Joining conferences is one of the best perks of working as a Developer at Erlang Solutions. Despite having attended multiple Code BEAM conferences in Europe, ElixirConf US 2025 was my first. The conference had 3 tracks, filled with talks from 45+ speakers and 400+ attendees, both in-person and virtual.

ElixirConf is one of the great occasions to connect with other Elixir enthusiasts in the community and get to learn what others have been doing as well as what the Elixir core team is planning for the future of the language.

The Atmosphere

Most of the faces were unfamiliar to me, but as expected from the BEAM community, everyone was super friendly. Most were not shy about approaching others, sharing about their own or their company’s experiences. The “hallway track” was always lively during the coffee break or during the talks.

Before the conference began, I had a tough time deciding which talk to attend. At other conferences I’ve been to, most of the talks were interesting, but not all were relevant to my daily work as an Elixir developer. That made it easier to prioritise which talks to attend live and which ones I could catch up on later if they overlapped.

ElixirConf was different. Many of the talks were not only interesting but also directly relevant to my work, and several were scheduled at the same time. This made it very difficult to decide which session to attend in person and which to leave for the recordings.

Some standout talks

Chris McCord’s Keynote: Elixir’s AI Future

One of the talks I was most looking forward to was the keynote by Chris McCord. I had previously watched the recording of his ElixirConfEU keynote about phoenix.new and was eager to see what new ideas he would bring to Elixir and the Phoenix framework, especially in terms of AI.

Chris talked about AI agents, how Elixir is well-suited for building them, and what the future of Elixir and AI might look like. He emphasised that it is not about chasing hype but about staying on the bleeding edge of technology: “building the things we want to build, building the things we want to see.”

He also shared his perspective on code generation, noting that it has made it easier for newcomers to get started with Elixir and Phoenix. In his view, the community is now in a strong position to attract developers from outside the ecosystem to give it a try.

Panel: Building Careers, Balancing Life

Another talk I was eager to hear was the panel discussion hosted by my Erlang Solutions colleague Lorena, together with Allison Randal, Savannah Manning, and Anna Sherman, three women from different backgrounds and stages of their careers.

It was great hearing stories from other women in the tech community and feeling inspired. The three panellists shared the stories and challenges they had faced in their careers. They also talked about the importance of having mentors, the community, and knowing the big picture, which helped them grow. The advice they gave during the talk was both very relatable and inspiring.

Joe Harrow: Beyond Safe Migrations

I also found Beyond Safe Migrations to be great food for thought. This talk was a very practical and solid example of what could go wrong in a live database migration, and the tool Cars Commerce was using to prevent that. Over the span of my career, I have written many database migrations, from small startup projects altering a table with only a few hundred rows to large-scale projects where the tables had millions of rows.

My team sometimes discussed strategies for altering existing tables, but most of the time we would just go ahead and make the changes. Listening to Joe, I learned about things that could have gone really wrong and that there is a systematic way of mitigating those risks.

Key Takeaways

All in all, Elixir Conf US was a great conference, packed with talks about experiences and challenges, new and upcoming technologies, and also about growing the community. There was, of course, a surge in AI-related talks, both from early adopters to the future of Elixir with AI.

I found that the main theme running through the conference was the growth and sustainability of the Elixir community. ElixirConf is well worth attending, whether you are just starting out or already an experienced developer.

The post ElixirConf US 2025: Highlights from My First ElixirConf appeared first on Erlang Solutions .

Joining conferences is one of the best perks of working as a Developer at Erlang Solutions. Despite having attended multiple Code BEAM conferences in Europe, ElixirConf US 2025 was my first. The conference had 3 tracks, filled with talks from 45+ speakers and 400+ attendees, both in-person and virtual.

ElixirConf is one of the great occasions to connect with other Elixir enthusiasts in the community and get to learn what others have been doing as well as what the Elixir core team is planning for the future of the language.

