Spotify is bringing its algorithm-amending Taste Profile tool to listeners in the US, and it could be your one-way ticket to wiping your most-hated genres from your feed | Tech Radar
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Spotify is bringing its algorithm-amending Taste Profile tool to listeners in the US, and it could be your one-way ticket to wiping your most-hated genres from your feed
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Taste Profile is expanding to US listeners following a test trial
It's essentially Spotify's interpretation of your listening habits
You can interact with Taste Profile directly, telling it what you want and don't want to hear
Spotify’s dedication to creating a complete personalized listening experience is still one of its biggest priorities, and the best music streaming is bringing one of its smartest tools to even more listeners.
After its successful test run in New Zealand, Spotify is taking the next steps by expanding Taste Profile, a feature that allows you to see exactly what Spotify thinks about your music taste and streaming habits. The tool is rolling out today (September 23) in beta for Premium users in the US over the age of 18.
If you’re a Spotify user with beta access, you can find the new Taste Profile tab in the sidebar by tapping on your profile image.
Essentially, Spotify is bringing Taste Profile out of the shadows of the algorithm and into the forefront of the mobile experience, but Spotify’s growing music tool is designed to give you a more robust way of controlling your recommendations.
Not only can you read Spotify’s interpretation of your music taste, you can communicate directly with the algorithm and fine-tune the recommendations that appear on the Home page — so you don’t have to rely solely on your in-app activity to shape music discovery if you don’t want to.
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Interested in branching out to a genre you’ve always wanted to explore, but never found the time to? With the Taste Profile prompt box, try typing specific requests like ‘show me more experimental pop’, and your Home feed will adjust accordingly. It also works for finding new artists to add to your radar — I’d suggest using the tool to find emerging artists and give them the streaming boosts they deserve.
Secondly, you can tell Taste Profile what you want to see more of, and what you want to see less of. While you can already remove individual songs from your Taste Profile, this could allow you to remove entire genres from your recommendations. Additionally, you can use Taste Profile to quickly summon tunes that fit your current mood, a handy workaround to finding music that complements a social gathering or personal listening session — but it doesn’t have to be all about the music.
Unlike music discovery, getting started with podcasts can be a bit tricky; at least that’s how I find it anyway. The in-app Podcasts hub is a rich epicenter of shows, but sometimes I feel Spotify bumps the most popular ones in favor of those that explore more niche topics. Podcasts about classic cinema are my thing, and it’s taken me a long time to find shows I feel give me what I’m looking for.
If you feel you’re in a similar boat, Taste Profile could help you. Similar to music prompts, you can tell Taste Profile what topics interest you most, triggering your Home page to feed you suggestions to match. You might already be a huge fan of true crime podcasts, but want to find shows or episodes that explore individual criminals, specific crimes, or the most famous cases from certain historical periods.
For seasoned users, most of the hard work and fine-tuning of the algorithm has already been done. Thanks to years' worth of non-stop listening, creating playlists, and using existing tools such as 'Don't play this artist' to help Spotify understand me, I'm confident that I don't need to do any further tweaking. That being said, if you've just made the switch to Spotify or AI-generated music is infiltrating your recommendations, it could be a game-changer.
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Rowan is an Editorial Associate and Apprentice Writer for Tech Radar. A recent addition to the news team, he is involved in generating stories for topics that spread across Tech Radar's categories. His interests in audio tech and knowledge in entertainment culture help bring the latest updates in tech news to our readers.
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