Spotify it is roll out Recommended Playlists, a new AI playlist creation tool, for Premium subscribers in the US and Canada. Features, which are there Originally tested in New Zealandallows users to create playlists by describing what they want to hear, in their own words.
The requested playlist is built in previous AI playlist product, launched in 2024which allows for simpler prompts like “focus on work with electronica instrumentals,” or “get pumped up with fun, upbeat, positive tunes.”
However, the new Recommended Playlists feature allows users to explain in more detail, and in chat mode, what they want to hear.
In the demo for press, for example, Spotify showed a playlist that was built quickly, which read “Find an artist you haven’t heard, but will probably like, or an artist you’ve only heard one or two songs, and introduce me. Create a playlist that will give you an overview of their catalog so that I will know you are the most popular of the five songs.”
The idea behind the new feature, explains JJ ItalianoHead of Global Music Curation and Discovery at Spotify, is to enable anyone to create playlists, even if they don’t know about music curation or the right words to use.
“For most people, it’s not part of their job. You don’t always have the time or energy to keep building the perfect playlist every time your mood changes, and that’s where the requested playlist comes in,” said Italiano, whose team created popular Spotify playlists like Today’s Top Hits, New Music Friday, and Rap Caviar, among others. “It gives the listener access to that creative process without needing to know the genre, or the year, or the language of the industry. You don’t need the right words. You just need your words.”
“If you can describe a feeling, you can create a playlist,” he says.
The AI behind the feature analyzes the world of music in real time, including “trends, charts, culture, and history,” Spotify says, as well as a user’s entire listening history since joining the service.
While playlists are personalized to creators by default, users can also use the tool to break their usual listening habits and get different recommendations. That is, they can speak specifically to the AI not using your own listening history as a reference point, or you can aim to introduce songs you’ve never heard before, as in the example above.
The guide should not include any musical terminology. For example, users can request playlists inspired by the weather or their favorite TV shows.
Because the request is sharable, the feature could also lead to a new type of creator — one who makes AI requests that others want to try. While the directions themselves will be the same, each user’s resulting playlist will be different, as it is personalized according to their own tastes and listening history. They can then edit the playlist further, if they choose.
Spotify says Suggested Playlists is the “next evolution” of its previous AI playlist feature. The new version is more tuned to real-time music and cultural trends, understands the full arc of the user’s listening behavior – not just what they’ve listened to recently – and offers deeper control. However, the old AI playlist feature is not dying. However, the two products will coexist, which may lead to consumer confusion, since they are the same.
These features will have some usage restrictions as they are still in beta, and may change over time. It is also currently only available in English.
The company can’t say when Recommended Playlists will reach global customers, as they want to learn from those early markets to inform future launches.