Spotify Gets Into the Holiday Spirit With Snapchat-Style Stories Trial The music streaming platform has created a carbon copy of Snapchat and Instagram's Stories feature.

By Stephanie Mlot Edited by Jessica Thomas

This story originally appeared on PC Mag

Getty Images via PCMag

Spotify has jumped on the ephemeral content bandwagon—and just in time for the holidays. The music streaming platform is publicly testing Snapchat-esque Stories, which have appeared for some users (myself included) in the mobile app.

First spotted by self-described "internetainerpreneur" TmarTn on Twitter, the initial set of fleeting films is housed in Spotify's "Christmas Hits" playlist. Tap to see the story, and watch artists Ava Max, Meghan Trainor, Kelly Clarkson and Brett Eldredge, Stevie Mackey and Jennifer Lopez, and Pentatonix share the stories behind their latest holiday tunes. (Even "Santa Baby" composer Phil Springer makes an appearance.)

Image Credit: Spotify via PCMag

A carbon copy of Snapchat and Instagram's Stories, Spotify's latest experiment lets users tap on the left or right side of the screen to quickly navigate through videos; click the three dots in the lower right corner to report a story.

It's unclear who has access to the feature; I was able to find it using my Premium account and iPhone. There's no word on when (or if) it will be widely available; Spotify did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.

What began as a Snapchat original has permeated social media. Instagram and Facebook launched their own versions in 2016 and 2017, respectively, while professional network LinkedIn began testing a similar function in September. And it's been less than two weeks since Twitter rolled out its own version of Stories, called Fleets.

This isn't even Spotify's first foray into the format. In 2019, it invited some musicians to share insights into their music-making process through a series of 24-hour clips.

Stephanie Mlot

Reporter at PCMag

Stephanie began as a PCMag reporter in May 2012. She moved to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland. She interned at Baltimore magazine and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (in the town of Indiana, in the state of Pennsylvania) with a degree in journalism and mass communications.

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