A breakdown of the newly added voice-request support for Spotify’s AI DJ. Photo Credit: Spotify
Spotify has officially added voice-based music requests to AI DJ, listener engagement with which is said to have “nearly doubled over the past year.”
The streaming platform announced its latest DJ expansion (and the engagement spike) in a brief release today. According to Spotify, the AI feature now responds to and tailors sessions based on a variety of English-language voice requests from subscribers.
That refers specifically to those based in the 60 or so nations currently supporting AI DJ, which, per Spotify, can field “a combination of genre, mood, artist, or activity-related requests” on the music side.
Regarding non-music content, DJ (which takes voice prompts via a button in the lower-right corner) doesn’t yet provide podcast, audiobook, or video recommendations. But given Spotify’s aggressive focus here, it’ll presumably begin doing so in the not-so-distant future.
Closer to the present, Spotify elaborated that DJ will personalize sessions “based on your request, listening history, music preferences, and more.” Users can also “change the vibe” of recommendations with a tap as opposed to a follow-up voice request.
On the “more” front, one needn’t stretch the imagination to guess which artists and rightsholders are likeliest to benefit from DJ responses.
However, Spotify did take the opportunity to plug possible requests such as “Play me some cry-in-the-car songs” and “Surprise me with some indie tracks I’ve never heard before.”
With any luck, the DJ expansion will help at least a portion of listeners find quality human-made tracks that aren’t already racking up millions upon millions of streams.
In the bigger picture, it probably goes without saying that streaming platforms are dedicating more resources than ever to developing AI features and DJ tools.
For Spotify, this also includes AI Playlist, with YouTube Music having recently rallied around what it calls AI-powered personalized radio stations. (YouTube proper, on the other hand, is quietly embracing pre-cleared AI instrumentals for creators.)
And evidence suggests that SoundCloud could be preparing to take things a step further. After an AI-focused terms of service update began making a media splash, the platform seemingly left the door open to training gen AI based on uploaded media down the line.
It probably goes without saying once again, but TOS clause or not, the majors won’t be consenting to largescale training on their catalogs sans compensation. Following the point to its logical conclusion, emerging artists in particular are receiving an increasingly raw deal at the intersection of streaming and AI.
Content shared from www.digitalmusicnews.com.