Spotify Says It Changed Its Green Logo for Branding Purposes, and Millennials

November 28, 2024

By now, you’ve probably noticed that the Spotify logo on your phone went from a muted, earthy green to a neon, Lisa Frank–esque greeeeen. It’s a relatively subtle change, but people hate it:

@taylorswift13 hey while you're fixing issues with streaming can you get Spotify to change the app color back to the green it used to be?

— elan gale (@theyearofelan) June 22, 2015

Spotify changed its shade of green and my entire reality feels like a lie.

— Lauren DeStefano (@LaurenDeStefano) June 23, 2015

Still can't deal with Spotify's new green. Couldn't deal with old green, either. How can a company be bad at green? pic.twitter.com/g2AXt1YYGU

— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) June 21, 2015

Spotify changes shade of green logo, internet revolts http://t.co/DUchHvQaDd

— Alternative Press (@AltPress) June 24, 2015

Vulture reached out to Spotify for a comment about the backlash today, and a rep sent us two links:

The first is a recent blog post from designer Tobias van Schneider, who writes that the update is part of the bigger brand refresh Spotify announced earlier this year at SXSW. He calls the old green a “dreary” “broccoli” that was “desperate for an upgrade.”

The second is a Fast Company interview from earlier this year with Alexandra Tanguay, Spotify’s global brand director. Tanguay says the original green was chosen by founder Daniel Ek seven years ago because no one was using that particular shade at the time, and that the “slightly new” green is meant to look modern and fresh and, you know, “pop,” just like millennials!

This feels like a classic case of fixing what isn’t broken to me, but Apple Music put Spotify on notice, so you should expect to see a lot of new bells and whistles rolling off the assembly line in the coming months.

Here’s Why Spotify Changed Its Green Logo

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