Spotify Keeps Testing GIFs on the Home Screen

Spotify seems inexhaustible for ideas of how to improve its user interface. The most recent idea the streaming service #1 is now testing includes GIF animations that accompany certain songs on the screen. So-called Canvas Loops are selected for these songs and appear as you play them, at the same time making it easier to discover new music. 

So, how does it look and feel? The revamped personalized feed shows you a carousel of these GIFs with a certain song behind each of them. The GIF is not random: it is chosen to match the name and the mood of the song. Since the idea was first made public in 2019, Spotify even opened a marketplace for artists, enabling them to sell their GIFs to musicians for using them in Canvas Loops. So far, the testing takes place in UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, since November 2021. 

These GIFs can feature real people, videogame scenes, abstract pictures, or animation, sometimes funny, sometimes hypnotizing. The length of a GIF is random, but they are never as long as a videoclip. They can even let you visually recognize the song faster than by reading the name. So far, the researches by Spotify indicate these GIFs make listeners more likely to save or share the song or visit the page of the musician or the band. 

The Canvas Loops introduction is a part of a wider innovation Spotify is testing now. This means introducing a brand-new vertical full-screen interface that looks more modern. It’s safe to say that most users will welcome it, even though in the beginning they may miss the “good old Spotify”.  Yes, it looks too similar to TikTok, but who said music should only be heard? This visual enhancement is meant to make the experience even livelier. 

Would you like your Spotify to get more visual in this way? Have you already made up your mind whether you like Canvas Loops? Tell us your opinion in the comments!