Spotify: an unofficial concept film
A vertical film built on the question in Spotify's own search field, What do you want to play?, answered one thing at a time: songs, podcasts, audiobooks and your library, until one tap on Create playlist turns the whole screen green.
9:16 · 15 seconds · music only, no narrator · English
Spotify, and who this concept speaks to
Spotify is a service to listen to music, podcasts and audiobooks, on the web and in its app. Its own site puts it in one line, Listen to Music, Podcasts, and Audiobooks. More about the service is on spotify.com.
FoxyLab made this film on its own, as an unofficial concept, to show what the studio would make for the brand. It imagines a viewer scrolling a feed who loves new songs, follows podcasts or listens to audiobooks, and who would want all of it in one app. The film has one job for that viewer: show what the app holds in fifteen seconds, with the sound off, and end on the brand.
Every cover, artist, song and podcast in it is invented by the studio: the record called Neon Tides, the podcasts The Late Shift and Deep Signal, the audiobook The Night Garden, and the artists Mara Vale, Juno Reyes and Kit Arden. Only Spotify's own name, marks and app are Spotify's.
One search question, answered shot by shot
The idea comes from the first thing a visitor sees on spotify.com: its search field and the question in it. A stranger knows within two seconds that this is a music app asking what they want, which is what the first second of a feed film has to do. Every shot after it adds one thing the app gives, so the film reads like a list without looking like one.
- The question. On black, giant equalizer bars in Spotify green already swing on the first frame, under the icon and the search pill. The question types itself a key at a time, and the bars surge when it is complete.
- Songs. The frame turns green. A black record with an invented label, Neon Tides, swings down and spins, and Unlimited songs slams in below it.
- Podcasts. Two invented covers, The Late Shift in orange and Deep Signal in green rings, are dealt onto the frame like cards under and podcasts.
- Audiobooks. The one quiet shot: a night in deep green, a narrator's voice line, drifting pages and a player card with the invented book The Night Garden.
- Your Library. Spotify's own library panel, redrawn large, with invented artists and songs, the first one playing.
- The green end. A tap on Create playlist, and the pill swells until it fills the screen.
The tap that turns the screen green
The film's signature is one gesture. A finger taps the white Create playlist pill in the library. The pill turns Spotify green and swells, round ends first, until its green fills the whole screen.
The cut lands on that same green: the Spotify wordmark in black, the brand's three sound arcs pulsing behind it, and a short line under the mark that asks the viewer to join the service, in the site's own words. No button is drawn at the end, because Reels, TikTok and Shorts draw their own.
Green, black and Spotify's own type
The palette is Spotify's: black and near-black #121212 for the ground, Spotify green #1ed760 for the icon, the bars, the songs shot and the end, white for words on black and black for words on green. The type is the site's own, SpotifyMixUITitle for the display words and SpotifyMixUI for the interface, set big and left-aligned the way the site sets its headings.
The app's pieces come from Spotify's site: its search field and its library panel, redrawn live and enlarged. Everything they hold is drawn by the studio. The motion is snappy and cut on the beat of the music, with one slow and calm shot for audiobooks and one large move, the green swell, kept for the end.
Made 9:16 for muted feeds
The film was made in one size, vertical 9:16 at 1080 by 1920, the format of Instagram Reels and Stories, TikTok and YouTube Shorts. It is fifteen seconds long and has no narrator: feeds often start without sound, so every message stands in large type on screen and the music carries the rhythm.
The words keep clear of the top and the bottom of the frame and of its right edge, where those apps draw their own name, caption and buttons, as the guide to the Reels safe zone explains. A wide 16:9 version for YouTube or a website would be composed on its own, frame by frame, rather than cropped from this one.
From one line in a chat to an all-invented cast
The film was made in FoxyLab from one line in a chat, the brief below in English. The studio read the brand from its site, its search field, its library and its fonts, and chose a music bed and no voice.
It then changed note by note, the way notes on a video work best: Spotify's green and black instead of greys, a story about what the app holds instead of its free plan, livelier backgrounds, a calmer and fuller shot for audiobooks, every cover, artist, song and podcast replaced with ones the studio made up, and at last a black and green opening behind the search. Each note became a new version.
Music: "Inspiring Progress" by Soundrider/Dope (https://www.jamendo.com/track/1670591), licensed under CC BY 3.0.
An English ad for spotify.com, 9:16, with modern dynamic motion, strong graphics and type, and a wow effect.
Questions about the Spotify concept film
Is this an official Spotify ad?
No. It is an unofficial concept FoxyLab made on its own to show what the studio would make for the brand.
Does the film have a voice?
No. It plays on music alone, because feeds often start muted; every message is in large type on screen.
Are the covers, artists and songs real?
No. Neon Tides, The Late Shift, Deep Signal, The Night Garden, Mara Vale, Juno Reyes, Kit Arden and the songs in the library are all invented by the studio. Only Spotify's name, marks and app are the brand's.
What music plays under it?
"Inspiring Progress" by Soundrider/Dope, a free track licensed under CC BY 3.0.
