Spotify updates its premium service with custom artist radio stations

Spotify has released a major update for its Premium level that revises its radio functionality and redefines its browsing and search on its mobile applications, the company said in a blog post. The streaming service has streamlined its navigation and redesigned its search page by putting more emphasis on presenting users with new music by placing the recommended genres at the top of the page.

The most significant change made by Spotify today has been made to its artist radio feature, which offers users a custom station – using the same algorithms that make Discover Weekly and other Spotify custom playlists are so interesting – for each artist of the song of your choice. It is essentially an endless playlist, tailor-made and can also be saved offline. Spotify's new artist radio will not require the thumb-to-inch interaction that has allowed you to adapt your old radio offerings to your taste. Now you can start playing and expect a listening session as good as a playlist.

The update reduces from five to three the total number of tabs in Spotify (shown at the bottom of the app). "Browse", which highlights mainly the selected playlists and shows music by genre, has its features integrated into the search page, while "Radio" is now an option that you can read after searching for an artist.

The redesign follows the recent update of Spotify's song search; Now, when you search for a song with a common name, Spotify will create a playlist based on the song instead of reading each version of "Hallelujah" in order.

The update is being rolled out worldwide for Premium subscribers on iOS and Android as of today.