The Atmosphere

Most of the faces were unfamiliar to me, but as expected from the BEAM community, everyone was super friendly. Most were not shy about approaching others, sharing about their own or their company’s experiences. The “hallway track” was always lively during the coffee break or during the talks.

Before the conference began, I had a tough time deciding which talk to attend. At other conferences I’ve been to, most of the talks were interesting, but not all were relevant to my daily work as an Elixir developer. That made it easier to prioritise which talks to attend live and which ones I could catch up on later if they overlapped.

ElixirConf was different. Many of the talks were not only interesting but also directly relevant to my work, and several were scheduled at the same time. This made it very difficult to decide which session to attend in person and which to leave for the recordings.

Some standout talks

Chris McCord’s Keynote: Elixir’s AI Future

One of the talks I was most looking forward to was the keynote by Chris McCord. I had previously watched the recording of his ElixirConfEU keynote about phoenix.new and was eager to see what new ideas he would bring to Elixir and the Phoenix framework, especially in terms of AI.

Chris talked about AI agents, how Elixir is well-suited for building them, and what the future of Elixir and AI might look like. He emphasised that it is not about chasing hype but about staying on the bleeding edge of technology: “building the things we want to build, building the things we want to see.”

He also shared his perspective on code generation, noting that it has made it easier for newcomers to get started with Elixir and Phoenix. In his view, the community is now in a strong position to attract developers from outside the ecosystem to give it a try.

Panel: Building Careers, Balancing Life

Another talk I was eager to hear was the panel discussion hosted by my Erlang Solutions colleague Lorena, together with Allison Randal, Savannah Manning, and Anna Sherman, three women from different backgrounds and stages of their careers.

It was great hearing stories from other women in the tech community and feeling inspired. The three panellists shared the stories and challenges they had faced in their careers. They also talked about the importance of having mentors, the community, and knowing the big picture, which helped them grow. The advice they gave during the talk was both very relatable and inspiring.

Joe Harrow: Beyond Safe Migrations

I also found Beyond Safe Migrations to be great food for thought. This talk was a very practical and solid example of what could go wrong in a live database migration, and the tool Cars Commerce was using to prevent that. Over the span of my career, I have written many database migrations, from small startup projects altering a table with only a few hundred rows to large-scale projects where the tables had millions of rows.

My team sometimes discussed strategies for altering existing tables, but most of the time we would just go ahead and make the changes. Listening to Joe, I learned about things that could have gone really wrong and that there is a systematic way of mitigating those risks.

Key Takeaways

All in all, Elixir Conf US was a great conference, packed with talks about experiences and challenges, new and upcoming technologies, and also about growing the community. There was, of course, a surge in AI-related talks, both from early adopters to the future of Elixir with AI.

I found that the main theme running through the conference was the growth and sustainability of the Elixir community. ElixirConf is well worth attending, whether you are just starting out or already an experienced developer.

The post ElixirConf US 2025: Highlights from My First ElixirConf appeared first on Erlang Solutions .

Joining conferences is one of the best perks of working as a Developer at Erlang Solutions. Despite having attended multiple Code BEAM conferences in Europe, ElixirConf US 2025 was my first. The conference had 3 tracks, filled with talks from 45+ speakers and 400+ attendees, both in-person and virtual.

ElixirConf is one of the great occasions to connect with other Elixir enthusiasts in the community and get to learn what others have been doing as well as what the Elixir core team is planning for the future of the language.

The Atmosphere

Most of the faces were unfamiliar to me, but as expected from the BEAM community, everyone was super friendly. Most were not shy about approaching others, sharing about their own or their company’s experiences. The “hallway track” was always lively during the coffee break or during the talks.

Before the conference began, I had a tough time deciding which talk to attend. At other conferences I’ve been to, most of the talks were interesting, but not all were relevant to my daily work as an Elixir developer. That made it easier to prioritise which talks to attend live and which ones I could catch up on later if they overlapped.

ElixirConf was different. Many of the talks were not only interesting but also directly relevant to my work, and several were scheduled at the same time. This made it very difficult to decide which session to attend in person and which to leave for the recordings.

