**I am writing this content audit of Spotify without the influence of any other entity, companies, or person out there. All of these are my own observation, opinion, and thoughts based on my skills & expertise.**

I am assuming that we are all somewhat familiar with Spotify as a product by now, even if some are not a regular religious user — a music streaming platform for users to find and listen to almost any music or podcasts. The app is compatible with any smartphone, iPad (and most other smart tablets), Windows & Mac iOS, and even in web browsers if users decide not to install the app in their devices.

This content audit case study of Spotify is particularly challenging, considering the fact that there are countless millions of songs and podcasts altogether currently existing in the world, which just keeps growing by the minute.

Keeping this in mind, I am focusing this content audit to 3 questions:

How does Spotify strategize their ever-growing content to provide as much individually personalized hand-picked experience to millions of its users?
How does Spotify provide space and freedom for users to discover new content in this overly-saturated ecosystem?
How does Spotify provide opportunities for lesser-known artists out there to be “discovered” in this very competitive playing field?

There are 3 main navigation spaces : Home, Browse, Your Library.

Most of the dynamic content in Spotify is located in the middle section/column. The left & right sidebars don’t change as users navigate through the app.

I will be focusing on Home & Browse in this content audit. Please see the screenshot below.

— Home

This is the first landing page when users open Spotify.

Thought process, analysis, and questions.

Upon closing & opening the app several times, I find out that the sub content categories would change and rotate, which I assume is a deliberate content decision to keep Home a dynamic space.

Some of the categories I saw were: Your top shows, love songs, jump back in, popular with listeners of X, today’s lite pop, the state of music today, popular playlist, more of what you like, more like X, based on your recent listening, mood, recommended for today, Asian American excellence, get creative, pop.

See a couple screenshots below:

Though I appreciate the diverse range of content categorization Spotify provides me, I do wonder if it provides the best user experience, especially when there is a whole navigation space called Browse (on the left sidebar, which we will discuss more in detail later in this article).

When there are millions of audio content to choose from, having a consistent & more simple categorization might provide much better user experience in Home page.

Home page should be a clear central point where users can easily navigate & find the core intention of Spotify—to listen. Though being able to constantly discover many revolving content in Home page could be a nice addition, that functionality should clearly live under Browse.

Rotating content categories along with the options inside each of them can be overwhelming for users. This diminishes clarity when it comes to user navigation in Home page. Home becomes a hodge-podge of random content categories & suggestions.

How does “Today’s lite pop” differ from “Pop”?
What does “The state of music today” mean?
What constitute “More of what you like”? Doesn’t “Based on your recent listening” already imply “these are the songs you like”? How should they be clarified?
Isn’t “Popular with listeners of X” the same with “More like X”?
Why is there an “Asian American excellence” categories here in Home?
Doesn’t “Recently played” already imply for users to “Jump back in”? What is the purpose of “Jump back in” category then?

“Though being able to constantly discover many revolving content in Home page could be a nice addition, that functionality should live under Browse.”

Suggestions.

To me, Home should be cleaned up and have its content navigation redefined. Main question here is “How should Home differ from Browse?” The problem with Home right now is that it’s basically a mini version of Browse, which makes one’s existence redundant.

There are 3 main content elements that I would suggest for Home:

“Shortcuts” — this shows users’ most go-to selection, whether that be podcast shows, specific song, playlists, or albums. Definitely useful to provide a quick less-tap/click navigation for users. I would suggest there should be a better copy than “Shortcuts” that is a bit more descriptive. Maybe something along the line of “Most go-to” or “Frequently visited”?

“Recently played” — this is good from UX perspective since a lot of users would always want to go back and resume listening to some recent songs, playlist, and podcasts they listened to the past couple days. I would suggest extending the amount of options here (right now it’s maxed to only 8). Many users would find this limiting especially if they’d like to find something that’s past “the last 8” (e.g. from a couple weeks ago).

“Devices available”— this feature currently lives at the bottom right corner of the app. It’s one of my favorite features of Spotify—being able to smoothly play, pause, and resume content that users are listening at a given time on any device, as long as it has the same Spotify account logged in.

To me, this feature is incredibly neat & game-changing for the entire user experience flow, yet it is quite hidden. My suggestion would be to showcase this feature more prominently in Home, so users can easily see the devices available, and they could tap which device they would like to listen from and/or transfer their already-playing audio content.

— Browse

I’ve been mentioning Browse page and comparing it to Home a lot in this content audit piece so far, but this is where I’ll go more in depth with my analysis & suggestions.

Thought process, analysis, and questions.

Browse as a string name itself is already pretty clear. The purpose of having Browse as one of the main UX element in Spotify is to give freedom, to inspire, to explore fresh audio content, and to provide a more organic user experience. I see the experience of Browse as the 2021-version of rummaging through hundreds of CD albums, cassettes, and record in a music shop back in the 80s & 90s.

But similar to Home, the challenge of strategizing audio content in the platform still persists — how does Spotify provide a personalized individual experience to its users when millions of ever-growing enticing audio content are all waiting to be discovered?

