Spotify Adds Messaging to Keep Music Sharing In-App
Spotify is rethinking how people discover and share music, aiming to transform listening into a more social, in-app experience.
Spotify used to be the app you opened just to play music. These days, Spotify wants to be the place where music lives, moves, and gets shared. To make that happen, it’s adding a new direct messaging feature that lets you send songs, podcasts, and audiobooks straight to friends without leaving the app.
Before now, Spotify’s social tools have been pretty limited. You could follow friends, check their playlists, or join a Blend, but the real conversations happened elsewhere — in WhatsApp chats, Instagram DMs, or texts. Spotify realised it was losing part of the listening experience by pushing those moments off the platform.
With this new feature, those exchanges now stay inside Spotify. A new inbox under your profile picture will hold everything you’ve shared or received, making it easier to revisit tracks and podcasts. Messages work one-on-one, with text, emojis, and safety options like blocking, reporting, or turning the feature off entirely. The rollout starts in parts of Latin and South America before reaching other regions.
The idea is to blend social interaction with discovery, something platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube have already mastered with short video and music content. Spotify is doing it differently by keeping the focus on audio instead of video feeds or timelines. That could feel natural for music fans, though some people may see it as yet another unnecessary feature in an app that already feels crowded.
Still, there’s a big opportunity here. Other platforms, such as SoundCloud or Vampr, have shown how music communities grow when listeners can talk directly, and Spotify’s massive audience could take that even further. One day, this might even open the door for fans and artists to connect in new ways, though the company hasn’t confirmed if creators will get access to this feature.
It’s also a test of where Spotify sees itself going. Is it just a streaming service, or a full-fledged social platform built around audio? If people use it, it could reshape how music gets shared and talked about online.
It seems like Spotify wants music to be social. By adding direct messaging, it is making a serious attempt to keep those conversations in its own house.
Emmanuel Umahi
