Spotify brings AI-powered Prompted Playlists to the U.S. and Canada

Summary

Spotify is rolling out Prompted Playlists, a new AI playlist creation tool, to Premium subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. The feature, which was originally tested in New Zealand, allows users to make a playlist by describing what they want to hear, in their own words. Prompted Playlists builds on an earlier AI playlist product, launched in 2024, which allowed for simpler prompts like “get focused at work with instrumental electronica,” or “get pumped up with fun, upbeat, and positive songs.” Instead, the new Prompted Playlists feature lets users explain in more detail, and in a conversational mode, what they want to hear. In a demo to press, for example, Spotify showed off a playlist that was built on a long prompt, which read “Find me one artist I haven’t listened to yet, but would probably love, or an artist I’ve only heard one or two songs from, and introduce me to them. Build a playlist of songs that’ll give me an overview of their catalog so it feels like I’m getting to know them. Put the songs you think I’ll like the most in the top five spots.” The idea behind the new feature, explains J.J. Italiano, Head of Global Music Curation and Discovery at Spotify, is to make it possible for anyone to build a playlist, even if they don’t know much about music curation or the correct words to use. Image Credits:Spotify “For most people, isn’t a part of their job. You don’t always have the time or the energy to keep building the perfect playlist every time your mood changes, and that’s where prompted playlists will come in,” said Italiano, whose team makes popular Spotify playlists like Today’s Top Hits, New Music Friday, and Rap Caviar, among others. “This gives listeners access to that creative process without needing to know genres, or years, or industry language. You don’t need the right words. You just need your words.” “If you can describe a feeling, you can make a playlist,” he added. The AI behind the feature analyzes the world of music in real time, including “...