According to Android Police, Spotify is finally bringing music videos to the United States and Canada after a beta launch in 11 countries including the UK, Germany, Brazil, and Indonesia. The rollout is expected to happen in the “coming weeks” and will likely be limited to Premium subscribers, similar to the overseas implementation. This follows Spotify’s recent licensing agreement with the National Music Publishers’ Association that gave them rights to build new video features. Simultaneously, Spotify is finally addressing its notoriously unreliable shuffle feature with a new “Fewer Repeats” mode that considers your recent listening history to avoid repeating songs you’ve just heard. The updated shuffle becomes the default setting, though Premium users can revert to the original “Standard Shuffle” in settings.
Playing catch-up in the video game
Here’s the thing – Spotify is embarrassingly late to the music video party. YouTube Music has had this feature integrated for years, and Apple Music has offered music videos since its relaunch in 2015. So why now? Basically, Spotify’s hand is being forced. When users can get both audio and video in one app elsewhere, it becomes harder to justify staying with a service that only does half the job. The recent licensing agreement with publishers was clearly the final piece needed to make this happen. But I have to wonder – will users who’ve already built their video-watching habits on YouTube actually switch over to Spotify for this?
The shuffle fix we’ve all been begging for
Now this is the update that might actually matter more to daily users. Spotify’s shuffle has been a running joke for years. Just browse any Spotify subreddit and you’ll find endless complaints about the same handful of songs repeating in supposedly “random” playlists. The fact that it took them this long to address something so fundamental is kind of shocking. The new “Fewer Repeats” mode sounds smart – it actually considers what you’ve recently listened to rather than just pretending to be random. But why did we need to wait until 2025 for what seems like basic functionality? It makes you wonder what other obvious improvements they’ve been sitting on.
This is what competition looks like
Spotify’s sudden burst of innovation isn’t coming from nowhere. They’re feeling the heat from every direction. YouTube Music is eating their lunch with superior video integration, Apple Music offers higher quality audio, and even Amazon Music is competing on price. When you’re the market leader, it’s easy to get complacent. But when users start jumping ship for features you don’t have, suddenly those “nice-to-haves” become essential. The music video rollout and shuffle fix feel like defensive moves rather than groundbreaking innovations. They’re playing catch-up, and honestly, it’s about time.
What still needs fixing?
So they’re adding videos and fixing shuffle. Great. But what about the other long-standing complaints? The mobile app still feels clunky compared to competitors, discovery features could be smarter, and let’s not even start on the podcast situation. These two updates address real pain points, but they also highlight how much basic functionality has been neglected. The fact that users had to create entire Reddit threads brainstorming how to fix shuffle shows how disconnected the company has been from user experience. Hopefully this is the start of a new, more responsive Spotify rather than just checking off a couple boxes before going back to sleep.
