Spotify Adds Messaging Feature—Because We All Missed Another Way to Annoy Friends
Avery Sinclair here, your resident cynic with a front-row seat to tech’s most questionable decisions. If you thought Spotify was just for finding your next favorite song or obsessively replaying that one album from 2007, guess what? You’re wrong. Spotify wants to be your new texting buddy, and honestly, no one asked for this.
Oh, this should be *good*. Spotify, the streaming giant that once promised to revolutionize how we listen to music, has now decided it wants to revolutionize how we *annoy* our friends. The company recently announced a new feature called “Messages,” which allows users to send songs, podcasts, and audiobooks directly to other Spotify users. Yes, you read that right. Spotify wants to be your new DM app. Because nothing says “romance” like sliding into your crush’s Spotify inbox with a carefully curated playlist. Remember mixtapes? Neither does Spotify.
According to a press release from Spotify, the Messages feature is rolling out to users aged 16 and older in select markets. It’s available to both free and premium users, which is generous, considering most of us just want to listen to music without being force-fed another social feature we didn’t ask for. To use the feature, users can tap the share icon while in the Now Playing view and select someone they’ve previously interacted with via Spotify’s Jams, Blends, or Collaborative Playlists. Once the message is sent, recipients can react with emojis, reply with text, or share more content back and forth. You can access your messages through your profile in the top-left corner of the mobile app. And if you’re smart, you can reject, block, or opt out entirely. Because yes, Spotify gives you the option to avoid this mess—though the fact that it exists at all is the real crime here.
Spotify claims that users have been asking for a dedicated space to share music and recommendations. But if that’s true, why are so many people on social media—particularly on X—screaming into the void about how they *don’t* want this feature? “Who actually wants this? I have zero desire to use Spotify for anything other than listening to music,” one user wrote. Another chimed in, “I speak for everyone when I say we don’t need this feature.” And perhaps the most eloquent critique came from someone who simply begged, “Can we please not have this?” Others added, “We don’t need every app to be a chatting app,” and “I’d rather send my friends a link to my playlist on every social media platform than having to DM my friends via Spotify.” One particularly salty user called it “the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.” And honestly? They might not be wrong.
Let’s be real—Spotify has been trying to turn itself into a pseudo-social media platform for a while now. Between Blends, Jams, and now Messages, it’s like Spotify is trying to become the MySpace of the 2020s. But unlike MySpace, which at least had glitter and angsty emo bands, Spotify’s version of social interaction is clunky, unnecessary, and frankly, kind of creepy. Who wants to get a message from someone they barely know, just because they once shared a playlist? No one, that’s who.
And yet, here we are. Spotify, the app that once promised to make music more accessible, is now trying to make sure we never escape the algorithm. Because nothing says “fun” like getting a DM from your ex asking if you still listen to that one sad song you used to play on repeat. And if you thought spam was bad on email or social media, just wait until Spotify inboxes start filling up with unsolicited playlist links and audiobook recommendations.
So what’s next? Will Spotify add a dating feature? A news feed? A TikTok-style video section? At this point, anything’s possible. But if you ask me—and you didn’t—Spotify should really just stick to music. Because the only thing people want less than a DM from a stranger on Spotify is a DM from a stranger on Spotify saying, “Hey, I saw you liked the same playlist as me…”
And that’s today’s dose of reality. You’re welcome.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and New York Post
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