Enhancing Spotify with Song Recognition and Lyrics Translation
Introduction
As a daily Spotify user, I love its extensive music library and personalized playlists. However, I often wish for features like song recognition (similar to Shazam) and lyrics translation.
Currently, I use Shazam to identify songs I hear and then search for them on Spotify to add to my album. Additionally, as I learn Turkish and listen to Turkish songs, I have to use Google Translate or search on the internet to understand the lyrics, which disrupts my experience.
This case study explores integrating song recognition and lyrics translation directly into Spotify to streamline song discovery and lyric comprehension.
Process
1. Discovery and Empathy
Understanding user needs and pain points is the first step. As a Spotify user, I personally feel the need for:
- A song recognition feature that can quickly identify songs when I hear them in the environment.
- A lyrics translation feature to understand the meaning of songs in foreign languages, enhancing the listening experience.
To validate these needs, I conducted user interviews and surveys with some of my friends who are Spotify users. Here are some of the questions asked during the interviews:
- Do you often look up song lyrics while listening to music? Why or why not?
- How do you currently add a song to your Spotify album when you hear it playing in an environment?
- Would you find it useful to have a feature that identifies songs playing around you?
- How frequently do you encounter songs in a language you don’t understand?
- Would you benefit from having lyrics translated into your preferred language within the app?
- How important is it for you to have an integrated feature versus using a separate app for song identification?
- Have you ever used apps like Shazam or SoundHound? If so, what did you like or dislike about them?
- How do you usually learn the meaning of lyrics in foreign languages?
Insights
The insights from the interviews revealed:
- Many users enjoy having access to lyrics while listening to music to understand and sing along.
- Users often struggle to identify and save songs they hear in public spaces, usually resorting to asking friends or using external apps.
- A significant number of users would appreciate an integrated song recognition feature to make adding new songs to their Spotify library more seamless.
- Users who listen to music in different languages expressed a strong interest in having lyrics translated within the app to aid in understanding and language learning.
Competitive Analysis
To know how these features are working in other apps, I researched similar apps and their functionalities:
- Shazam: Identifies songs in seconds, provides detailed song information, and integrates with streaming services for easy listening.
- SoundHound: Similar to Shazam but with added features like voice control and humming recognition.
- Musixmatch: Focuses on lyrics, providing synced lyrics for songs playing around you and offering translation in multiple languages.
| Feature | Spotify | Shazam | SoundHound | Musixmatch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song Identification | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Detailed Song Info | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Integration with Spotify | – | No | Partial | Yes |
| Voice/Humming Recognition | No | No | Yes | No |
| Lyrics Availability | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Lyrics Translation | No | No | No | Yes |
2. Ideate
Based on the Discovery and Empathy stage, the core problems were valid. I then sketched potential solutions for both features.
4. Design
- Song Recognition:
- A microphone icon added to the search page.
- On tapping the icon, Spotify listens to the surrounding music and identifies the song.
- Results are displayed with options to play, add to library, or explore more about the song.
- Lyrics Translation:
- A translate icon within the lyrics section.
- Users can select the desired language from a menu.
- Translated lyrics are displayed below the original lyrics for easy comparison and language learning.
