Spotify Adds Follow, Discovery Features

Aiming to enhance engagement, Spotify has rolled out new tools that allow users to follow music artists and other “influencers." The Follow tab lets people get recommendations from their friends, musicians, celebrities and media outlets, based on what they’re listening to. That includes everyone from Barack Obama to Katy Perry to media properties like People.

Spotify has also introduced a Discover tab that promises to provide a feed of updates on new releases and shared music and playlists from artists and those following them. They also get recommendations based on their listening history, along with content from partners, including Pitchfork, Songkick and Tunigo.

Among other upgrades, Spotify added news features for previewing new music and getting mobile alerts about new music from favorite artists. The Web music service also announced that Metallica’s entire music catalog going back 30 years is now available on Spotify.