Spotify Newsletter #213

Your Weekly Dose of Spotify News

May 24, 2024

Hello! Happy Friday to you all and thanks for reading the latest issue of the Spotify Newsletter.

In case you hadn’t already noticed…. here’s why your Spotify looks different today.

The music streamer designed a bespoke typeface with a genre-bending mix of font styles, line weights, and unexpected details.

Spotify’s latest update is visibly changing the audio streaming service to improve the experience for your eyeballs, rather than your ears. Spotify Mix — the company’s new bespoke typeface — is being rolled out starting today, replacing the Circular typeface variant that Spotify currently uses across its app and desktop experiences.

The name is an homage to the “dynamic and evolving nature of audio culture over the years,” according to Spotify’s global head of brand design, Rasmus Wängelin.

The result is a sans-serif typeface that blends features from both classic and contemporary styles, creating a distinctive and unique look,” says Wängelin. “We subtly incorporated the shapes of sound waves to evoke a rhythmic feel. The combination of sharp angles and smooth curves gives the typeface a distinctive character that feels quintessentially Spotify.”

Spotify Mix was created in partnership with Berlin-based foundry Dinamo Typefaces over the course of a year and a half. Spotify plans to roll out the change over the coming months, which will include updating the company’s wordmark, swapping in the font on both its app and web player, and launching new marketing materials.

→ → → Also!

Spotify is planning to kill off the Car Thing. So….. toss it in the trash because Spotify is notifying customers who purchased its Car Thing product that the devices will stop working after December 9, 2024. The company discontinued the device back in July 2022, but had said at the time that it would still support the units that had already been sold. It was a device that could be attached to a car dashboard, with its own touch screen interface for selecting playlists, searching for music, and controlling playback.

‘Refund’ looks to be word of the day as users of Car Thing are super annoyed that a device they paid $90 for will now be unusable.

Spotify initially made Car Thing available to select Spotify users, before expanding its availability to anyone with a Spotify Premium account in the United States in early 2022.

It would take a miracle for Spotify to revisit this walk down hardware road, so I doubt we’ll be seeing any Car Thing part 2 anytime soon.

★ SPOTlight★

⭐️ Billie Eilish set to hold a live listening party with Spotify

Artists can speak to fans and invite them ‘on stage’ to talk back and ask questions; there’s a text-chat window; artists can play music from Spotify itself; and promote their merch.

⭐️ Spotify CEO Daniel Ek outlines 3 new 'core' opportunities for music

Analyst Rich Greenfield of Lightshed Ventures asked EK about the possible US TikTok ban and how Spotify might take advantage of the opportunity. EK declined to comment on TikTok’s troubles while still offering an expansive response.

⭐️ Spotify Is Scrapping Its ‘Car Thing’ for Good

The company rolled out Car Thing in February 2022 and ceased production of the device less than a year later. Car Thing acts as an entertainment console attachment for cars that may not have one, except its only purpose is to navigate one’s Spotify account. It’s basically the Spotify app in Bluetooth-enabled brick form.

⭐️ Spotify experiments with an AI DJ that speaks Spanish

Spotify’s addition of its AI DJ feature, which introduces personalized song selections to users, was the company’s first step into an AI future. Now, Spotify is developing an alternative version of that DJ that will speak Spanish.
References to the new AI DJ were spotted in the app’s code by tech veteran and reverse engineer Chris Messina. He found indications that users would be able to switch the AI DJ’s language from English to Spanish, as well as references to the new DJ’s name, “DJ Livi.” The code also suggests this AI DJ would be available in Mexico.

🗣 Podcasts 🗣

Bonnier Books UK Joins Spotify Audiobooks Premium Offer

▶️ Playlists ▶️

🎧 Streams 🎧

🖌 Design 🖌

🎼 Spotify 4 Artists 🎼

💡 Tips & Tricks 💡

🤖 Spot(ai)fy 🤖

Can Your Playlist Read Your Mind? How Spotify Uses AI to Personalize Your Music

🔥 News 🔥

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