Spotify appears to be testing a long-requested option to change song speed (BPM)

Spotify already lets users adjust playback speed for podcasts and audiobooks, but music has always been a different story. You can speed up a podcast, slow down an audiobook, skip back 15 seconds, or jump forward with ease. But if you want to slightly increase the tempo of a song for a run, workout, DJ set, or just personal preference, Spotify has not offered a native way to do that.

That may finally be changing.

Several Spotify users on Reddit say they have spotted a new “Change song speed” option for songs. The feature appears in the song’s three-dot menu, sitting alongside other actions such as Share, Add to playlist, Add to Queue, Go to radio, Go to album, and Go to artist. In one screenshot shared by users, the option appears for Journey’s “Any Way You Want It,” suggesting Spotify is testing the feature directly inside regular music playback rather than limiting it to podcasts or audiobooks.

A user on r/truespotify said Spotify now lets them change the speed/BPM of songs, while another spotted a similar option for altering a song’s speed. The feature has also caught attention outside Spotify-focused communities, with users on r/fantanoforever discussing Spotify rolling out a feature to speed up songs.

From the screenshots, Spotify’s implementation looks fairly polished. Tapping Change song speed opens a dedicated Song speed panel showing the song’s current BPM and the percentage change from the original tempo. In one of the examples shared, the track sits at 138 BPM with the adjustment set to 0.0%. There is a horizontal slider for finer control, quick preset buttons for -30%, -20%, -10%, +0%, +10%, +20%, and +30%, plus a Preview button before saving changes.

That suggests Spotify is not merely adding a crude “play faster” toggle. The interface appears designed around BPM, which could make the feature more useful for people who want songs to match a specific pace. This is especially relevant for runners and gym users who often build playlists around tempo. Instead of hunting for a different playlist when the rhythm feels too slow or too fast, users may be able to nudge the song itself to better match their movement.

DJs are also understandably interested. A built-in tempo control inside Spotify could be handy for casual mixing, practice, or quickly testing how a track feels at a different speed. This will not replace proper DJ software, and Spotify likely is not trying to turn its regular app into a club booth. But for a streaming app used by hundreds of millions of people, even a simple BPM adjustment tool could be useful in more situations than it first appears.

That said, this is still clearly a niche feature. Many regular Spotify users may never touch it. For people who just hit play and let the algorithm do its thing, changing the speed of a song may feel unnecessary. But for runners, workout playlist obsessives, dancers, DJs, and people who simply enjoy tweaking playback, this could become one of those small features that quietly become indispensable.

This is also not a new request. Spotify users have been asking for tempo and BPM-related controls for years. One Reddit user asked months ago what they could do with Spotify Mix and BPM changes, while a Spotify Community idea requesting the ability to change the speed and pitch of songs has attracted more than 200 votes.

The broader demand goes back even further. A Spotify Community idea from 2012 asked for search by BPM, while another from 2019 requested a library filter to sort or view music by BPM. In 2023, another user specifically asked Spotify to change BPM to match running pace, which is probably one of the clearest use cases for the feature now being spotted.

For now, though, this does not look like a wide rollout. Some users say they briefly had the new option before it disappeared, which is usually a strong sign of Spotify testing the waters through an A/B experiment. I also checked my own Spotify app, and the option is not available on my end yet. That is frustrating, but not surprising. Spotify has a long habit of quietly testing interface changes and new features with small groups before deciding whether they deserve a broader release.

Still, the fact that the feature is appearing in a complete-looking interface is notable. Spotify already supports speed control for long-form content, so the bigger question was never whether the company knew how to build the feature. The real question was whether it wanted to apply that control to music. Based on these screenshots and user reports, Spotify at least seems to be experimenting with that idea.

Whether this becomes a permanent feature remains unclear. Spotify has not made an official announcement, and as with most A/B tests, the feature could disappear, change, expand, or never reach everyone. But for users who have spent years asking for BPM controls, song speed adjustments, and running-friendly tempo tools, this is easily one of the more interesting Spotify tests in recent memory.

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