Spotify tries asking users to record audio reactions to music playlists

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

News articles have comments, YouTube has reaction videos, and now a new test sees the streaming service experiment with audio reactions for music The experiment was discovered by a user based in Vietnam.

The interface asks, 'So what do you think?' You can record an episode to discuss the topic. Below the prompt there is a green-colored record button which appears to be used to start the audio recording. Simple editing options include adding background music and tags. The microphone icon on the playlist's page appears to be where the reaction feature can be found.

In a statement, the company confirmed the test. We regularly test features that we believe will bring value to creators, and we are always looking for ways to enhance our users' experience on our platform. There is a limited test of in-app audio creation that we are currently running. The company did not respond to the request for comment on how widespread the new test was.

Image: u/Mortical219 / Reddit

Image: u/Mortical219 / Reddit

A fundamental part of the online experience is user engagement, which encourages users to become a part of the conversation after reading an article or watching a video. TikTok's Duets are a core feature of the service offering. The test seems to be an attempt to bring similar social elements to music, and hopefully benefit from the increased user participation.

The discovery of the test comes a little over a month after Spotify was spotted experimenting with allowing users to record and post podcasts directly from the app. Some users in the US and New Zealand were able to use the feature.

Simple audio reactions make a lot more sense than asking users to record a full episode of a show. Users have come to expect high production values from podcasts, which may be hard for a mobile app to duplicate. Users might be more willing to listen to clips recorded with a phone's microphone if the bar for short audio reactions is less.

It is worth pointing out that new features that get limited public-facing releases but never officially launch are often an experiment by Spotify. The platform has been testing everything from a TikTok style discovery feed to NFT galleries for musicians. It has been more than a year since the company gave a flashy launch event for its streaming tier.