Many people use Spotify, despite the numerous price increases in the recent past. Thanks to the algorithm in particular, playlists such as “Your Mix of the Week” is among the most popular feature on the platform.
The music streaming company presented a beta function called Taste Profile at the SXSW technology and culture conference in Austin. The promise behind this idea is simple. You finally gain insight into the algorithmic model that controls your music recommendations and can actively change them.
Controlling the Algorithm: How Taste Profile Works
With Taste Profile, Spotify is tackling one of its users’ biggest frustrations at long last. This is the personal taste profile that Spotify creates in the background for each user. Until now, this algorithm worked invisibly: it quietly and secretly analyzed what you listened to and when, what you skipped, and what music you played at certain times. Spotify used all these touchpoints to build a picture of you, which then fuels the Discover Weekly and Made For You playlists as well as the annual Spotify Wrapped.
The problem with this? Anyone who shared their account with others, who listened to sleep sounds at night, or who played nursery rhymes for the little ones on the way to work ends up with all these random tunes in their profile. The algorithm gets confused, recommendations get worse, and the user has no way of correcting this. Although there was the option to remove individual songs or playlists from the profile previously, this was time-consuming and ineffective.
The Profile button fundamentally changes this situation. The new function brings together all listening data from music, podcasts, and audiobooks into one central location in the app. Users can see at a glance which genres and artists Spotify connects with them and intervene directly. The special feature? The adjustments work via natural language prompts, i.e., normal text commands. For instance, you can tell the system that you want more high-energy tracks for your morning workout, or you would prefer to keep sleep sounds out of your profile.
How to Influence AI With Your Words Soon
What sets the Profile button apart from previous customization options is the depth of control. Spotify has designed the function to take into account short-term moods and long-term habits. If you are training for a marathon and need motivational beats every day, you can let the system know. Anyone who spends their daily commute listening to news podcasts can enter this as a signal. Spotify then adjusts the launch page accordingly.
Taste Profile is not alone: Spotify already introduced the Prompted Playlist feature a few weeks ago, which allows you to generate playlists via text commands. While Prompted Playlist creates something new, Taste Profile corrects what is already available. Ultimately, both functions together show where music streaming is heading. Here, too, we see more AI involved, additional personalization, and greater user influence.
For the time being, Taste Profile is being rolled out as a beta function exclusively for Premium subscribers in New Zealand. Spotify has not yet given a specific timetable for global availability. However, the past can be an indicator. New Zealand was the first test patch for the Prompted Playlist before the function became available about a month later in the USA, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, and the UK. As usual, you can expect the release in Germany afterwards.
