I've spent the last 10 years building a solid taste profile with my Spotify Premium account, and it's been a big part of the reason why I've stuck around for so long. Why would I suddenly switch music streaming services and destroy what I've built?
There are a lot of Spotify features I think are useful for a good listening session, but since signing up to a free Apple Music trial, I've noticed some big faults on Spotify's side. While I'm not completely set on making the switch (I've gotten too comfortable with Spotify), I'm not entirely put off by the idea.
I'll need some time to miss Apple Music first before I consider returning and potentially say goodbye to Spotify. With that said, these are five vital changes Spotify needs to make if it still wants my money.
1. Lift cover art restrictions
Recently I’ve been really getting into experimenting with Spotify’s custom playlist art feature, and it’s been pleasant to say the least. It’s a fun way to spruce up your playlists and give them personality, but there are some setbacks.
When you create a custom cover for your playlist you can use everything from text, images, stickers, and even use different editing techniques, but there’s a limit. At the moment, you can only add a maximum of five images from your phone’s photo gallery and 10 stickers from Spotify’s collection – which doesn’t offer much variety anyway.
But above all, the main issue with custom playlist art in Spotify comes down to the fact that once you make a playlist cover, you’ll have to start from scratch if you want to update it or make changes.
2. Improve lyrics feature
I use the lyrics feature quite often, and I think it’s a quick and easy way to learn the words to songs for an upcoming live gig. However Musixmatch, the company that provides lyrics to songs in Spotify, is holding the service back big time.
In addition to synchronization issues, my biggest dislike with Spotify’s lyrics is that you have to wait a few days after a new song is released to be able to view them, whereas with Apple Music they appear almost immediately. Compared to Apple Music, Spotify’s lyrics are simply no match.
3. Declutter its messy interface
There’s no ignoring the fact that Spotify’s interface across different sections of the app is quite cluttered. The Home and Library pages are my biggest peeves, but it all comes down to filtering options.
Instead of having designated sections in your Library for your saved albums, artists, and playlists like Apple Music, Spotify loves to throw everything into one big disorganized list, leaving you to navigate its confusing filters to find what you’re looking for.
4. Convince me that it actually knows music
Spotify has some solid editorial playlists – ‘Alt Now’ and ‘Lorem’ are some of my favorites – but I wish it would show me more of these in my Home page instead of trying to shove its ‘Made for you’ playlists down my throat.
One thing that’s stood out to me since dabbling in Apple Music is its strong editorial team, who are responsible for features such as Set List playlists and album descriptions. These simple additions show that Apple Music has its ear to the ground when it comes to touring artists and the current climate of music. Spotify has yet to convince me otherwise.
5. Go easy on the stats
Despite the importance of recording the popularity of songs and artists over a period of time for things like Spotify Wrapped, having stats plastered everywhere in the Spotify app has changed the way we choose to listen to music. Taking away stats removes any sort of pre-determined judgement of a song or artist’s credibility, therefore creating a listening experience that’s more open-minded.
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