Music is inherently social, but fans don’t like to be told what to do. This past weekend, Spotify released a new feature called ‘Tweet the Beat’ to randomly prompt users via a pop-up to thank Rihanna for her new single via Twitter. But it seems that backlash, including publications calling it ‘spam,’ has made the service rethink this feature.
In its initial launch on Saturday, both free and premium Spotify users were randomly prompted with a pop-up to thank Rihanna for her “Bitch Better Have My Money” single via a pre-written tweet to send to their Twitter account. The editable tweet also included a Spotify link to the track.
Thanks @Rihanna for the new single!! Turn it up and you’ll love it in like four five seconds! #BBHMM http://t.co/Vo1cFNnORf
— Paola Diaz (@pdiaz1725) April 11, 2015
The Verge spoke to a representative at Spotify on Monday, who confirmed that the ‘Tweet the Beat’ program began with just Rihanna. “What you’re seeing is a new feature called Tweet the Beat which lets listeners express love and appreciation towards the artists they follow or listen to often, and has been designed as a great way for fans to get closer to their favorite artists.”
That sounds all fine and dandy, but Spotify users didn’t agree with the feature which isn’t much more than a cross-platform ad for Spotify. This morning, Diffuser.fm found that the feature wasn’t working and reached out to a Spotify representative.
“We’re always testing new things on our different platforms and to various user groups,” said the spokesperson. “We don’t have any more information to share right now — but as soon as we do, we’ll let you know.”
It seems like this was a feature that Spotify was testing out to differentiate the streaming service from other players in the ever-growing music streaming market, and it may be shut down.
Considering recent developments in Jay-Z’s hi-fi service Tidal and the upcoming Beats/Apple service, we expect more updates to Spotify’s interface. We’ll keep you updated.
