Spotify has introduced a new beta feature allowing users to directly shape their AI-generated music taste profiles. Announced by Co-CEO Gustav Söderström at South by Southwest, the tool lets listeners adjust recommendations based on their preferences. It will roll out first in New Zealand in the coming weeks.
During a session at South by Southwest (SXSW) on Friday, Spotify Co-CEO Gustav Söderström unveiled a new feature designed to give users more control over their music recommendations. Currently, Spotify's Taste Profile is powered by AI that analyzes listening habits, including what users skip, play, repeat, revisit, and save. This data informs personalized suggestions in features like Discover Weekly, Daily Mixes, and Wrapped playlists.
The new tool, now in beta, enables users to review and edit their Taste Profile directly within the app. Listeners can request more exposure to specific artists, such as Justin Bieber, or reduce certain genres like house music. They can also specify moods, vibes, genres, or artists to curate their homepage recommendations more precisely.
Over time, user inputs will refine the AI's prioritization, queuing, and discovery of music on the Spotify Home page. TechRadar described this as the 'next evolution' of personalization, noting it allows users to instruct the algorithm to drop unwanted music and add preferred content in detail.
The feature aims to enhance user agency in an AI-driven system, with initial rollout to New Zealand listeners in the coming weeks. No specific launch date beyond that was provided in the announcements.
