Spotify Blends creates shared playlists that mix friends' musical tastes

Spotify is rolling out Blend, a feature of the music streaming service that will create a custom playlist that combines the user's musical tastes with those of a friend.

Originally available in beta in June, Blend is now being made available to all users of Spotify from Tuesday onward. The basic concept is for users to "merge their musical tastes into one shared playlist made just for them."

In exiting beta and for the full rollout, Spotify has updated the feature to include new cover art to identify individual Blend playlists. There are also "taste match scores" to show how much the user's listening choices match their friends', and "sharable data stories" intended to be posted to social media about the pairing.

While it is being made available to both free and premium users, those who subscribe also get to see what user preferences were used to determine the songs that appear on the playlist.

Blend playlists follow other similar concepts that combine the listening habits of multiple users. The Duo Mix playlist similarly combines the tastes of two people on a Premium Duo plan, while a Family Mix does the same for Premium Family.

To create a Blend, subscribers must select "Create Blend" in the Made for You hub within the iOS app, then invite a friend to take part. Once accepted, Spotify then generates the tracklist, cover art, and shareable elements.

Apple Music currently doesn't offer any blend-style playlists involving multiple users, but it does offer options to share user-created playlists with others.