Spotify is rolling out Taste Profile, an AI-powered feature that lets Premium subscribers see how the streaming service understands their listening habits and directly adjust recommendations using natural language. The beta is initially available to users ages 18 and older in the U.S., following earlier testing in New Zealand.
Taste Profile covers music, podcasts and audiobooks, giving listeners a summary of the interests Spotify has associated with their account. Users can then tell Spotify what they want to hear more or less of, with changes reflected in recommendations on the Home feed.
Users Can Tell Spotify How Their Taste Has Changed
According to Spotify’s official announcement, users can request more variety, ask for more or less of particular genres or artists, or adjust the type of content Spotify recommends. Someone could ask for more energetic music, for example, or tell Spotify they want additional podcasts and audiobooks covering specific topics.
The feature could also help when listening activity does not accurately represent someone’s preferences. Sleep sounds, music played by another person using the account, or content that a listener has lost interest in can otherwise continue influencing recommendations.
Spotify previously allowed users to exclude individual tracks and playlists from their Taste Profile. It recently added another setting that lets parents stop children’s music from affecting their recommendations and annual Spotify Wrapped results.
Spotify says Taste Profile notes act as guidance rather than strict commands. Its support page states that users cannot give instructions such as “always show” or “never show,” and the feature cannot perform actions such as following an artist.
Home Recommendations Change Within Hours
On the mobile app, users can tap their profile picture and select Taste Profile to see Spotify’s current interpretation of their listening habits. Under “Tell us more,” they can enter a natural language request describing what they want adjusted.
Spotify says Home recommendations should begin changing within a few hours, while users can edit or delete their instructions later. The AI-generated Taste Profile summary is currently available in English and Spanish.
Spotify first announced the feature at SXSW in March, when co-CEO Gustav Söderström introduced it as a way to give listeners greater control over the company’s recommendation system. The initial beta was limited to Premium listeners in New Zealand before the U.S. rollout.
Taste Profile remains a beta feature, and Spotify has not provided a timeline for availability in additional countries. The company also has not said when the controls could extend beyond Home recommendations to other personalized areas of the service.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
For more stories like it, click the +Follow button at the top of this page to follow us.