This is a pretty simple request from an end-user point of view. PS4 API, probably less so.
The Spotify app can be run while “backgrounded” on the PS4, meaning if you have a game up and running, Spotify is still running in the background.
The PS4 has a feature called the “Quick Men”, accessed by holding the PS button for a couple seconds. The Spotify app plugs into this menu, providing the end user with volume & transport controls, plus player metadata display.
The PS4, as a platfrom, currently has NO good way to playback and control your own media in the same manner. The official Sony “Media Player” app has one of the worst UI’s I’ve ever seen, so while it technically CAN be used to stream music from a private server, using it is a terrible experience in every regard.
One of the things I specifically wanted out of my Plex setup was a way to play music in the background and be able to browse / control that music on a phone or other second-screen device. This functionality is already there in Plex on the PS4 today, it just has to be done in the foreground.
Based on the way the Spotify application works, I’d like to think the elements necessary to achieve this already exist in the PS4 API(s), it’s just a matter of getting it built up and tested. I’d imagine you’d need logic and handling for video playback situations. It would possibly be pretty cool to have Plex continue to run just the audio from videos if the file gets backgrounded, although that seems like a much more thorny technical issue to me and is way more of an edgecase for weirdos who want to play the audio from video files while they also play games.
Spotify’s success on this platform is proof that the usecase for background music playback already has a demand built in.
