Critically Analyzing Platform Interfaces

Source: David Hesmondhalgh, Raquel Campos Valverde, D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye and Zhongwei Li, “Critically Analyzing Platform Interfaces: How Music-Streaming Platforms Frame Musical Experience,” International Journal of Communication 18 (2024), 3257–3278. Full article

Claim

Music-streaming interfaces frame possible ways of engaging with music, but they do not replace every older form of listening with mood and function. Their power lies in placing artist, genre, format, mood, function, era, popularity and novelty inside a small set of similar platform interfaces.

Evidence and method

The authors compare the mobile interfaces of Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, Deezer, SoundCloud, Spotify, TIDAL and YouTube Music. They examine design, navigation, headings, visual content and the categories used to organize music.

They treat an interface as a normative claim about suitable use. A button, category or route makes some actions and meanings easier to reach than others without determining what every user does or feels (pp. 3260–3261).

Mood and function remain visible, but artist names, genres, albums, singles and releases remain prominent as well. The platforms form a hybrid of functional and aesthetic framings rather than a complete move from one to the other (pp. 3267–3270).

The interfaces also look and work alike. This shared design helps a few streaming services form a homogeneous core of contemporary musical culture even when they display many kinds of music and listening (pp. 3270–3272).

Limits

The article studies interfaces, not how listeners interpret them, how musicians respond, or how recommendation systems operate internally. It also studies catalogue streaming, not generative functional-music apps.

Presentation use

Use the article to keep the affordance claim precise: a Focus button frames a likely use and narrows the visible options, but it does not prove an effect or determine the listener’s experience. Endel extends this interface logic because the selected function can also constrain the current realization.