Some standout talks

Chris McCord’s Keynote: Elixir’s AI Future

One of the talks I was most looking forward to was the keynote by Chris McCord. I had previously watched the recording of his ElixirConfEU keynote about phoenix.new and was eager to see what new ideas he would bring to Elixir and the Phoenix framework, especially in terms of AI.

Chris talked about AI agents, how Elixir is well-suited for building them, and what the future of Elixir and AI might look like. He emphasised that it is not about chasing hype but about staying on the bleeding edge of technology: “building the things we want to build, building the things we want to see.”

He also shared his perspective on code generation, noting that it has made it easier for newcomers to get started with Elixir and Phoenix. In his view, the community is now in a strong position to attract developers from outside the ecosystem to give it a try.

Panel: Building Careers, Balancing Life

Another talk I was eager to hear was the panel discussion hosted by my Erlang Solutions colleague Lorena, together with Allison Randal, Savannah Manning, and Anna Sherman, three women from different backgrounds and stages of their careers.

It was great hearing stories from other women in the tech community and feeling inspired. The three panellists shared the stories and challenges they had faced in their careers. They also talked about the importance of having mentors, the community, and knowing the big picture, which helped them grow. The advice they gave during the talk was both very relatable and inspiring.

Joe Harrow: Beyond Safe Migrations

I also found Beyond Safe Migrations to be great food for thought. This talk was a very practical and solid example of what could go wrong in a live database migration, and the tool Cars Commerce was using to prevent that. Over the span of my career, I have written many database migrations, from small startup projects altering a table with only a few hundred rows to large-scale projects where the tables had millions of rows.

My team sometimes discussed strategies for altering existing tables, but most of the time we would just go ahead and make the changes. Listening to Joe, I learned about things that could have gone really wrong and that there is a systematic way of mitigating those risks.

Key Takeaways

All in all, Elixir Conf US was a great conference, packed with talks about experiences and challenges, new and upcoming technologies, and also about growing the community. There was, of course, a surge in AI-related talks, both from early adopters to the future of Elixir with AI.

I found that the main theme running through the conference was the growth and sustainability of the Elixir community. ElixirConf is well worth attending, whether you are just starting out or already an experienced developer.

The post ElixirConf US 2025: Highlights from My First ElixirConf appeared first on Erlang Solutions .

Last week, Spotify quietly launched direct messaging across its platform in selected areas, allowing users to share tracks and playlists through private conversations within the app. The feature was rolled out with minimal fanfare but significant media coverage, positioning itself as a complement to existing sharing mechanisms through Facebook, WhatsApp, and TikTok.

When I read this, I immediately wondered why they were bothering. We do not especially lack communication channels these days. So, Let’s take a step back and examine what Spotify is actually trying to accomplish here.

The Strange Case of Another Messaging App

We already have too many messaging apps to choose, either on mobile or mobile phones. Before I try to initiate a conversation with someone I do not often chat with, I find myself trying to remember what is her preferred messaging platform. So, adding to an app some sorts of real time messaging and live interaction features can bring value, but it has to serve a purpose and respond to some user needs.

In that context, Spotify’s decision to roll out direct messaging support feels odd. Users can already share music through established platforms where their friends actually are. They can post discoveries on social media, send links through WhatsApp, or create collaborative playlists. Why would anyone choose to message someone specifically within Spotify when they’re already connected elsewhere?

The problem is that Spotify failed to make a compelling argument for why users should discuss with friends through yet another messaging system, even if this is to talk about music. Launching a special purpose communication service is risky. When Apple Music attempted to build Ping, a social network of music fans, it failed spectacularly. Spotify’s own social experiments haven’t fared much better. Remember Greenroom, their audio-focused social platform that quietly disappeared?

This initiative becomes even more puzzling when we consider Spotify’s own history. The company built its initial viral growth through Facebook integration, leveraging social connections to drive adoption.

And now, seemingly, they are trying to reclaim that social layer for themselves?

