Spotify Classical Podcasts

Adding value for new classical listeners

Updated late 2022

While researching and designing Spotify Classical — a passion project in which I spent several months as the sole UX researcher and product designer exploring solutions to how Spotify might improve this experience for classical music listeners — 🎧 podcasts kept coming up as a new focus for Spotify. The new app would need to include them.

The strategy behind the exploratory Spotify Classical project was for Spotify to acquire and rebrand IDAGIO to create a new app with enhanced features that would drive premium subscriptions. As part of the plan to provide more value for subscribers, I sought to integrate and promote classical-oriented podcasts into the design of this new app by:

  • Offering podcasts in the 📍 onboarding process for new Spotify Classical users presented itself as a great introduction for new classical listeners

  • Proposing a new series of 🏰 period-based podcasts — to be created by Spotify Classical’s own musicologists — would not only help introduce new listeners to the rich 1,500-year tapestry that is classical but also provide a deeper understanding for more experienced listeners

  • Integrating 🎧 podcasts into the main listener experience, through the Library, as a Composer tab, and in carousels at the bottom of albums

  • Expanding on the 📱mobile app to include 💻 desktop, 🖥️ tv, and ⌚️ watch versions

Results

The designs met with enthusiasm and increased satisfaction when tested with classical listeners.

 

Spotify Classical podcast prototype (mobile)

 

Spotify’s big push into podcasts

Reacting to fast-changing events during the design process

Several weeks into the research and design of Spotify Classical came news that Spotify had spent $100 million (later reported to be $200 million!) to acquire The Joe Rogan Experience. In fact, this proved to be only the latest in a series of podcast acquisitions:

  • Spotify acquired podcast companies Gimlet Media and Anchor in 2019

  • Spotify announced a further acquisition — The Ringer, a sports and culture website known for its podcasts.

At the time of my project, in mid-2020, the classical-only streaming app IDAGIO — which I would end up adapting to become Spotify Classical — did not offer any podcasts. It had music, concerts, and video conversations called “Stories”.


Project constraints drive podcast decisions

Because I had no access to Spotify’s stakeholders or business objectives during the Spotify Classical project — nor any real budget — I had to make reasoned decisions about product design based on Spotify’s past actions and recent initiatives.

  • 🚨 Clearly, there was a big push going on at Spotify into podcasts

  • 🎧 So I assumed it would be important to include podcasts

 

Classical music podcasts

 

Classical podcasts are for fans

Surveying Spotify’s classical music-related podcast content to see what might appeal to listeners of a new Spotify Classical app, I found that much of the best-produced classical content focused on opera. This was not surprising — research had shown that opera lovers were classical music’s most passionate and dedicated fans. Classical podcasts followed some trends:

  • Opera-based podcasts like Aria Code and The Met Opera Guild enjoyed a huge following.

  • During the early months of covid, many performers and artists started podcasts/videos to keep in touch with fans. For example, Sara Willis, a hornist in the Berlin Philharmonic, created a series called Cor(ona) to discuss horn-playing.

  • Specialized podcasts often focused on aspects of classical — like Explore the Symphony from Canada’s National Art Centre

  • Other popular podcast shows created by superfans — like That Classical Podcast and David Walliams’ Marvellous Musical Podcast — were idiosyncratic and often hilarious.

 

Mockups for a series of era-based classical podcasts to help new listeners

Blocker for beginners: classical music is daunting

Classical podcasts seemed mostly aimed at knowledgeable fans. But if you’re a beginner (or even not!), classical music can be daunting:

  • 🌎 Classical music is dense with history — more than 1,500 years worth

  • 🎼 Contains a wide variety of genres — from opera to symphony to string quartet to choral to soloist

  • 🎻 Encompasses thousands of composers, performers, conductors, and ensembles

  • 🌈 With works in an incredible multitude of styles

  • 📯 Employing a wide array of instruments

So if you’re new. . . where do you start?

Introductory podcast series to help beginners

Leveraging connections I had with classical music professionals at a major Florida symphony — I’m an amateur 📯 French horn player myself — I conducted some interviews to investigate what a podcast series for classical music beginners might look like. Based on these conversations, and secondary research of websites, YouTube videos and extant podcasts, I created a simple outline for a series of era- or period-based podcasts that would introduce listeners to the most influential composers, works, and performers.

Because the idea behind Spotify Classical was that it would be a rebranded IDAGIO, I assumed that its team of on-staff musicologists could lend their expertise to the creation of the podcasts.

The series would begin in the Baroque era with Johann Sebastian Bach, one of the most important composers of all time:

 

Onboarding with podcasts helps with cross-promotion

To create onboarding for Spotify Classical, I adapted elements from IDAGIO, including asking listeners how experienced they were with classical.

  • Podcast series is suggested to new listeners

  • Plus “essential” playlists of some of the most important classical composers, like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven.

Whether listeners were coming to Spotify Classical from IDAGIO — which had no podcasts — or from “regular” Spotify, which was promoting podcasts, they would become aware of podcast content suited to their classical interests.

 
 

Adding podcasts to the interface

Next, I worked to help listeners find that podcast content while navigating the mobile app.

Analyzing the initial information architecture and UI of Spotify Classical, the question was how prominently podcasts were going to be in the user experience. Without stakeholder input, I chose the simplest solution.

After some sketching and wireframing, I ended up adding podcasts to:

  • Library — menu item at the bottom

  • Composers — menu tabs would display podcasts related to that composer

In addition, to help promote podcasts throughout the user experience, a Related Podcasts carousel would appear at the bottom of albums:

 
 

Satisfaction with the new podcast feature

Testing with classical listeners I interviewed earlier, satisfaction was high with the added podcast feature.

Learnings

  • Adapting to fast-changing events — the importance of podcasts didn’t present itself until I was well into the project. Recognizing Spotify’s promotion of podcasts, I was able to switch gears, address the challenge, and help incorporate changes that would reinforce podcast strategy

  • Championing users can lead to greater innovation — thinking about classical music and podcasts from a new listener’s point of view lead me to consider using onboarding as both a way to educate, inspire and promote

Next steps

In late 2022, I returned to Spotify Classical to expand on the mobile design and create a desktop version. Below is a short prototype of the main desktop user flow for podcasts: