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UK and Australian premium users of the music streaming app will soon be able to curate playlists quickly by describing what they are looking for through text.
Spotify is testing a new AI feature that will allow users to create a playlist based on specific text prompts.
In an announcement yesterday (7 April), Spotify said that its new AI Playlist beta feature can “effortlessly turn your most creative ideas” into playlists that fit the description based on prompts. It gave the examples of “sad music for painting dying flowers” or “tracks for horse riding into the sunset”.
The beta feature will initially be restricted to premium subscribers on iOS and Android devices based in the UK and Australia.
“You can use prompts that reference places, animals, activities, movie characters, colours, even emojis,” the streaming giant said. “The most successful playlists are generated with prompts that contain a combination of genres, moods, artists or decades. It’s a brand new tool, and it is still in beta, so we’ll continue to iterate and innovate on the experience.”
Eligible users can assess the AI Playlist feature from the Your Library tab on the bottom right corner of the screen. Spotify said users will also be able to “revise and refine” the playlists generated by telling AI Playlist exactly what they’re looking for, such as “more pop” or “less upbeat”.
“Spotify will help you curate a personalised playlist based on the tracks, artists and genres we think you’ll like,” the Stockholm-based company said, adding that it also has measures in place to restrict prompts that are deemed offensive.
“While it’s designed to be fun, the tool is still in beta and won’t produce results for non-music-related prompts, like current events or specific brands.”
Just last month, Spotify introduced new video-based educational courses for UK users across a range of topics including making music, learning the tricks of the trade in business and living healthily.
While the streaming company has been diversifying its business, particularly with the incorporation of AI, it has also been cutting costs to focus more on profitability.
At the start of last year, Spotify cut 6pc of its staff, impacting more than 580 people. This was followed by a bigger wave of layoffs in December, when the company said 17pc of its workforce will be cut to ensure it is “right sized” for future challenges. Days later, chief financial officer Paul Vogel announced he was leaving the company.
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