What’s Really Happening Under the Hood

The technical implementation reveals interesting choices. According to available reports, the messaging system relies on a RESTful API over HTTPS with TLS 1.3 encryption and JSON Web Tokens for session authentication. Notably absent? End-to-end encryption.

And this absence tells us that the feature is not considered as a standard messaging service yet, but simply an alternative way to share favorite tracks and discuss them, and a possible a move to reduce the amount of data exposed to other social networks and messaging.

The Data Intelligence Play

Messaging features can provide enormous value when you have a strong daily user base, but only when they address a clear user need. Spotify’s messaging doesn’t seem designed for users. It feels designed for Spotify’s recommendation algorithms.

Every shared track, every reaction, every conversation thread becomes a new data point in Spotify’s machine learning models. Who shares what with whom? Which songs generate discussion? How do musical tastes spread through social networks? This intelligence is pure gold for a recommendation engine that already struggles to compete with YouTube Music’s discovery capabilities.

Private messaging amplifies this data collection while keeping the intelligence proprietary, unlike public social sharing, where competitors might also benefit.

Strategic Confusion or Calculated Move?

So, is this really all about data collection and control?

This is where Spotify’s European identity becomes relevant. As a Swedish company competing against American tech giants, there may be strategic value in reducing dependence on US or controlled Chinese social platforms. Every track shared through WhatsApp (Meta) or TikTok (ByteDance) represents data flowing to potential competitors or partners with their own agenda.

Building an internal messaging system allows Spotify to capture that social intelligence directly while reducing what they share with other platforms. From a data sovereignty perspective, this makes sense, especially for a European player navigating an increasingly fragmented global tech landscape.

And they may hope at some point to play a larger role in messaging platforms in general, as we deeply miss a large player in the messaging field in Europe. It may be a play to test the waters.

As we help companies reclaim their independence by building their own messaging service, this goal resonates strongly with us. However, building a successful messaging platform requires being able to create momentum around the service if it wants to attract enough users and traffic. It cannot be launched halfheartedly.

The Missing Strategic Vision

The fundamental problem isn’t technical. It’s strategic clarity. Spotify has a recommendation engine that could benefit from social signals, a creator platform focused on podcasts and videos, and a user base that already shares music socially. The ingredients for a compelling set of social features exist.

But launching messaging without addressing the basic question of “Why would I message someone here instead of where we already talk?” suggests a feature developed in isolation from user needs. It resembles the countless platform features that launch with media coverage but die quietly when adoption numbers disappoint.

What would make this feature compelling? Integration with Spotify’s creator tools, perhaps allowing artists to connect directly with fans. Or collaborative listening live sessions where messaging enhances shared musical experiences. Or leveraging Spotify’s podcast ecosystem to enable discussion around episodes.

Instead, we get generic messaging that competes with platforms where users’ friends actually are.

So, what’s Spotify’s real goal?

I see two possible options here: a pessimistic and a more optimistic one.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this launch is what it reveals about Spotify’s growth concerns. A mature platform doesn’t typically add generic social features unless it’s worried about engagement metrics or looking for new growth vectors.

They may want their users to spend more time in its interface, instead of most of the time, passively using that app through a player exposed as a widget in the mobile operating system.

The timing suggests Spotify sees either limited growth ahead or a competitive threat that requires better user data. Given the AI revolution in music generation and the ongoing battles over royalty structures, capturing more nuanced data about user preferences and social music behavior could be crucial for maintaining relevance.

But there’s a more optimistic reading: this could represent a European tech company trying to assert more independence from American social platforms. In a world where data is power, controlling your own social graph has strategic value.

The execution, however, suggests Spotify hasn’t quite figured out how to articulate this vision to users. Until they do, this messaging feature risks joining the graveyard of platform additions that made sense to product managers but never found their audience.

In a world already oversaturated with communication channels, every new messaging system needs to answer a simple question: Why here instead of everywhere else users are already talking? Spotify hasn’t answered that question yet.

