Spotify users will soon be able to see and shape the listening data that drives their personalized recommendations through a new feature the company is calling ‘Taste Profile’.
The new feature was introduced at the SXSW conference on Friday (March 13) by Spotify co-CEO Gustav Söderström. It will initially be available in beta for Premium users in New Zealand in the coming weeks.
Taste Profile pulls together users’ entire listening behavior across music, podcasts, and audiobooks, including the artists and genres they listen to, as well as their listening habits during the day.
With Taste profile, if the profile doesn’t reflect how a user wants to actually hear themselves, they can flag it and ask for more or less of something, or describe what they are currently in the mood for.
Spotify said: “Your input helps determine what gets prioritized, what gets dialed back, and what you discover next on the Spotify homepage.”
The feature also extends beyond listening data. Users can add context such as training for a marathon, commuting with news podcasts on weekday mornings. That kind of signal, according to Spotify, allows for “even deeper personalization.”
“You can shape your Taste Profile as much as you’d like, or leave it and enjoy Spotify as usual,” said Spotify.
The move is part of Spotify’s efforts to provide personalization options to users. The company said more than 80% of listeners say personalization is what they value most about the service.
“Now we’re taking that even further by giving you more visibility and control over how your taste shapes your experience.”
Taste Profile comes three months after Spotify announced the beta launch of Prompted Playlist in New Zealand. This feature lets users enter text prompts to build personalized playlists.
With Prompted Playlist, users can turn text prompts – ranging from short and general to long and detailed – into playlists, augmented by the user’s entire listening history and broader music trends.
Spotify at the time said it’s the first time that a user’s entire history will be part of the playlist creation process, and claims to be “giving users the power to steer the algorithm.”
Taste Profile and Prompted Playlist are just among Spotify’s new AI features that are aimed at tailoring user experience. It rolled out an AI Playlist feature in 2024 that turns text prompts into song suggestions, and last year, Spotify expanded the AI DJ feature with the ability for users to ask for changes to the algorithm by voice.
Music Business Worldwide