Ever let your kid play music from your Spotify account, or been asked to put on a playlist that’s not your normal taste? You’re probably tired of those choices affecting your recommendations, one of the best parts of the Spotify service. Well, thankfully that’s changing.
What’s happened? Spotify has introduced a new feature that lets users block particular songs from affecting their “Taste Profile,” the feature that powers personalized recommendations, playlists and overviews such as Wrapped. Before this, users were only able to block whole playlists.
- Now, by tapping the three-dot menu on a track or playlist, there’s an option called “Exclude from your Taste Profile” for songs.
- When you exclude a track, both previous plays and subsequent plays of that track will contribute less to your recommendations, taste summaries and algorithmic playlists like Discover Weekly or On Repeat.
- Note that you can still play the song if you want to hear it as a one-off, even if you exclude it from your Taste Profile.
Why is it important? This change might appear small, but it has a number of implications, as this new option is really about organizing the algorithm’s reading of your music tastes.
- This feature gives you more fine-tuned control over personalization. Consumers no longer need to remove entire playlists simply because they listened to a handful of songs that don’t vibe with them.
- This is mostly useful when you casually listen to a specific song for a mood or a party and you don’t want it to affect your personalized recommendations and “Made For You” playlists.
- With streaming services competing on personalization, placing control of what determines their feed in users’ hands becomes a point of distinction.
Why should I care?
- If you have ever played a song once and later found it being added everywhere in Discover Weekly or other algorithm-based playlists, you can now use the option for it to not show up again.
- It keeps your recommendations in sync with your actual tastes, hence making your music app feel more personalized and related to you.
- Currently playing music can affect the way your Wrapped, Blend, or other “taste summary” features appear — missing tracks won’t be included (or will be included less) in those summaries.
What’s next?
- The feature is now rolling out across the globe, and it’s available to both free and Premium users, according to AndroidPolice.
- Other music-listening platforms can follow suit with similar user-control features in their algorithms as personalization becomes increasingly user-focused.