Last week, Spotify quietly launched direct messaging across its platform in selected areas, allowing users to share tracks and playlists through private conversations within the app. The feature was rolled out with minimal fanfare but significant media coverage, positioning itself as a complement to existing sharing mechanisms through Facebook, WhatsApp, and TikTok.

When I read this, I immediately wondered why they were bothering. We do not especially lack communication channels these days. So, Let’s take a step back and examine what Spotify is actually trying to accomplish here.

The Strange Case of Another Messaging App

We already have too many messaging apps to choose, either on mobile or mobile phones. Before I try to initiate a conversation with someone I do not often chat with, I find myself trying to remember what is her preferred messaging platform. So, adding to an app some sorts of real time messaging and live interaction features can bring value, but it has to serve a purpose and respond to some user needs.

In that context, Spotify’s decision to roll out direct messaging support feels odd. Users can already share music through established platforms where their friends actually are. They can post discoveries on social media, send links through WhatsApp, or create collaborative playlists. Why would anyone choose to message someone specifically within Spotify when they’re already connected elsewhere?

The problem is that Spotify failed to make a compelling argument for why users should discuss with friends through yet another messaging system, even if this is to talk about music. Launching a special purpose communication service is risky. When Apple Music attempted to build Ping, a social network of music fans, it failed spectacularly. Spotify’s own social experiments haven’t fared much better. Remember Greenroom, their audio-focused social platform that quietly disappeared?

This initiative becomes even more puzzling when we consider Spotify’s own history. The company built its initial viral growth through Facebook integration, leveraging social connections to drive adoption.

And now, seemingly, they are trying to reclaim that social layer for themselves?

What’s Really Happening Under the Hood

The technical implementation reveals interesting choices. According to available reports, the messaging system relies on a RESTful API over HTTPS with TLS 1.3 encryption and JSON Web Tokens for session authentication. Notably absent? End-to-end encryption.

And this absence tells us that the feature is not considered as a standard messaging service yet, but simply an alternative way to share favorite tracks and discuss them, and a possible a move to reduce the amount of data exposed to other social networks and messaging.

The Data Intelligence Play

Messaging features can provide enormous value when you have a strong daily user base, but only when they address a clear user need. Spotify’s messaging doesn’t seem designed for users. It feels designed for Spotify’s recommendation algorithms.

Every shared track, every reaction, every conversation thread becomes a new data point in Spotify’s machine learning models. Who shares what with whom? Which songs generate discussion? How do musical tastes spread through social networks? This intelligence is pure gold for a recommendation engine that already struggles to compete with YouTube Music’s discovery capabilities.

Private messaging amplifies this data collection while keeping the intelligence proprietary, unlike public social sharing, where competitors might also benefit.

Strategic Confusion or Calculated Move?

So, is this really all about data collection and control?

This is where Spotify’s European identity becomes relevant. As a Swedish company competing against American tech giants, there may be strategic value in reducing dependence on US or controlled Chinese social platforms. Every track shared through WhatsApp (Meta) or TikTok (ByteDance) represents data flowing to potential competitors or partners with their own agenda.

Building an internal messaging system allows Spotify to capture that social intelligence directly while reducing what they share with other platforms. From a data sovereignty perspective, this makes sense, especially for a European player navigating an increasingly fragmented global tech landscape.

And they may hope at some point to play a larger role in messaging platforms in general, as we deeply miss a large player in the messaging field in Europe. It may be a play to test the waters.

As we help companies reclaim their independence by building their own messaging service, this goal resonates strongly with us. However, building a successful messaging platform requires being able to create momentum around the service if it wants to attract enough users and traffic. It cannot be launched halfheartedly.

The Missing Strategic Vision

The fundamental problem isn’t technical. It’s strategic clarity. Spotify has a recommendation engine that could benefit from social signals, a creator platform focused on podcasts and videos, and a user base that already shares music socially. The ingredients for a compelling set of social features exist.

