Spotify is going dark today. No, the streaming service isn’t shutting down: it’s starting to roll out a redesign across its desktop, mobile and web clients that “paints it black” in the company’s words. A six-month redesign process has created a new dark theme that will run across all the company’s apps. Director of product Michelle Kadir compared it to dimming the lights in a cinema when she talked to Music Ally this week: “When you log on, everything else is secondary except the music, which is popping,” she said. Also new from today: a feature called Your Music, which lets Spotify users save albums and songs in a virtual “collection” for easy access. Finally, Spotify has tweaked its Browse section to be more contextual, serving up playlists depending on the time of day/week. These are logical steps forward, although also see Spotify catching up to rivals: Rdio has had the idea of a user’s collection for a while now, while Songza pioneered the contextual playlists idea. Your Music was actually first trailed back in December 2012 at the same press event when Spotify unveiled its Browse and Discover sections, but it’s taken a while to roll out.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…