Watch and Listen: Introducing music videos on Spotify

[Luan]

Spotify knows that the listening experience is a way to connect artists with fans on many levels. But what if we could enhance these connections with a different perspective? 

With this in mind, Spotify is introducing a new and powerful way to listen to your favorite songs: Music Videos.

This exciting new feature is being rolled out in Beta for Premium users across more than 90 countries worldwide. At this point, Music Videos is with a limited catalog, but it includes hits from local artists and global ones like Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd, and Ariana Grande.

How to watch music videos on Spotify:

• Music Videos is being rolled out in Beta for Premium users in some specific countries. This includes Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Egypt and the United Kingdom.
• Music Videos is available for Premium users on iOS, Android, desktop, and TV devices. 
• You can access it through the Now Playing View, when listening to supported music tracks. You just need to tap the “Switch to Video” toggle and the music video will start playing from the beginning. To head back to audio-only mode, tap on “Switch to Audio”.
• You can watch the videos in either portrait or landscape modes, and it is also available for Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode.

Considering it's in Beta, Spotify will continue to improve the new feature based on feedback both from users and artists.

Currently, Spotify is working on ways to improve the experience of switching the playback from music to video and vice-versa, adopting a TimeSync transaction and this update is being released to the users gradually. There is also a 18+ content enforcement to prevent minors have access to explicit content.

I hope you are as excited as I am for this new way to enhance your connection with your favorite artists. For any feedback on the matter you may have, you are more than welcome to share it with us below on this thread.

You can find the latest updates on the topic in the official announcement from the Spotify Newsroom here.

[Luan]

Hey folks,

There's currently an issue with the Switch to video button not showing up on mobile devices that's being looked into. We'll keep everyone posted in this other thread here, check it out 👍

Cheers!

[urmomlover]

why? spotify is about audio, not videos.

[Ashwtthama]

Don’t disappoint your cult. Please keep it classic, Bad*ss like always. Don’t ruin it like Instagram.

[Ashwtthama]

Don’t disappoint your cult Spotify. Keep it classic simple like always. Please don’t ruin it like gram..🙏🏽

[Hazieel9]

i think spotify is a listening platform, not a videos app bro

[Luan]

Hey everyone! Just to clarify that, Spotify will not become a video platform. It will continue to be an audio content platform, but now the users will have one more option when listening to their favorite music. Those users who don’t want to watch the video clip, while listening to a song, will continue to be able to access only the audio content without trouble. 😄

[Bun-Bun]

How about you focus on audio, not constantly wrecking the UI and actually giving an option to block pop up ads/suggestions?

No one wants music videos.

[rjh35ster]

NO. There's YouTube for that. Adding videos will just take up more display real estate, like all this jam **bleep**!

[Liekeling]

Wow, speak for yourself in stead of making broad statements. I like this feature. 

[wh1708612267pbn]

If i'm listening to music playback in a Spotify Connect device controlled from Desktop, will starting a music video in the AndroidTV app crash that music playback and ruin the queue?

[iamcr]

Quite a lot of the time, the audio from the music vid is different from the actual track itself, giving us more choice 

[iamcr]

why is this feature not working on android? there isn't any button to switch to video on a song, and if I do find the video on the artists profile, it won't load all of the videos, nor will it play the video feed, just the audio. why is this the case on android?

[Munksin]

My first feedback: Im playing a playlist on AndroidTV, I see no option to switch to video mode. In the smartphone app I can then switch to video mode which starts playing the clip on TV. The problem here is that the next song will switch back to Audio mode which meanns I have to switch for every song in the mobile app.

My expectation was 1. that I could switch to video mode in the AndroidTV app 2. That it stays in my selected mode and shows the videos if they are available.

[Gulerin]

Here is my feedback: when I’m working I have the Spotify desktop app running on an extra monitor. I want to it run fullscreen playing whatever playlist or album I chose. When a song has a video I want it to play the video, otherwise just show the album art.

Currently, I have to click on a song to view the video. For each song, because the next song that plays takes it out of video mode. The way it currently works I will never watch the video’s, because it requires me to take action for every video. I don’t use Spotify actively. I have it on in the background.

[MattSuda]

I just read in the news recently that Music Videos will be coming to the USA soon!

I'm so excited! To be able to watch Music Videos in the app without having to switch to another app will be awesome!

TechCrunch article

PRNewswire article

[charlesneves]

Hello, unlike the boring ones above, I loved the inclusion of Music video on Spotify, I'm excited for the growth. At the moment I am facing a problem on the TV, even when activating the Video option, when it goes to the next one, only audio appears, even though the video is available.

[Luan]

Hi, @Gulerin and @charlesneves 

First of all, thanks for your feedback! Spotify is aware of it, and considering it's still a Beta feature, it will probably be improved in future updates, following users' feedback.

[ToneBaloney]

Just found this today and gotta say I love it. As someone who misses music videos and the days of MTV when it was only about music videos, I’m looking forward to this being enhanced and video playlists available. I’m already putting my own together in the meantime.

[robertwolf1]

Wow, that sounds like an exciting addition to the Spotify experience! Can't wait to explore the new Music Videos feature and discover even more ways to connect with my favorite artists. Thanks for the update!

[imizzyirl]

No, the main point of Spotify is music, and music videos are included with that. Spotify isn’t becoming a video app, it’s just adding music videos to the experience