We may not be able to access Spotify Music in many countries but for the few who have it at least the free version should have reason to smile. Shortly after filing its IPO, and now it appears the music service is now dishing out the updated UI to select users. The images flying around the inter-webs show the free version for mobile expected to roll out next week, these UI changes, which include the option to play songs on demand in select playlists, would make the free tier act more like a Premium account. Spotify is however not saying a word on the leaked imaged and has declined to comment.
New playlists on demand
While there are several notable changes in this version of Spotify free for mobile, perhaps the biggest is the new option to play certain playlists on demand, as seen with the “Gold Edition” playlist above. If a playlist can only be played in shuffle mode, that is now designated with a blue shuffle icon. Previously on the free tier, all playlists could only be played in shuffle mode.
Another new feature is the way individual songs are displayed while playing. Spotify previously used full-screen art with certain popular playlists. Now, that has seemingly rolled it out as a standard. In fact, nearly everything in this version of Spotify free is redesigned, from the Search page, which now has colorful boxed prompts like “Workout” and “Mood” to previews under playlist icons that give a heads-up on the songs contained inside (as seen under “New Music Friday,” above and to the right).
There is also a voice control feature that Spotify was testing earlier this month, which is seemingly not included in the update, for now.
After filing its recent IPO, the company is forecasting as many as 96 million paid subscribers and a 30 percent increase in revenue to $6.6 billion by year’s end. It’s predicted that the company will likely continue to focus on user subscription growth, and making the free experience better to use is crucial to attracting new people to the service.
