Spotify’s latest personalized music experience is throwing it back to the days of radio, but this time with a modern twist: AI. Spotify’s new DJ is AI-powered and will curate a listening experience based on your unique music taste.
The news: To find the Spotify DJ, premium users in the U.S. and Canada can go to the “music” tab on their Spotify homepage and select the DJ option. The “DJ,” an AI, or artificial intelligence, whose name is X, will greet you and start playing music based on what it thinks you’re into.
- The DJ will “sort through the latest music and look back at some of your old favorites —maybe even resurfacing a song that you haven’t listened to for years. It will then review what you might enjoy and deliver a stream of songs picked just for you,” Spotify said.
- If you aren’t enjoying the songs the DJ is playing, there is a DJ button located at the bottom of the screen that can change up the vibe at any time.
- Spotify says that “the more you listen and tell the DJ what you like (and don’t like!), the better its recommendations get.”
Details: Spotify’s DJ operates using Spotify’s personalization features, mixed with AI technology from OpenAI and voice technology from Sonatic to give the DJ a realistic voice.
- The AI will use feedback provided by your listening history and insight from Spotify’s editors.
My experience: To see if this new DJ was as accurate as Spotify marketed it to be, I gave it a try by only listening to DJ-curated music for an entire afternoon.
I first booted the DJ up when I got to the gym, which is where I’ve been listening to music the most lately. At first, the DJ did a great job of reflecting my recent listening history by playing my go-to workout songs, while also suggesting other music that fit the upbeat vibe. However, the AI’s weakness showed when halfway through my workout it began to play slow-paced indie music.
Even though you can tell the DJ to change the mood of the music it’s playing, you can’t choose the specific genre/vibe you’re currently in the mood for. That being said, if you already know what type of music you want to listen to, I would stick with a playlist or a Spotify “radio station” over the DJ feature.
One feature I enjoyed about the DJ is its ability to remember the music I’ve listened to in the past, even from years ago. At one point it played me my top songs from 2017, which was a fun throwback to some music I hadn’t really thought of since.
A genre I frequent is R&B, but I usually listen to newer artists that haven’t been around in the industry as long. The AI did its justice to the genre by throwing it back to some of the classics of the ’90s and ’00s, which I thought was really fun.
While I enjoyed the throwbacks and a few of the recommendations the DJ gave me, it wasn’t as good at predicting my music taste as I wanted it to be. The algorithm played a lot of viral and top hits, which doesn’t reflect my music taste, but I’m assuming that’s what it thinks I want to hear since I’m a woman in my early 20s. From what I’ve experienced, I think that the AI tries to predict what genres you’re interested in, but isn’t nuanced enough to detect specific sub-genres and offer a platform for underground artists. I do occasionally listen to a lot of bigger names in music right now, but I wasn’t recommended any new artists that fit into the more obscure, lesser-known music that I usually listen to.
At the bottom line, I think the AI DJ is a great option for when you don’t care or can’t decide what to listen to. However, if you’re picky about music like I am and already know what you like to hear, it may not be as good at suggesting music that you’ll really enjoy.