Spotify Stations, the streaming service’s lightweight listening app offering easy access to curated playlists, has arrived in the U.S. The app has been considered an experiment by Spotify — and by some others, a Pandora copycat, due to its support for instant music playback at launch.
The Stations app is designed for those who want a more radio-like experience, rather than having to seek out music or customize their own playlists — both of which take time and effort. It could also appeal to those who want a simpler user interface, as Spotify’s flagship app’s look-and-feel isn’t something that everyone likes.
Instead, Stations keeps things minimalist with a scrollable list of playlists and easy tools to customize your own.
In Stations, free users will hear ads and be able to thumbs up and down songs, but don’t have unlimited skips. Spotify Premium users will get unlimited skips and ad-free listening.
The app features a range of top playlists by genre, decade, activity and more, but over time becomes more personalized to the end user. Users can also personalize their own stations by selecting favorite artists, similar to the customization experience offered today by YouTube Music. A Favorites playlist, based on users’ own interests, is also available.
The Stations app first arrived on the market, initially for Android users in Australia, back in 2018. It just launched on iOS a month ago, but again only in Australia.
At the time, Spotify wouldn’t comment on its plans to bring the app to other markets — but the expansion seemed like a positive sign that Spotify was getting good feedback from Stations’ users.
Stations is available today in the U.S. on iOS and Android.
Spotify confirmed the U.S. launch with a statement:
“At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of experiments to create better listening experiences for our users. Some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning. Spotify Stations is one of those tests. “
[Updated after publication with link to Android version & more information about skips]