work / spotify-on-shelf

Spotify on OnePlus Shelf

Shipped global music control without unlocking, Shelf’s top widget at 40% of MAU

OnePlusPartnerships Senior PM, Partnerships & New Initiatives · 2021–2022

Led 7 devs, 3 QA, 2 designers, 1 ops

Worked with 1 partner PM · marketing, leadership

4x2: full recommendations

2x2: quick controls

Integration detail

Widget in context

40% * MAU reach
#1 Highest-engagement widget at launch
Global OxygenOS 12 rollout
TL;DR
  • Led the OnePlus side of the Spotify partnership: a Made-for-You widget on Shelf, shipped globally with OxygenOS 12, reaching 40%* of MAU
  • Key decision: the widget serves non-Spotify users too, generic recommendations plus a download path, so it doubled as acquisition for the partner instead of a perk for existing users
  • Became Shelf's highest-engagement widget at launch

The real problem

Music listeners have control of whats playing with playback controls. We wanted to empower pro users with quick switching amongst their favourite playlists. Shelf had the real estate and with the new entry point, Shelf became the host for this new widget. For Spotify, the prize was engagement and low-friction onboarding for users who didn’t have the app yet. The product had to earn both outcomes at once, which is what makes partnership PM work its own discipline: you are managing two roadmaps, two success metrics, and one surface.

Goal

Launch a Spotify widget on OnePlus Shelf, enabling personalised playlist shuffle, amongst users top playlists. For a non-user, provide top playlists to engage and activate.

Outcome

Shipped globally, reaching 40%* of MAU. Covered by XDA, 9to5Google, and Android Authority. Became Shelf's highest-engagement widget at launch.

What was considered

Gate the widget to logged-in Spotify users
Why considered Simplest contract; personalised from the first render
Why it didn't ship Dead surface for everyone else, and worthless to Spotify as an acquisition channel
shipped Serve all users, split by state (chosen)
Why considered Existing users get Made-for-You personalised playlists; non-users get generic recommendations and a download path
Trade-off accepted Two onboarding flows to design and test instead of one
One fixed widget size
Why considered Less engineering, simpler spec
Why it didn't ship Research on Shelf showed card size is capability: 2x2 covers quick controls, 4x2 earns full recommendations, so we shipped both

What was built

Playback controls, album art and now-playing UI on a card users could place at 2x2 or 4x2; playlist pivoting and track-liking without opening the app. Under it, a media-widget SDK that made Shelf’s audio slot reusable for future partners. The rollout went through beta with the OnePlus community before staged global release on OxygenOS 12, announced on the OnePlus Forum.

What I did

Partnership LeadPrimary contact between OnePlus and Spotify product teams
Widget UXDesigned playback controls, album art, and now-playing UI
API FrameworkDefined Shelf's media widget SDK enabling future audio partners
Global RolloutCoordinated staged release across OxygenOS 12 globally

* Figures are directional. Reach includes OnePlus and OPPO users globally.