“I see the experience of Browse as the 2021-version of rummaging through hundreds of CD albums, cassettes, and record in a music shop back in the 80s & 90s.”

Browse is divided into 6 sub content categories: Genres & moods, podcasts, charts, new releases, discover, concerts.

I. Genres & Moods

The intention of this category should be pretty simple & intuitive judging from its name—to provide a space of users to find audio content that fit their genre preferences and/or moods.

Yet I find that there are many confusing categories in here that don’t fit into any genre or any mood. They become a confusing experience for users. Below are some genres & moods presented.

It seems that Genres & Moods becomes a “dumping ground” of content categorization that doesn’t really belong anywhere else in the platform. Perhaps this is due to Spotify’s recent spur of growth, and not enough content strategy effort was poured into the process.

I see 7 different categories of “Genres & Moods”.

1. Typical genres—Pop, Hip Hop, Rock, Country, Metal, TV & Movies, Jazz, Classic, Punk, Alternative, Dance/Electronic, Punk, Instrumental, Soul, R&B, Indie, Romance, Folk & Acoustic.

These are definitely the standard of how we define music genres. Very natural & appropriate to have them listed here for users to find their preferred genre(s).

2. Unconventional genres—Christian, Wellness, K-Pop, Pop Culture, Funk, Anime, Comedy, Kids & Family.

These unconventional genres provide some fresh options for users to choose from, including some they normally wouldn’t immediately think of.

These genres complement “Typical genres” pretty well. I do wonder if having “Christian” here as a genre would be deemed as an inappropriate religion bias, since Spotify doesn’t categorize “Hindu”, or “Buddha”, or “Islam”, or “Jewish” music separately?

3. Activity-based categories—Sleep, Commute, Sports, Workout, Party, Cooking & Dining, Focus, Gaming, Chill.

This start to get into muddy waters. These activity-based categories are out of context a bit from Genres & Moods, though there are still some strings one can pull to connect them if one really tries.

However, they do start to confuse users of what Genres & Moods actually means and what it contains inside.

Suggestions.

Pull out these activity-based categories from Genres & Moods, and provide a dedicated tab for them. This would alleviate confusions of what Genres & Moods actually entails.

4. Cultural events/happenings with additional context behind it—Black History Is Now, Higher Ground, Pride.

These are definitely irrelevant to Genres & Moods content category. This also creates a confusion of whether Genres & Moods is reserved to only music, or also podcasts, since these 3 categories I tentatively label “Cultural events” are usually represented through podcasts more than music, though not to say there is no existing song with a “Pride” theme.

If Spotify wants to provide crystal clarity with their content communication & organization inside Genres & Moods, then they should find other merchandising opportunity for these “Cultural events” content to live in.

Suggestions.

Since these categories are very context based, my suggestion would be to run targeted marketing campaigns when time is relevant. For example, promote “Black History Is Now” as a campaign throughout February to celebrate Black History Month, or showcase “Pride” content throughout Pride Month in June 2021.

Having these categories inside Genres & Moods doesn’t quite make sense looking at the bigger content strategy.

5. Specific location—In The Car, At Home.

These location-based categories are out of place. They are also too similar to “Activity-based categories”. They could easily be consolidated.

Suggestions.

Rename these categories and merge with “Activity-based categories”.

For example: “In The Car” could be “Driving”, and “At Home” could be “Cleaning” or “Home Chill”.

6. Geography/language — Arab, Desi, Regional Mexican, Afro, Caribbean, Latin.

I do think this is a huge opportunity that Spotify hasn’t tapped into and be able to successfully represent them in a consistent & clear manner to their users.

As Spotify grows, its audience grows. And not just in terms of numbers, but also in terms of demographic & geographic locations.

These categories based on geography & language definitely deserve its own space to live in outside Genres & Moods. Putting them in Genres & Moods could also potentially be deemed as an inappropriate bias. One might ask, “Why don’t they put “English” as a category here as well then?”

Suggestions.

Think more about how these categories could be a whole separate product under Spotify that could have giant potential in terms of growth and quite possibly, revenue.

Doesn’t feel appropriate to include these categories under Genres & Moods. They should live separately in a dedicated space.

7. Out of place — League of Legends, Mood, Decades, theLINER, Spotify Singles, The Joe Rogan Experience, Radar, Tastemakers, Student.

These categories drive me crazy. Some of them are very out of place and/or confusing that I’m not even sure how to explain or audit.

“League of Legends” is a computer game. First off, not all users know what “League of Legends” is, so putting it as a separate category under Genres & Moods is doubly confusing for them (the fact that they don’t know what it is and that it is not a genre nor a mood).

Why is there a whole “Mood” category inside Genres & Moods? Seems redundant and confusing. Inside this “Mood” category are a lot of various interesting moods, but they don’t live in the correct content structure mapping. If at all, the whole “Moods” should be detached from Genres & Moods and provided a separate space where all moods would live inside.

“Decades” are very fun, but they don’t belong under Genres & Moods.

What is “theLINER”? This is bad user experience since I’m sure very few users know what it mean. And is it a genre or a mood? If not, then it shouldn’t belong here.

