Spotify has launched a new ‘Kids’ app aimed at three to 12-year-olds offering access to 8,000 hand-picked songs and stories analysed by humans to ensure they’re ‘clean’.
The new app will be available on iPhone and Android but only for people with a Spotify Premium Family subscription.
It has been described as a ‘playground of sound for young listeners’ and Spotify says it has been developed with safety and privacy as the main priority.
The company opted to have experts read and study the lyrics and meanings of every song included, rather than just use an algorithm to filter tracks from the main library.
This means that there will only be about 8,000 tracks – made up of a mixture of music and stories – available from launch.
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The new app will be available on iPhone and Android but only for people with a Spotify Premium Family subscription
The app will feature a mixture of songs from TV shows, movies, nursery rhymes, lullabies and top ‘clean content’ music hits.
It will include singalongs, soundtracks and stories that children can explore, according to Spotify, which has worked with Disney, Nickelodeon and Cbeebies to source content for the service.
The company says that, as it requires a premium family subscription, there will be no adverts played between songs.
They also have some exclusive content specific to each region. For example the UK version will have ‘Dinosaurs in Love’ by three-year-old singer-songwriter Fenn.
It is a 60-second song described by Spotify as a ‘mesezoic love tragedy’ about dinosaurs that fall in love, eat people, have a party then get wiped out by a big bang.
The app includes a number of cartoon avatars that kids can select to represent themselves within the app
There will be a number of playlists available that have been curated by human editors, covering everything from songs to dance to through to tracks for a traffic jam
Fenn’s father, Tom Rosenthal, said Spotify Kids would give artists a chance to have music they make available to a younger audience.
‘Music is important for everyone but often kids get forgotten in the musical world, many believing that nursery rhymes will suffice for their early years,’ he said.
‘Kids are open to everything and deserve a diverse and interesting range of music selected especially for them.
‘A Spotify service dedicated to them is timely, important and very useful!’
Spotify said it will expand the experience over time as it continues to incorporate best practices and learnings, including insights from parents and caregivers and other experts.
The UK playlists will include content from CBeebies, Little Mix, Rastamouse, George Ezra, Hey Duggee, McFly, Adele, Craig David, Calvin Harris, Spice Girls, Take That and Busted.
The company hopes to expand the app over time, including potentially bringing it to audio only devices such as the Amazon and Google smart speakers – if they can create a way to do so safely and secure children’s privacy.
‘Spotify is committed to giving billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by music and stories and we’re proud that this commitment now includes the next generation of audio listeners,’ said Alex Norström from Spotify.
‘Spotify Kids is a personalized world bursting with sound, shape and color, where our young listeners can begin a lifelong love of music and stories.’
The app is currently restricted to songs and audiobooks but may be expanded to include specially selected and edited podcast content in future.
Children will be able to add songs and stories to their own ‘favourites’ list that will also be available to listen to offline
At launch the app will be split into two sections – younger and older kids – with parents deciding during sign-up which to pick based on their child’s taste.
The younger kids section features a mixture of lullabies, soundtracks and songs chosen by editors for zero to five year olds, as well as softer and calmer artwork.
The older kids section is for six to 12 year olds and includes popular tracks that are appropriate and relevant as well as songs from TV and movies.
As well as the curated playlists, users will be able to search for specific songs and add them to a downloadable ‘favourites’ list they can listen to without internet.
Parents have control over the music their children can listen to by placing their account in the younger or older age group
The app includes a number of cartoon avatars that kids can select to represent themselves within the app – that is the only settings change younger users can make themselves, everything else is hidden under a parent controlled pin number.
Spotify are launching the app on Safer Internet Day to highlight the fact that it has been built as a ‘safe environment’ for children.
Will Gardner OBE, Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre said it was ‘brilliant’ to have a company like Spotify creating a safe space for young people online.
‘For many, music is an essential part of self-discovery so to have a safe space for children to begin this journey is very welcome.’
The company plans to add more parental control features once it is live, including more customisation targeting the interests of their children.
The app is available worldwide from the App Store and the Play Store.