Spotify is rolling out a whole new way to share music and podcasts in Ghana: Messages, an in-app chat feature that makes swapping audio quicker, smoother, and more personal. Launching this week for both Free and Premium listeners, Messages gives recommendations a home right inside Spotify — fast, familiar, and impossible to lose in the shuffle of busy group chats.
In Ghana, music discovery is already a social ritual. It starts with a Highlife classic being dropped into the family WhatsApp, or that podcast episode your cousin keeps hyping. Ghanaians share Spotify content millions of times every month — now those moments finally have a place to live.
Sending a recommendation is as easy as it gets. From Now Playing, tap Share, choose a friend you’ve interacted with on Spotify, and hit send. Messages are one-to-one chats, complete with emoji reactions and text—so the conversation stays where the listening happens.
You can access Messages by tapping your profile photo in the top-left corner. Spotify will even suggest people based on who you’ve shared with before, created Blends with, joined Jams with, built collaborative playlists with, or those on your Family/Duo plan.
For artists and podcasters, this is big. Every message is a potential new listener, a new fan, a sold-out show, or even a book club moment waiting to happen. It’s word of mouth at digital speed.
Messages doesn’t replace your usual sharing apps — it simply makes recommendations smoother inside Spotify, while you continue posting to WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook as always.
Users can accept or ignore message requests, block or report people (press and hold → Report), or opt out completely in Settings. Messages are protected with industry-standard encryption, and Spotify uses proactive detection to flag unlawful or harmful content, with human moderation to keep the experience safe and respectful.
“In Ghana, recommendations are social currency. Messages brings that local energy into Spotify so the right track, podcast gets to the right person faster,” — Phiona Okumu, Head of Music Sub-Saharan Africa
This launch is only the start. Spotify plans to continue expanding Messages and refining the experience for more listeners across the region in the coming months.