In a move to further enhance its social features, Spotify has unveiled ‘Jam,’ a new tool that enables up to 32 users to collectively build a playlist in real-time.
This feature builds on Spotify’s existing ‘Collaborative Playlist,’ launched in 2020, and the multi-person playlist option ‘Blend,’ introduced last year. Collaborative Playlists allow users to invite friends to add songs to an existing playlist, while Blend generates a shared playlist for two users based on their music preferences.
As of Tuesday (September 26), Spotify reported that users have created over 45 million Blends and collectively spent more than 200 million hours listening to Collaborative Playlists.
The music streaming giant says Jam enhances the group listening experience by combining these features with new personalization technology. Premium users can invite others to contribute through a shared queue, allowing each member to select a song for real-time listening.
Hosts of Jam playlists, who must be Premium users, can invite a mix of Free and Premium users, regardless of location. To initiate a Jam session, users select a playlist or song and click the ‘Start a Jam’ option, accessible via the speaker icon or the three-dot menu.
Participants on the same shared Wi-Fi network will receive prompts to join the Jam when they open Spotify. Each Jam member can add songs to the queue, view contributor details, and receive personalized recommendations on their own devices. Playlist management is limited to the host, who can adjust the track order and remove songs that don’t align with the collective vibe.
The launch of Jam follows Spotify’s beta release of Group Session in 2020. This feature grants Premium users worldwide the ability to synchronize their listening experience.
This latest addition joins Spotify’s suite of personalized playlists, including ‘Daylist,’ a playlist that tailors itself to users’ changing moods throughout the day, introduced just two weeks ago.
The platform also offers ‘Discover Weekly’ and ‘On Repeat’ playlists, both of which are already available for brand sponsorships.
The development also follows the introduction of Spotify’s Niche Mixes in March, which are uniquely personalized playlists that combines all user mixes “in a playful way.”
Spotify seeks to maintain its dominance in the global streaming market and attract a wider user base. By the end of the second quarter, Spotify’s Premium subscriber count surged by 10 million paying users from the preceding quarter, reaching a total of 220 million.
This surge translated into Premium revenue of €2.773 billion (approximately USD$2.93 billion) in Q2, marking a 14% increase from the previous year.
Elsewhere at Spotify, leaked code has reportedly revealed that the long-rumored ‘Supremium’ plan by the company is set to offer 24-bit Lossless music and the ability to make playlists with artificial intelligence at a monthly subscription price of $19.99 per month.
On Monday (September 25), Spotify said it is piloting what it described as a new “groundbreaking” AI-powered Voice Translation tool for its podcasts that can can translate podcasts into additional languages, all in the podcaster’s own voice.
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