Spotify’s Taste Profile: Users Gain Control of Music Recommendations
Spotify is giving Premium users greater control over their music recommendations with the launch of Taste Profile, a new feature that allows listeners to directly shape the algorithms that curate their listening experience. Announced at South by Southwest (SXSW) by Spotify co-CEO Gustav Söderström, the feature is currently rolling out in a beta phase to users in New Zealand.
Understanding Taste Profile
For years, Spotify’s recommendation engine has operated largely behind the scenes, analyzing listening habits to predict user preferences. Taste Profile changes this by surfacing the algorithmic model Spotify has built for each listener, and crucially, allowing users to modify it. The feature aggregates a user’s behavior across music, podcasts, and audiobooks, providing a comprehensive view of their listening patterns, including recently explored genres, frequently listened-to artists, and typical listening times.
How it Works
Users can review their Taste Profile and flag inaccuracies, such as an overemphasis on music from the past or a failure to recognize current listening trends. They can then request more or less of specific genres, artists, or even “vibes,” influencing the recommendations they receive on their homepage and in generated playlists. Users can also factor in contextual information, like training for an event or weekday commutes, to further refine the algorithm’s understanding of their preferences.
A Shift Towards Collaborative Personalization
According to Spotify, more than 80% of its listeners value personalization as the primary benefit of the service [Observer]. Taste Profile builds on Spotify’s recent expansion of Prompted Playlist, a feature launched in New Zealand and subsequently rolled out to Premium users in the US, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, and the UK [Observer]. While Prompted Playlist allows users to generate playlists through natural language descriptions, Taste Profile focuses on refining the existing algorithmic model.
Strategic Timing and Spotify’s 20th Anniversary
The announcement of Taste Profile coincides with Spotify’s 20th anniversary celebrations, marked by a presence at SXSW that included a headline session with co-CEO Gustav Söderström, country artist Lainey Wilson, and podcast host David Friedberg [Spotify Newsroom]. Spotify has repeatedly used New Zealand as a testing ground for new, AI-adjacent features, including the initial launch of Prompted Playlist [Observer].
Looking Ahead
Spotify’s Taste Profile represents a fundamental shift in how the company frames its relationship with listeners, moving towards a more transparent and collaborative approach to personalization. While currently limited to Premium subscribers in New Zealand, the feature’s potential to deepen user engagement and solidify Spotify’s position as a leader in music streaming is significant. No timeline for a broader global rollout has been announced.