Earlier this week, Spotify confirmed the acquisition in a short blog post announcement, noting that the startup has “changed the game for how AI technology can optimize music search and recommendation capabilities and shares Spotify’s passion” for bringing music to the masses. Spotify also says that the Niland team will move to the music firm’s New York office and help it to “continue innovating and improving our recommendation and personalization technologies resulting in more music discovery which benefits both fans and artists.”
As for Niland, the company made a short statement of its own on its website, simply stating, “We will keep working on new ways to better understand music to craft better innovative listening and discovery experiences.”
Music recommendation is certainly a key component of Spotify’s strategy, as the service is known for its personalized playlists and features like Discover Weekly. Back in March, Spotify hit 50 million paying customers, and boasts nearly double that number when considering non-paying users.
“[Niland’s] innovative approach to AI and machine learning based recommendation systems is a perfect fit for the Spotify team,” Spotify concluded. So keep an eye on your recommended music, friends. It may just get a bit more advanced in the months to come.
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