“Extensive data analysis has shown that this feature has very low engagement. The huge disparity between the use of the feature and the manpower required to maintain it doesn’t merit keeping it running, so we’ve taken the difficult decision to remove it.”
That was Spotify’s announcement in February 2017 of its decision to get rid of its Inbox/Messages feature. Now eight and a half years on, the company is bringing messaging back to its service, hoping for higher engagement this time.
‘Messages’ will be available to free and premium users aged 16 and older, for now as a mobile-only feature in certain countries. The pitch is that this is a listener-driven comeback, but also that it will have benefits for creators.
“Spotify users have told us they want a dedicated space within the app to share songs, podcasts, or audiobooks they’re excited about with friends and family, and an easy way to keep track of recommendations,” claimed Spotify.
“For artists, authors, and creators, easier sharing means more word-of-mouth recommendations and helps create new fans… more users can spread the word about an artist’s track or creator’s podcast with their friends and family, helping drive discovery.”
Spotify is pre-populating the feature for each listener with people they have previously shared Spotify content, built collaborative playlists or used its Jam feature with, as well as people in the same Family or Duo subscription.
One big risk here for Spotify is potential harassment and abuse. Even without messaging features it has faced challenges with this in the past: for example when men have used the platform to harass their former partners, and a grooming controversy in 2023 involving playlist artwork.
Those involved using features that weren’t designed for direct communication, so one-to-one messaging comes with big moderation challenges.
Spotify addressed those in its announcement: users can reject message requests; block other users; and report messages that may break the platform rules. Spotify will also be scanning messages for “certain unlawful and harmful content”. Clear communication of all this within its app will be important.
What does all this mean for artists and their teams? The emphasis in Spotify’s announcement was on this being a feature for users to share songs, podcasts and audiobooks with one another, rather than for creators to message fans. Hence that pitch that this is about ‘more users’ spreading the word themselves.
However… if messaging is more popular on Spotify this time round, and hundreds of millions of listeners have inboxes that they check regularly within the app, there will inevitably be questions about when and how artists might be able to slide into their DMs too.
Instagram has talked up its ‘Broadcast Channels’ feature as a powerful one-to-many messaging tool for creators to reach their superfans with calls to action.
“If you post tickets, they will buy the tickets… they’re going to buy the t-shirt and they’re going to click on the links,” said Meta’s Dan Biddle in a conference keynote we reported on last November.
It would be strange if Spotify’s new Messages feature didn’t evolve into something like this, if handled carefully so that people aren’t bludgeoned by message requests from everyone they’ve ever listened to on the service.
It could be a significant evolution for Spotify’s ‘two-sided marketplace’ in the future. But would that be free for artists to use, or a paid tool? Or, indeed, both?