Spotify has officially launched its new live audio app, Greenroom, on both iOS and Android, making it the company’s first real strive on making a social media network. The live audio app is pretty much similar to Clubhouse, the latest audio room sensation, which allows you to host live conversations about sports, music, and culture among your colleagues and other users.
Spotify, though, hasn’t really gone gung-ho against its competitor by announcing star creators today, instead, it’s focusing on letting users try the app and let them figure out how they’ll want to use the app. A spokesperson from Spotify has made it clear that the core functionality of the app will progress to the main Spotify app sooner or later, so they’ll be closely watching the app.
Greenroom is developed on Locker Room, a part of Betty Labs later acquired by Spotify. That app’s main reason was to let users talk about the sports content, so existing users really have to make up their minds given that the app now will have more than just sports talk. Besides that, the app gets a visual makeover — it now has the signature Spotify green-and-black color theme, plus a new font and logo. In terms of features, it gets native recording, allowing users to record their shows and later publish them as a podcast.
If you are already a Spotify user, you can log in directly, even though you don’t really need to, to use the app.
On top of that, Spotify is also announcing a creator fund, though there’s not much detail about it. People using the app will be able to earn based on how popular their rooms are and if their engagement is high or not, says a spokesperson. The company is also set to announce exclusive deals with marquee creators with the announcement most likely happening later this year. Spotify hasn’t mentioned anything about how much a creator can earn but still, interested ones can sign up here.
Ever since the rise of Clubhouse, tech companies are showing interest to create their own social audio platforms. Twitter launched Spaces, Facebook created its first Live Rooms and companies like Slack, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Discord are already working on their own similar products. Things could be easy for Spotify as they’re already in the audio business and the creator fund could do the job in luring some creators, if not all. But still, it’s hard work to attract people to join an app and spend time listening to the live audio, given that there are other competitors out there with limitless cash to burn.
