you have been able to do it for years on the messaging apps that you are already using for everything else.
To access the Section of the new messages of Spotify, go to the profile photo in the upper left corner. You will see the people suggested with messages based on the fact that you have previously shared the Spotify content with them, united jam, mixed mixtures or playlists or if you share a family or duo plan.
Fortunately, you can simply ignore it and continue to share content on other platforms such as before: you can even give up messages entirely through the settings. Messages on Spotify “are designed to integrate these additions, not to replace them”, says the company.
When it comes to privacy, it is complicated. Spotify says that conversations “are protected with the standard encryption of the sector” when the data are “stored and when they are on the move”. However, “Spotify will use proactive detection technology to scan messages for certain illegal and harmful content” and its moderators will examine this content.
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