Roger Fingas
Spotify on Monday launched potential Apple Music curation competitor Discover Weekly, a new playlist feature promising more personalized recommendations for its on-demand streaming service.
Unlike most Spotify playlists, which are curated either by users or human editors, Discover Weekly content is generated automatically according to individual listener habits as well as what other people are choosing in related music. As suggested by the name, Spotify will be refreshing Discover Weekly tracks every Monday.
The company noted that the more often someone tunes into Discover Weekly, the more recommendations should improve.
The feature, available on desktops and on mobile, is another means of solving the problem of content discovery on streaming services. While companies like Spotify, Rdio, and Slacker offer tens of millions of songs in their catalogs, it can be difficult to help listeners branch out beyond familiar artists or tracks shared by friends.
Discover Weekly could in part be a reaction to Apple Music, which launched on June 30. One of the core elements of Apple Music is the "For You" section, which offers up albums and playlists based on earlier Likes and plays. Similarly, For You is intended to evolve over time.
The concept is present in other streaming platforms however, such as Songza and Apple Music's predecessor, Beats Music. Spotify itself has been devoting more effort to recommendations in 2015, for instance by adding mood-based playlists.
Charles Martin
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10 Comments
I've used the Discover tab that spotify has had for as long as I've used the service, and I've come across some great recommendations. I remember when I heard "explosions in the sky" for the first time and went straight to spotify to get more, and then when I went to the discover tab it had all this instrumental bands, some of which are fantastic. It's not all bad with spotify.
[quote name="Drunkzombie" url="/t/187282/spotify-introduces-discovery-weekly-playlists-tailored-to-individual-listeners#post_2750210"]I've used the Discover tab that spotify has had for as long as I've used the service, and I've come across some great recommendations. I remember when I heard "explosions in the sky" for the first time and went straight to spotify to get more, and then when I went to the discover tab it had all this instrumental bands, some of which are fantastic. It's not all bad with spotify.[/quote] Apple music is so much better. I've signed up for spotify and others but never listened more than a couple of times. I have listened to Beats 1 several times a day and have be introduced to some artist I would not have given a chance but played in the right context next to the right songs even from different genres. Even the for you works well.
I have never been a Spotify customer so I cannot write about the good/bad sides of the streaming service. On the Beats 1 side though, one day I was listening in and heard an Action Bronson song followed by a Jimi Hendrix song followed by a Sam Smith song. I sat there listening to the music and was absolutely blown away. I realized I would have probably never brought those three artists together. I was glad there was someone more knowledgeable and capable than I to introduce me to it. I am not going to write that every day I have listened to Beats 1 has been like that particular day. I can write that I have heard a lot of new music and hope to hear even more, which will make my iTunes music bill rise. Yes, I still like to own music.
On a parallel note, earlier today as I listened to Steve Jobs host the WWDC 2010 event, I heard him talk about Apple supporting TWO platforms on the iPhone. The first platform he mentioned was the Web using HTML 5. He drove home that the Web was fully open to anyone who wanted to use it. Apple fully supported it and sat on multiple standards body boards to help guide it. The second platform was the App Store. And, being on the App Store meant playing by Apple's rules. As I listened and watched his presentation, all I could think of was Spotify. I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE for Apple to show the entire video to the FTC and DOJ and State AGs who choose to bring a case against Apple in support of Spotify. Netflix was there and offered its service for free on the App Store. We all know how successful Netflix has been since 2010 using the free, open Internet that did not have to play by Apple's App Store rules. Larry Page of Google was mentioned with high esteem. Android had 9% market share. Good times changed to acrimonious times. Oh well.
I'd be using Apple radio had they released it in my country... I bet the radios and curated playlists are awesome, but i stream full albums, so even though listening to suggested music would be good for discovery purposes, I'm all set for now.
I'm not hip enough to enjoy what's on Beats1. I find the DJ's irritating too.
However, if they can fix all the library issues on Apple Music I'm all in. But I am very happy with spotify at the moment.