The following is an evolving list of features that are missing from online music services.
Disclaimer: I am an old Rdio user and enjoyed how their experience was focused on discovering new music. Most of these features relate to discovering new music. However, there are some that improve the overall experience. I created this list after using Apple Music and most recently Google Play Music.
- New releases includes all albums released this week, only. This is a wonderful way to discover new artists that may be releasing their new LP, EP or single.
- New releases can be filtered to show last week releases and even the week before that.
- New releases is automatically sorted by play counts so popularity is driven by the community. This promotes non-mainstream artists to be discovered.
- New releases can also be sorted by music service recommendations. A recommendation can either be music service driven (e.g. "Google Play Music Featured Artist") or by the similar artists based on user's play history.
- New releases can be infinitly scrolled.
- New releases can also be filtered down to genres, and each genre then follows the same sort by play counts criteria.
- Provide a view like new releases but can be new releases over the last month sorted by play count (popularity) or billboard charts, featured artists, etc...
- All lists (artists, albums, songs) can be sorted by criteria (play count, release date, name).
- All lists (artists, albums, songs) have display options to show as cards or list of items. If a user has a large library or artists or albums, providing a list view would make it much easier to scan and find what you're looking for.
- In all album lists, show the year and number of songs for the album. This allows a visual scan to know when an album was released and if it's an LP, EP or single.
- Notifications of releases for artists in your library. This means you will never miss a new release from your favorite artist.
- Add ability to group artists, albums and songs into record labels. Usually, record labels sign similar artists which is an easy way to discover new music.
- When viewing an album, provide a link to the record label so it's easier to find new artists.
- When viewing an artist from your library, show the albums for that artist in your library first. Then show other albums and songs to discover other music from the artist.
- Display stats for artists, albums and songs. Statistics could be how many users added the album or song to their library, total play counts for the album or song.
- Display full release date for when viewing an album.
- Remove the need for a vote up or down (i.e. thumbs up or down). If a user adds an artist, album or song to their library that infers a vote up.
- Display a link when an artist, album or song is in my library. When clicked, the link will bring me to the artist, album or song in my library. This providees a visual indication when an artist, album or song is already in your library.
- When moving from mobile to desktop, or vice-versa, remember the player state when resuming on the other device. This provides a continuous experience for however you're playing music. The player state includes current song, current queue, repeat state (all in queue or single song), shuffle state (all in queue).