Today, when Gen Z listeners want to create music experiences with friends, they have to manually share playlists or use tools that feel transactional and uninspired. This is unacceptable because music is inherently social and emotional yet current workflows on Spotify lack delight, spontaneity, and feedback.
We envision a world where co-creating playlists feels like a live, expressive, and emotional group experience similar to digital scrapbooking or a shared journal. We are bringing this world about through micro-interactions, collaboration-first nudges, and emotional UX design embedded in Spotify’s music rituals.
To increase collaborative playlist usage among Gen Z users by 3x within 6 months by improving discoverability, emotional feedback, and group co-creation options inside Spotify.
Spotify is the world’s leading audio streaming platform, with over 500 million monthly active users, and a dominant share among Gen Z. While known for personalized playlists and discovery, its collaborative features are underutilized despite high social activity from users.
Gen Z users engage heavily on platforms like Instagram, Discord, and BeReal, where expression and shared identity are core. Spotify has an opportunity to bridge music consumption with group participation through lightweight, expressive collaboration tools.
R: Reality: Spotify's collaborative playlist feature has low adoption (~8% of active playlists). Many users are unaware it exists or find it too flat and unengaging.
D: Drivers: