Spotify is updating its app to handle a long-standing consumer grievance with music playback — however it’s asking clients to pay for the repair. The corporate introduced at present it should introduce, finally, a separate Play Button and a Shuffle Button on the prime of albums playlists to make it simpler to play the music the best way you want. This may substitute the mixed button obtainable earlier than, which had been inconsistent throughout platforms and irritating to make use of. Nevertheless, streamers could also be disenchanted to seek out out that what needs to be an app replace in favor of higher usability is oddly being offered to them as a motive to improve to Spotify’s paid tier — the corporate says the brand new button is barely being provided to Spotify Premium subscribers.
This appears a weird selection on condition that buyer complaints had appropriately recognized a problem with the general design of the Spotify app’s interface and its consumer expertise. As one evaluate posted final yr to Spotify’s Neighborhood boards had famous, the button provided was even totally different throughout Spotify’s apps. On cellular, playlists had the mixed Shuffle/Play button, however on the desktop, the button was only a common Play Button. This was complicated for customers who switched between platforms, the put up identified. The consumer prompt Spotify merely provide two separate buttons so individuals might select how they needed to stream music, as a substitute of getting to faucet into Now Taking part in display to allow or disable Shuffle mode.
The put up acquired 647 upvotes and pages of feedback from others who agreed. It was not the one grievance of this nature on the discussion board website. Others posted related requests for separate Play and Shuffle buttons and even totally different options to the identical drawback. For instance, one particular person requested Spotify to permit customers to configure which button appeared within the app to make it a consumer’s selection.
Spotify has been engaged on this drawback for awhile. It first launched the Shuffle/Play icon in 2020 to cut back streaming to only a click on, it mentioned, and final yr made Play Button the default button on all albums for Spotify Premium customers (at Adele’s request, as you might recall). With this improve, the Play Button will stay the default, and Shuffle will probably be a separate possibility throughout the cellular Spotify expertise.
Whereas arguably a minor change to the app — it’s actually only a button — it’s clearly a characteristic that was in want of a repair in customers’ minds not a premium providing. Different main music streaming apps, like Apple Music and Amazon Music, already embody separate Play and Shuffle buttons, as an illustration.
It’s unusual for app makers to cost for one thing like a unique button, particularly when the rationale for the change is as a result of customers had been sad with the app’s performance and design. One considerably associated instance could possibly be Twitter’s subscription service, Twitter Blue, which permits customers to customise the underside bar of the app with buttons of their selecting. However in that case, the choice is extra about private choice and fast entry to favourite options — not usability. Even with out paying, Twitter’s options are nonetheless straightforward to get to in the primary navigation on the left facet of the app.
Spotify tells us the concept to cost for the button has to do with the way it perceives the advantages related to a Premium Subscription. At its core, Premium customers are paying for the choice to take heed to any track they need, on-demand. The button is considerably of an extension of that, because it’s permitting customers to decide on to pay attention on-demand in any means they need.