Understanding User Experience in Music Streaming Platforms: A User-Generated Review Analysis of Spotify in Indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59890/ijgsr.v4i8.303Keywords:
Spotify, User Experience, User-Generated Reviews, Online Reviews, Music Streaming, Thematic Analysis, Consumer DissatisfactionAbstract
This study examines user experience with Spotify in Indonesia through the analysis of user-generated reviews on the Google Play Store. The study aims to identify overall user evaluations, major themes of positive and negative experiences, and the dominant sources of user dissatisfaction. An exploratory mixed-method approach was employed by combining descriptive analysis of numerical ratings with qualitative thematic analysis of review content. A total of 5,658 unique Spotify reviews collected between 6 June and 5 July 2026 were analyzed. The findings indicate that overall user evaluations were predominantly positive, with 61.6% of reviews receiving five stars and 9.7% receiving four stars, resulting in an overall mean rating of 3.91 out of 5. Thematic analysis identified music and content, advertising, playback and listening experience, technical and application performance, premium and monetization, and user control as major aspects of Spotify user experience. Positive experiences were primarily associated with music and content availability, listening experience, and platform functionality. In contrast, negative experiences were strongly associated with advertising, technical problems, premium restrictions, and limitations in user control. Advertising was the most frequently identified source of dissatisfaction, followed by technical and application performance, music and content-related problems, premium and monetization issues, and user-control restrictions. These findings demonstrate that Spotify user experience extends beyond music availability and is also shaped by the conditions surrounding content access, control, and consumption. The study highlights the value of combining numerical ratings with textual review analysis to provide a more comprehensive understanding of users' actual experiences and sources of dissatisfaction with digital music streaming services
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Copyright (c) 2026 Camelia Rizki Agrina, Andreas Recki Prasetyo, Joval Ifghaniyafi Farras
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
