Spotify Buys Cord Project And Soundwave To Expand Messaging, Social Features (TechCrunch)

The reason this is interesting for Spotify is that it could help the service be more of a platform for its 75 million users. As we wrote last week when Spotify announced a deal with Genius — where the annotations company will provide lyrics, observations and artists’ thoughts that will pop up as the music is played — Spotify can use features like this to make its app less of a background tool and more of something that people can actively look at while they’re listening to the music. The same goes for messaging features. If you’re on your own listening to music, having a messaging option to discuss a track with a friend — or simply someone else who happens to be listening to it at the exact same time — could add a different dimension to the experience. It also harkens back to the very old concept of music being a social medium…