[UX Review] Spotify vs. popular Korean music services (Melon, FLO, Genie) Part 2

Hello there! It's been a very long time. This post has been in my draft folder for about a year, and I'm finally posting it today!

So today, I'm going to finally discuss, drum roll please, some interesting differences between Spotify and popular Korean music services.

Why are these differences worth investigating? Like I mentioned in my previous posts, the overall structure and design between Korean and Western web/app services are quite distinct.

When it comes to user experience, familiarity is an important factor in making the experience as easy, quick, and enjoyable as possible. Korean consumers have been using similarly designed Korean music streaming services for a long time. They have gotten used to a certain style, features, and information structure, which have largely shaped their music listening habits.

Instead of leveraging the existing mental model in the local cultures, Spotify has chosen to keep its original design. Well, what does this mean? Spotify's newness will be competing against the familiarity of Korean music services.

The old versus the new. Will the newness be too much for Korean consumers? Or will it be great enough to be worth change their existing habits and norms?

To answer this question, we need to dive into some main differences between Spotify vs. Melon, FLO, Genie!

---

DIFFERENCES

1. Music Chart

In Spotify, the top hits music chart can be found in the "Charts" section of the "Search" tab. In Melon, FLO, Genie, the chart is displayed either in the "Home" tab, which is also the first page shown to users when they open the app, or in one of the main destinations in the bottom navigation bar.

In other words, the number of clicks required to reach the music chart is lower in Korean music services (close to zero) than in Spotify (at least 2 clicks). Compared to Spotify, Korean music services make the ranked music chart more visible and easily accessible to their users. I assume this is the case because, well, Koreans love charts, especially ranked ones!

From the mid-2000s up until last month, Naver and Daum, Korea's most popular search engines, had a search keyword ranking section on its main page, showing the top 20 most-searched keywords in real-time. Through this feature, people could easily browse the top issues in Korea at the moment, from political events to celebrity scandals.

This feature is now gone due to the growing concern that keyword rankings were being used to sway and manipulate the public opinion. But the fact that this feature remained on the right-hand corner, one of the most visible sections on any page, for the better part of the last 16 years goes to show the chart-loving tendencies of Koreans, including myself.

Going back to Spotify and Korean music services, in addition to fewer click depths, the sheer amount of space that the music chart takes up on the main pages among Korean music services reflects the feature's importance.

Melon's Music Chart

2. Search Feature

On a related note, the next difference I want to point out is the search function. Similar to the music chart, all three Korean music services display the search keyword ranking in the Search tab, along with search suggestions, while Spotify doesn't.

Melon's search feature

Another interesting difference is in the search results. On Spotify, when you search a keyword, the initial search results are uncategorized — the search results are a mix of songs, albums, artists, and playlists. At the end of the page, there's an option to see more search results from a specific category. In contrast, Melon, FLO, and Genie display the search results by category.

FLO search feature - each tab is a category

3. Content

While Spotify mainly features music content, the three Korean music services also feature lots of Korean podcasts and video/tv content, including music videos. Unlike the Korean version, the Spotify version serviced in the U.S. offers millions of podcasts. My guess is that Spotify hasn't worked out the podcast licensing issue to make them accessible in other countries.

4. Download

Spotify lets users download entire playlists. From what I've heard, all paying Spotify users are allowed to download up to 10,000 songs. For Melon, FLO, and Genie, the number of songs that the users can download is limited based on their subscription plan. The more expensive the subscription is, the more songs they can download.

However, there's an important difference in this "download" concept. For Spotify, it means that users can listen to the downloaded songs offline through the Spotify app. For Korean music services, it means that the users can own an mp3 file of the song and download it from the app wherever they want.

When many people used to own portable media players, like iPod, several years back, the ability to download an mp3 file of the song and upload it to their media players might have been important. Nowadays, people mostly stream songs directly from their mobile devices and computers, which is why I don't think this difference will significantly affect Spotify's performance in Korea.

---

THOUGHTS

For me, using Spotify after years of using Melon felt quite similar to my experience with transitioning from an Android phone to an iPhone. I enjoyed how customizable and multifunctional my Android phone was, and it took me some time to get used to a more minimal, simple design in iPhones. Growing up in Korea, home to the two tech giants — Samsung and LG, I was used to Samsung and LG devices, such as their computers and TVs, and I had gotten used to how their devices and systems worked. This may partly be the reason why Samsung still dominates the Korean smartphone market (~60%).

But I haven't gone back to an Android phone since I made the transition. In a similar sense, Spotify might have a shot at becoming one of the top music services in Korea.

With that, I want to conclude by saying thank you for reading this post and accompanying me on this exploration!