Web/Mobile App Critique

 

The mobile app I chose for this week’s discussion is Spotify. Spotify is a streaming service for music, audio books, podcasts, and radio. It was created by Daniel Ek. and Martin Lorentzon in 2006 and is headquartered in Stockholm Sweden and New York. The service is available on most devices including Windows, macOS, iOS, Android smartphones, tablets, smart home devices such as the Amazon Echo, digital media players like Roku and gaming consoles like PS4 or Xbox. This app has the option of a free account or a monthly subscription. The premium subscription lets you play any song, anytime, ad-free. It will also allow the user to listen to music when offline. A user can also follow other users and share playlists.

Email and password are required to set up an account. Once you sign up, you can click on the magnifying glass icon on the bottom to search for music. You can search artists, particular song or album.

The “More Options” icon at the very top will allow the user to add to another playlist, view the album in which this song is from, add to queue and share the song with other users. When sharing the song, the user can share via text message, link, Instagram and other social media.

This is a great app and will give the user hours of entertainment but there is some room for improvement. I’m a premium user so I already spend $9.99 a month for my subscription. I love audio books and they are perfect on long drives; however, I see no reason why I need to pay a separate fee for an audio book that is 5-8 years old. I think best-sellers and new releases should have an additional cost, but older books should be free. Like the Disney + model. Disney+ allows you to stream new releases for an additional fee. Older movies and T.V. shows are free.

The sharing feature currently in Spotify allows the user to send a song, album, etc. a link to someone through text, Facebook or Instagram to name a few. However, Spotify does not have a direct messaging feature. Spotify will allow a person to follow you and be followed and they have access to each other’s playlist, but there isn’t a feature to send a follower an album, song or audio book recommendation directly through the app.

Lastly a DJ plug-in in Spotify would improve the consumer experience. As of July 2020, Spotify no longer supports third-party DJ apps. Integrating a digital turntable and being allowed to blend, manipulate, and mix tracks would be a great feature. This could be another subscription tier to give the consumer more options regarding the level of access they want or need from a music app. There's opportunity for the basic (free), premium ($9.99) or platinum/gold subscription ($19.99). Each price point having their own specialized features. 

Reference:

(2022, September 22). Spotify. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpotifyLinks to an external site.

Oztuna, Berk. (2022). DJ Software That Works with Spotify. http://www.musicianwave.com/dj-software-that-works-with-spotify/