The Swedish audio streaming service company Spotify Technology, best known for its music listening platform, is introducing an in-app messaging feature for all users, regardless of whether they pay for a subscription, aiming to attract more users and thus outpace the competition.
The messaging feature will allow users to have conversations and share music with individuals they have interacted with on Spotify, the Swedish company announced on Tuesday. Starting this week, the messaging capability will be available on mobile devices for users over 16 years old in selected markets.
Spotify previously had a similar feature, but it was discontinued in 2017 as users did not engage with it. This time, the company believes that its strong subscriber growth over the past few years will enable the revival of this feature and consequently increase its market share.
So far, Spotify has attempted to increase its profit margins through price hikes, while ensuring that it does not harm user growth amid intensifying competition from companies like Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube.
The Swedish company, which had 696 million active monthly users in the second quarter, is investing in new features in an effort to reach one billion active monthly users, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
Spotify is also working on expanding its video content library, among other things, through a partnership program that offers podcast creators monetization options, Reuters reports.
