Spotify is giving you the keys to its recommendation algorithm with US launch of ‘Taste Profile’

Spotify is giving listeners a new tool to shape the recommendations it delivers to their app’s Home feed.

The music streaming giant on Wednesday began rolling out a feature called “Taste Profile” to its Premium subscribers in the U.S. that allows users to see, for the first time, how Spotify understands their taste across music and other audio. Users can request changes using natural language commands to fine-tune their recommendations, or make broader changes.

Powered by Spotify’s AI, Taste Profile was first unveiled in March at the SXSW conference in Austin by Spotify co-CEO Gustav Söderström. However, the feature was initially available in beta only to listeners based in New Zealand.

Now, the feature is arriving in Spotify’s largest market in terms of traffic and revenue, where it will be put to a larger test among listeners ages 18 and up.

In some ways, Taste Profile essentially gives you the keys to Spotify’s algorithm. It is how the streaming platform chooses what music and podcasts to suggest, including in its flagship Discover Weekly playlist, its Made for You recommendations, and the highly anticipated annual review known as Spotify Wrapped.

Though Spotify’s algorithmic understanding of a listener’s habits is largely credited as the secret to its success, those recommendations don’t always reflect users’ evolving tastes. The platform often ends up recommending too-similar music when a user would rather branch out.

Now, by editing their Taste Profile directly, Spotify users can request more variety or ask for more or less of a certain genre, artist, or overall vibe.

The feature could be used to remove recommendations based on music that users may regularly stream, but not necessarily care to see more of — for instance, sleep sounds played at night, or whatever music a teenager plays while in the car on their parent’s account.

Until now, Spotify has offered some options to remove music from your Taste Profile, but they only let you exclude certain tracks or playlists. More recently, the company added a much-requested toggle switch that would prevent kids’ music from impacting their parents’ recommendations.

To access Taste Profiles on the mobile app, first tap on your profile pic, then scroll down and select Taste Profile. From here, you’ll be able to explore how Spotify currently understands your taste across music, podcasts, and audiobooks. Under “Tell us more,” you’ll then enter what you’d like to adjust and send the message.

After a few hours, your app’s Home Page will reflect a different set of suggestions.

Spotify says the feature can be used when you want to explore a new genre or era, but aren’t sure where to start, or if you want to adjust the vibe of the music — like if you want more energizing tracks. You can also tell Spotify what sort of podcasts and audiobook you want to better shape those recommendations.

The feature is still in beta. The company didn’t offer a timeline as to when it would reach a wider audience.

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Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software.

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