But launching messaging without addressing the basic question of “Why would I message someone here instead of where we already talk?” suggests a feature developed in isolation from user needs. It resembles the countless platform features that launch with media coverage but die quietly when adoption numbers disappoint.

What would make this feature compelling? Integration with Spotify’s creator tools, perhaps allowing artists to connect directly with fans. Or collaborative listening live sessions where messaging enhances shared musical experiences. Or leveraging Spotify’s podcast ecosystem to enable discussion around episodes.

Instead, we get generic messaging that competes with platforms where users’ friends actually are.

So, what’s Spotify’s real goal?

I see two possible options here: a pessimistic and a more optimistic one.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this launch is what it reveals about Spotify’s growth concerns. A mature platform doesn’t typically add generic social features unless it’s worried about engagement metrics or looking for new growth vectors.

They may want their users to spend more time in its interface, instead of most of the time, passively using that app through a player exposed as a widget in the mobile operating system.

The timing suggests Spotify sees either limited growth ahead or a competitive threat that requires better user data. Given the AI revolution in music generation and the ongoing battles over royalty structures, capturing more nuanced data about user preferences and social music behavior could be crucial for maintaining relevance.

But there’s a more optimistic reading: this could represent a European tech company trying to assert more independence from American social platforms. In a world where data is power, controlling your own social graph has strategic value.

The execution, however, suggests Spotify hasn’t quite figured out how to articulate this vision to users. Until they do, this messaging feature risks joining the graveyard of platform additions that made sense to product managers but never found their audience.

In a world already oversaturated with communication channels, every new messaging system needs to answer a simple question: Why here instead of everywhere else users are already talking? Spotify hasn’t answered that question yet.

Last week, Spotify quietly launched direct messaging across its platform in selected areas, allowing users to share tracks and playlists through private conversations within the app. The feature was rolled out with minimal fanfare but significant media coverage, positioning itself as a complement to existing sharing mechanisms through Facebook, WhatsApp, and TikTok.

When I read this, I immediately wondered why they were bothering. We do not especially lack communication channels these days. So, Let’s take a step back and examine what Spotify is actually trying to accomplish here.

The Strange Case of Another Messaging App

We already have too many messaging apps to choose, either on mobile or mobile phones. Before I try to initiate a conversation with someone I do not often chat with, I find myself trying to remember what is her preferred messaging platform. So, adding to an app some sorts of real time messaging and live interaction features can bring value, but it has to serve a purpose and respond to some user needs.

In that context, Spotify’s decision to roll out direct messaging support feels odd. Users can already share music through established platforms where their friends actually are. They can post discoveries on social media, send links through WhatsApp, or create collaborative playlists. Why would anyone choose to message someone specifically within Spotify when they’re already connected elsewhere?

The problem is that Spotify failed to make a compelling argument for why users should discuss with friends through yet another messaging system, even if this is to talk about music. Launching a special purpose communication service is risky. When Apple Music attempted to build Ping, a social network of music fans, it failed spectacularly. Spotify’s own social experiments haven’t fared much better. Remember Greenroom, their audio-focused social platform that quietly disappeared?

This initiative becomes even more puzzling when we consider Spotify’s own history. The company built its initial viral growth through Facebook integration, leveraging social connections to drive adoption.

And now, seemingly, they are trying to reclaim that social layer for themselves?

What’s Really Happening Under the Hood

The technical implementation reveals interesting choices. According to available reports, the messaging system relies on a RESTful API over HTTPS with TLS 1.3 encryption and JSON Web Tokens for session authentication. Notably absent? End-to-end encryption.

And this absence tells us that the feature is not considered as a standard messaging service yet, but simply an alternative way to share favorite tracks and discuss them, and a possible a move to reduce the amount of data exposed to other social networks and messaging.

The Data Intelligence Play

Messaging features can provide enormous value when you have a strong daily user base, but only when they address a clear user need. Spotify’s messaging doesn’t seem designed for users. It feels designed for Spotify’s recommendation algorithms.

