March 10, 2023
Emily P.
During their Stream On event on Wednesday (March 8th), Spotify revealed numerous new features and updates coming to the app to evolve the in-app experience for users. One of the main features is a new, dynamic home screen on mobile that now has a space for users to scroll through a feed of audio and visual previews of new music, playlists, albums, podcast episodes, and even audiobook snippets, personalized to each user’s tastes. If users hear something they like, they can either save it to their library, play the entire track/album/playlist/episode from the beginning, or go to the source material of the audio, all within the preview feeds themselves. This feature was developed with the intention of encouraging discovery and exploration amongst Spotify’s user base by providing individualized recommendations to users based on past listening history.
Another feature to aid in personalized music discovery amongst Spotify’s users is the new AI DJ, which will combine Spotify’s personalization algorithm, OpenAI technology, and an AI voice program to deliver an individualized radio-esque experience to users. The AI DJ experience is similar to that of Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist and annual Wrapped campaign combined: the DJ will play both older music users have listened to in the past, and newer music specifically recommended to users based on their listening preferences. Alongside the user-unique curated program, the AI DJ will also provide insightful commentary about what’s being played. However, this feature is currently only available to Premium users in the U.S. and Canada.
Spotify is also introducing a new playback mode for user-generated playlists: Smart Shuffle. When enabled, this feature will input personalized music recommendations in between the tracks of a user’s own playlist that “match the vibe” of the tracks already in the playlist. These recommended tracks will appear with a sparkle symbol next to their name, and will be able to be added into the playlists permanently by users at will. If users would prefer to keep their playlists as they were, this feature can be enabled and disabled freely at the users’ discretion.
To read more about the updates coming to Spotify, click here: bit.ly/3J8yZWT