One of Spotify’s great successes has been their Daily and Weekly Mixes that are generated from your listening behaviour. Previously this was a human-crafted algorithm, but now, building on the new wave of AI, Spotify is introducing an AI-powered DJ to Australia.
DJ is a personalised AI guide that knows you and your music taste so well that it can choose what to play for you. This feature, first rolling out in beta, will deliver a curated lineup of music alongside commentary around the tracks and artists we think you’ll like in a stunningly realistic voice.
Spotify aims to deliver the right piece of music for that exact moment in time, and maybe even connect you with your next favourite artist in the process.
Since launching in the US, Canada, UK and Ireland earlier this year, DJ has become the most discussed Spotify feature on social media.
If you have Spotify Premium, simply launch the Spotify app, just head to your Music Feed on the Home tab, click on DJ and let the magic happen.
While the majority of Spotify users are likely on mobile, I would like to see DJ added for web and desktop app users as well. This experience makes it feel like you have a DJ dedicated to announcing your personal music playlist.
If you don’t feel the vibe, just hit the DJ button at the bottom right of the screen to be taken to a different genre, artist, or mood.
Spotify’s leveraging generative AI to create a dynamic, expressive voice that actually sounds great, human-like, a big leap forward to the robotic computer-generated voices of the past. If you don’t have premium, watch the video below and you’ll hear the voice call out your name, something you’ll never get from a real DJ on the radio.
For now, Spotify’s initial voice model is English-only, trained on the voice of Spotify’s Head of Cultural Partnerships, Xavier “X” Jernigan. More languages are expected in the future. While it’s not clear how much audio Spotify would need to train its voice model, I think it would be great to allow users to capture their own voice to build a model and share it among the community.
There are obvious celebrity opportunities here, let us know in the comments who you’d like to have as your DJ.
But, will this be as good as Pandora’s algorithm?
I always find Spotify suggestions as awful rubbish. Pandora was amazing at building playlists, that you could do a simple thumbs up or thumbs down and they kept the playlist AMAZING!!
Only one way to find out.