I tested this and found some gems and limitations.
Spotify is seemingly testing the waters with a new feature that has caught its users by surprise: full-length music videos.
While the company has remained tight-lipped about this development, many Spotify users have taken to online forums to share their discoveries, stirring speculation and excitement about the new feature.
The Discovery
The conversation started with a Reddit user, NeverTrustChop, asking on the r/truespotify subreddit, “Since when has Spotify had music videos?”
He described finding a “Switch to video” option on the song “My Way,” which allowed him to watch the song’s music video directly within the app.
This feature intrigued others, sparking further discussion.
A user inquired if the audio changes when switching to the video. This was confirmed by another user, saying:
However, many users claimed that the feature still isn’t available to everyone. Also, not all songs already have the full-length music video feature. This made the users speculate that the feature is still in its A/B testing phase.
Further expanding on the feature’s reach, another user noted that the music videos feature is also available in his Xbox app. However, he also mentioned some technical issues, such as low video quality and buffering, even with a strong internet connection.
Exploring Spotify’s Full-Length Music Video Feature
I tried out Spotify’s potential new feature to see if it works for me, and it surprisingly did.
To test, I searched for a fairly popular song: Olivia Rodrigo’s Vampire. Upon playing it, the typical canvas loop was playing along with the audio playback. However, I saw a new button on top of the playback controls with the words “Switch to video”.
When I clicked on it, the audio playback restarted from the beginning and included the additional audio from Vampire’s official music video (starting with the crickets sound).
The video played in a classic 4:3 aspect ratio, but there was an option to watch it in full screen.
Unfortunately, the lyrics feature, which is usually found under the playback options, disappeared when I switched to video. In its place, I was presented with a horizontal scroll of related music videos, primarily from Olivia Rodrigo’s discography.
I tried to look for other songs and artists that have full-length music videos as well. But, I only found a few from other popular artists like Dan + Shay and Harry Styles. Curiously, music videos were absent from megastars like Taylor Swift and leading K-pop groups like BTS and Blackpink.
One peculiar aspect of this experience was the inability to capture screenshots of the playing video. Similar to platforms like Netflix, any attempt to take a screenshot resulted in a black screen—a measure presumably put in place to protect copyright content.
Spotify’s Move Into the Video Streaming Market
Spotify’s foray into full-length music videos is not entirely unexpected. In July 2023, Bloomberg shed light on Spotify’s discussions with potential partners to incorporate music videos into its platform. This positions Spotify as a direct competitor to video streaming giants like YouTube and TikTok.
This move is seen as an extension of Spotify’s ongoing efforts to enhance its video content, previously demonstrated through the introduction of Canvas and Clips.
Spotify has also recently added a TikTok-style interface to its mobile app.
According to Bloomberg, this represents Spotify’s intent to capture the attention of Generation Z consumers, who are increasingly drawn to video content.