Spotify is one of the best music streaming services when it comes to discovering new music, and while I think Daylist is one of the most underrated features for finding your next music obsession, Spotify’s flagship New Music Friday playlists are just as reliable. Now, it’s getting a visual upgrade.
The music streaming giant announced today (June 12) that its New Music Friday playlist will now feature short-form videos from its editorial team, who will share their thoughts on the biggest new releases.
Rolling out to Free and Premium users in the US first, you can find editor videos as you scroll through Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist of the latest releases. We’ve contacted Spotify to ask if and when these videos will roll out to other regions, and a spokesperson got back to us with the following:
“At this time, we’re focused on establishing and nailing the editor-led videos in the U.S. We’ll share any updates on expansion plans if and when they become available”.
In addition to sharing their perspectives, Spotify’s team will also spotlight rising artists and dive into the stories behind new songs and albums. It builds on Spotify’s in-app experience, The Drop Weekly, where editors break down new releases and discuss cultural moments. This experience rolled out in the US in September 2025, but hasn’t rolled out globally yet.
Not only does this give Spotify playlist curators the opportunity to share their recommendations front and center, but it also opens the doors for music fans to form connections with and understand the minds that work hard to pull Spotify’s playlists together.
Head of North America Editorial at Spotify, John Stein, details this in the company’s announcement:
“New Music Friday has always been about helping fans discover the best new music each week. By bringing our editors directly into the experience, we’re giving listeners a closer connection to the people behind the playlist and more context around the artists and songs shaping culture right now”.
I bet that most of you rolled your eyes when you read ‘short-form video’ and thought, ‘Really, Spotify?’ If it makes you feel any better, so did I. I can’t think of the last time I used Spotify’s video tools to find new music, but I feel there could be something different with its New Music Friday upgrade.
There’s one thing missing from music platforms, and that’s journalistic perspectives on music. Though Spotify’s About the Song function is handy for reading flash summaries of a track’s background, this information is gathered from third-party sites and compressed into something you can read in a few seconds.
With these editors’ videos, it could introduce a lot of value to one of Spotify’s most-visited editorial playlists. It not only opens a door for you to learn more about the stories, but it also puts faces to the brains of the music connoisseurs who put the playlist together and how they think about which music to recommend.
I spend quite a bit of my time scrolling through Wikipedia pages, online magazines, and even Genius lyrics to get a kick out of my music trivia, and though Spotify’s New Music Friday videos aren’t going to replace these practices any time soon, I’m sure they’ll be a welcome addition to my music research regimen.
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rowan.davies@futurenet.com (Rowan Davies)
