By: Nick Gambino
Spotify has been working on boosting subscribers by adding a more group dynamic aspect to the app. They introduced Jams last year that allows users to create a shared playlist that they can listen to together either in person or remotely.
Now a tech sleuth at Android Authority has spotted a piece of code that hints at a new chat feature coming to Jams. It looks like the working title for chats on Spotify is “campfire” which is a solid name and indicates the intention behind a Jam – to have friends gather around and enjoy music together.
It’s a great idea as it allows users to stay inside the Spotify app instead of jumping out to converse on iMessage, WhatsApp or wherever else. In fact, this is one of the main things that companies struggle with – how to keep users in their app as much as possible. This would help accomplish that.
This chat feature isn’t really necessary if you’re in a Jam while in person, but this is absolutely a boon for those who are in a remote Jam. Constantly having to pop in and out of the Spotify app is a real pain. The chat will probably only be available to those who are Premium subscribers as a remote Jam is a Premium exclusive feature while those using Spotify for free can only join a local, in-person listening session.
To be clear, just because they found some string of code doesn’t mean we’re going to get a Spotify chat feature any time soon. They might just be in an early testing phase. It might not even be a public test, it could all be internal.
That said, I would be shocked if we don’t see some sort of chat feature at some point in the Spotify app. It just makes sense. They’ve already got a ton of features that support simply listening to music, audiobooks and podcasts, but this offers a whole new dynamic to the experience.
We’ll keep you updated on the feature as we learn more.