Every shared track, every reaction, every conversation thread becomes a new data point in Spotify’s machine learning models. Who shares what with whom? Which songs generate discussion? How do musical tastes spread through social networks? This intelligence is pure gold for a recommendation engine that already struggles to compete with YouTube Music’s discovery capabilities.

Private messaging amplifies this data collection while keeping the intelligence proprietary, unlike public social sharing, where competitors might also benefit.

Strategic Confusion or Calculated Move?

So, is this really all about data collection and control?

This is where Spotify’s European identity becomes relevant. As a Swedish company competing against American tech giants, there may be strategic value in reducing dependence on US or controlled Chinese social platforms. Every track shared through WhatsApp (Meta) or TikTok (ByteDance) represents data flowing to potential competitors or partners with their own agenda.

Building an internal messaging system allows Spotify to capture that social intelligence directly while reducing what they share with other platforms. From a data sovereignty perspective, this makes sense, especially for a European player navigating an increasingly fragmented global tech landscape.

And they may hope at some point to play a larger role in messaging platforms in general, as we deeply miss a large player in the messaging field in Europe. It may be a play to test the waters.

As we help companies reclaim their independence by building their own messaging service, this goal resonates strongly with us. However, building a successful messaging platform requires being able to create momentum around the service if it wants to attract enough users and traffic. It cannot be launched halfheartedly.

The Missing Strategic Vision

The fundamental problem isn’t technical. It’s strategic clarity. Spotify has a recommendation engine that could benefit from social signals, a creator platform focused on podcasts and videos, and a user base that already shares music socially. The ingredients for a compelling set of social features exist.

But launching messaging without addressing the basic question of “Why would I message someone here instead of where we already talk?” suggests a feature developed in isolation from user needs. It resembles the countless platform features that launch with media coverage but die quietly when adoption numbers disappoint.

What would make this feature compelling? Integration with Spotify’s creator tools, perhaps allowing artists to connect directly with fans. Or collaborative listening live sessions where messaging enhances shared musical experiences. Or leveraging Spotify’s podcast ecosystem to enable discussion around episodes.

Instead, we get generic messaging that competes with platforms where users’ friends actually are.

So, what’s Spotify’s real goal?

I see two possible options here: a pessimistic and a more optimistic one.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this launch is what it reveals about Spotify’s growth concerns. A mature platform doesn’t typically add generic social features unless it’s worried about engagement metrics or looking for new growth vectors.

They may want their users to spend more time in its interface, instead of most of the time, passively using that app through a player exposed as a widget in the mobile operating system.

The timing suggests Spotify sees either limited growth ahead or a competitive threat that requires better user data. Given the AI revolution in music generation and the ongoing battles over royalty structures, capturing more nuanced data about user preferences and social music behavior could be crucial for maintaining relevance.

But there’s a more optimistic reading: this could represent a European tech company trying to assert more independence from American social platforms. In a world where data is power, controlling your own social graph has strategic value.

The execution, however, suggests Spotify hasn’t quite figured out how to articulate this vision to users. Until they do, this messaging feature risks joining the graveyard of platform additions that made sense to product managers but never found their audience.

In a world already oversaturated with communication channels, every new messaging system needs to answer a simple question: Why here instead of everywhere else users are already talking? Spotify hasn’t answered that question yet.

This new version includes a few new XEP plugins as well as fixes, notably for some leftover issues in our rust JID code, as well as one for a bug that caused issues in Home Assistant.

Thanks to everyone who contributed with code, issues, suggestions, and reviews!

This new version includes a few new XEP plugins as well as fixes, notably for some leftover issues in our rust JID code, as well as one for a bug that caused issues in Home Assistant.

Thanks to everyone who contributed with code, issues, suggestions, and reviews!

This new version includes a few new XEP plugins as well as fixes, notably for some leftover issues in our rust JID code, as well as one for a bug that caused issues in Home Assistant.

Thanks to everyone who contributed with code, issues, suggestions, and reviews!