Spotify users can now share music and podcasts to Snapchat

Spotify users can now share their favorite music and podcasts with friends on Snapchat, the company announced this morning, with added support for sharing a song, playlist, artist profile or podcast either directly to your friends on Snapchat or to your Snapchat Story.

Snapchat is now one of several destinations that Spotify users can share to, along with WhatsApp, Messages, Messenger, Twitter, Instagram Stories and, as of just last week, Facebook Stories.

Using the new feature is the same as with any other sharing option - you tap the three-dot share menu in the top-right of the app's interface and choose Snapchat from the drop-down list. Snapchat will open with a new Snap and the full album art included. You can then edit and send the Snap as usual.

Recipients of your Snap will be able to tap the context card to listen to the music or podcast you've shared.

In addition to simply sharing music with friends, the feature also will make it possible for Spotify artists and their teams to promote their music to Snapcat's 203 million daily users - most of whom are within the coveted teen to young adult demographic that Spotify's artists are hoping to reach.

The feature itself is powered by Snap's Creative Kit (a part of Snap Kit), which lets users share media from a developer's app or website.

Spotify is now one of more than 200 apps that have integrated with Snap Kit following the June 2018 debut of the platform, which aims to offer a more private alternative to Facebook. In many cases, however, support for Snapchat is being added to other apps and sites alongside their existing support for Facebook and Instagram - as in the case here.

The expansion to Spotify's sharing feature comes at a time when the streamer is looking for growth - especially in light of growing competition from rivals like Amazon Music and Apple Music. The former benefits from integrations with Prime and Alexa, the latter from its preinstallation on Apple devices (and possibly a new bundle with Apple TV+, as we'll find out tomorrow at Apple's iPhone event).

Spotify, meanwhile, notably missed its user estimates in its Q2 2019 earnings, with 8 million new subscribers in the quarter instead of the expected 8.5 million. With expanded social sharing options, it hopes to reach millions more users who may later convert to paying customers.