Though it’s nice to have a central place for “Spotify Singles” and “Radar” for new releases, it clearly lives inside the wrong category.

Who is Joe Rogan? And why is there an “Experience” related to him? Is he a genre or a mood?

What is “Tastemakers”? And why do we have a whole sub-section inside it labeled as “Genres”, “Moods & Activities”, “Labels”, and “Eras”? These seem extremely confusing and redundant, since “Tastemakers” currently lives in Genres & Moods (which is already misplaced since there is no Tastemakers genre nor Tastemakers mood).

Does “Student” mean “songs to help you study”? If that’s the case, then there’s already a whole content category called “Study”.

Why is there a whole “Mood” category inside Genres & Moods? What is “Tastemakers” and why does it have another “Genres & Moods” inside it when “Tastemakers” itself lives under the parent “Genres & Moods” already?

Suggestions.

These out-of-place categories should either be removed from Genres & Moods, or run as separate targeted marketing campaign, or somehow provided more context, or just be removed completely in order to give the best UX clarity.

II. Podcasts

I think it’s such a good strategy to reserve a dedicated space for podcasts to be featured and explored. Though I think the separation between music & podcasts should happen at a higher surface, which would allow users to pick which route they would like explore from the very beginning—music or podcast.

As a podcaster myself who releases my episodes to Spotify and have been involved in the podcaster community for some time, I know that the podcast world is growing. Podcast content needs to have the same comprehensive strategies and categorization like how music does.

III. Charts

I think Charts is already pretty well defined and clear for users to understand. It doesn’t feel out of place and it definitely should live under Browse.

However, one small note, I would suggest “Top Charts” than just “Charts”. It’s more descriptive to users from the get-go.

IV. New Releases

It definitely makes sense to have New Releases as a tab under Browse. One of the most enticing feature of Spotify is being able to discover and listen to new releases, especially the ones coming from indie artists and/or lesser-known artists.

Having this feature highlighted in its own space is a smart move by Spotify to enhance its users’ experience.

V. Discover

Do the above screenshots remind you of something?

Yes, that is correct! It looks awfully similar to Home page I analyzed earlier. All the Spotify-generated suggestions in Home could easily live here and it would provide much needed clarity for Home.

These suggestions (e.g. “Similar to X”, “Suggested based on X”, “Playlists made for you”, “Popular with listeners of X”, “Recommended for today”, etc.) totally make sense here under Browse → Discover.

However, Discover can be confusing because it competes with the meaning of Browse itself. My suggestion would be to rename “Discover” into “For You” and have it be the first landing tab when users go to Browse page.

VI. Concerts

Though I personally have never used this feature in Spotify before, I love seeing this as an extra feature inside Spotify.

This adds a new dimensionality for users to be able to search & find immediate music events near them, to which are linked with the ability to buy tickets.

Each event also lists its date, time, and venue location. Spotify becomes a central place for users to be able to see an eclectic & diverse selection of music events in a very easy manner, providing great user experience.

Final Thoughts & Summary

It’s very challenging to build a platform for such a giant ever-growing industry with never-ending new content coming out every minute around the globe. Not to mention the challenge of strategizing this massive content into a single app or platform, trying to thrive by providing a great user experience through individually personalized, almost “hand-picked” audio content for each of its millions of users.

“How does Spotify strategize their ever-growing content to provide as much individually personalized hand-picked experience to millions of its users?”

Spotify does a great job in some aspects, including all the diverse genres categorizations, recommendation models, and being able to provide a somewhat organic & dynamic user experience as it continues to introduce new content for its users to discover on a daily basis.

“These unconventional genres provide some fresh options for users to choose from, including some they normally wouldn’t immediately think of.”

Yet there are some obvious confusing and/or misplaced content within the platform that only create muddy waters for users to navigate through. There are a few duplicates of content categorization, which live inside multiple channel umbrellas and structures.

“It seems that Genres & Moods becomes a “dumping ground” of content categorization that doesn’t really belong anywhere else in the platform. Perhaps this is due to Spotify’s recent spur of growth, and not enough content strategy effort was poured into the process.”
“Home page should be a clear central point where users can easily navigate & find the core intention of Spotify — to listen. Though being able to constantly discover many revolving content in Home page could be a nice addition, that functionality should clearly live under Browse.”

As podcasting world grows exponentially the past year or so, it is important for Spotify to do justice for it and to start crafting dedicated space for it—to see it as equally rich and diverse as music. Podcasts should have an equally big of a breathing room to be roamed, easily discovered, and properly merchandized/suggested to Spotify’s users.

“…the separation between music & podcasts should happen at a higher surface, which would allow users to pick which route they would like explore from the very beginning — music or podcast.”

And just like the podcasting world, Spotify as a company itself is growing. And with this scaling up journey, its users not only grow in quantity, but also in terms of geographic locations & diversity of languages.

This is something that Spotify hasn’t been able to properly explore as a promising business model and to find a space within the platform to showcase this diversity, as well as to ultimately grow its content for users to truly experience. If they have, then it hasn’t been marketed or communicated well to the public in terms of its content marketing strategy.

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Mar 3 UX Content Strategy Audit — Spotify