Spotify’s AI DJ just got three new features, but there’s still work to be done
Spotify hosts a wide range of personalization features that help listeners customize how they stream and interact with music, podcasts, and audiobooks. A stellar personalization feature that many users enjoy is Spotify's AI DJ.
The feature has been seeing exciting improvements this year, helping listeners switch up how their music set ebbs and flows. What are these new features, and are they what users are expecting? Here's all you need to know.
Spotify's AI DJ
If you haven't used Spotify's AI DJ before, it is one of the streaming platform's top personalization features that you can use to tap into your music taste better. By starting a Spotify DJ set, you can catch up on new music you may have missed, reconnect with music you haven't listened to in a while, and listen to repeat songs. The feature utilizes generative AI (OpenAI technology) and Spotify's personalization technology to give you insights about your music taste and personalize the DJ set, constantly refreshing the lineup based on your feedback. This feature is available for Spotify mobile users (iOS and Android).
To use the Spotify DJ feature (if you haven't before), scroll down your Home tab's Music Feed to find the DJ card, or search "DJ" in the search bar. Once you access the DJ feature, simply tap play and listen to your personalized DJ set. With new upgrades, you can also tap the DJ button in the lower right corner to request a change in genre or mood. Tap "Switch It Up" to refresh the set.
The new features
Earlier this year, Spotify introduced voice requests for its DJ feature, allowing listeners to interact and ask for requests by simply tapping and holding the DJ button when activating Spotify DJ. You can then voice a request to change the direction of the DJ's music picks, and reset it whenever you want.
And this month, Spotify has introduced three new features. Firstly, DJ Livi now takes requests in Spanish, allowing millions of Spanish-speaking Spotify listeners to customize their DJ set and change up the mood.
The second new feature that Spotify DJ now supports is text requests, a big upgrade for both English and Spanish-speaking listeners. When you don't have the means or location to put in a voice request, you can type your DJ request instead with this feature, and change the mood, genre, or style quickly. As with most text prompt/request features, keep your instructions to AI DJ as specific and detailed as possible for the best results.
Finally, supporting the text request feature, Spotify's DJ will also show you three personalized prompt options when you try to type in a text request. These prompts, based on your listening patterns, allow you to change the mood of the DJ set (mine includes prompts like "K-Pop ballads for a relaxed evening" and "Energetic rock I may have missed"). You will see prompt suggestions pop up above the text box, and you can simply click one to change your set.
Did Spotify listen to its users?
Spotify has certainly taken a stride in the right direction for both Spanish-speaking listeners who wanted more out of DJ Liv and listeners who didn't want to resort to voicing their requests every time they want to change things up in terms of their music set. The text requests were highly requested and anticipated for a reason, since voice requests don't do you good when you're commuting, in public, or simply want an alternative to voice your DJ prompts.
By introducing personalized prompts for DJ, Spotify has opened up the door to possibilities for more personalized, custom DJ requests that could make your set much more tailored to your shifting music tastes.
Personally, I've only used the DJ voice request feature a couple of times — beyond the inconvenience of using it in public, I've also never felt that it was user-friendly to give a voice prompt to the DJ when I could just let the set do its thing or, when I have the time on my hands, simply use the AI Playlist feature. While the DJ feature itself is nice to use for music insights and a mindless queue, switching up the mood of the set using a text request feature is something I've been looking forward to.
These new features, specifically the text requests and personalized prompts, are similar to existing support features for AI Playlist and the ChatGPT-Spotify integration, so it's nothing brand new (although appreciated).
Many listeners have issues with Spotify's personalization technology, facing inconsistent sets that deter music discovery or lead to repetitive queues when using the DJ. While the platform has certainly been making improvements to this issue, as far as I have noticed, it definitely needs to hit the nail on the head in terms of the DJ's set versatility without needing users to input requests or switch it up constantly.
Hopefully, the text request and prompt feature will see improvements based on user feedback as more mobile users get access to it.
What AI DJ actually needs
Since its introduction in 2023, Spotify's DJ has gotten some notable upgrades, but the feature still feels half-baked. Spotify has a vast playing field with this promising feature, and can actually do some fun things (just based on user feedback), but has yet to fully utilize AI DJ to the best of its capabilities.
The first thought that strikes me when I use the Spotify DJ to mindlessly play songs without bothering with a queue is the ability to further personalize what the DJ plays without manually inputting prompts. User control is central to a feature like DJ, so concentrating on this can do Spotify a lot of good. This could feature something like a slider control that lets you determine how familiar or new the songs that the DJ will queue up, or a fun DJ mixer feature where you can control things like genres, transitions, styles, and moods.
Spotify has recently released Mix, a playlist transition feature that lets users personalize and control how songs within a playlist flow into the next one, complete with a mixer hosting options for EQ and sound effects. A support feature similar to Mix for DJ can be useful for listeners looking to play around with their music set and customize it to their liking.
The Spotify DJ can also let you choose voice options, from tones and accents to voices of your favorite artists, since it offers limited DJ personalities now. Artist or song muting for a DJ set may be helpful for some users who want to avoid them for the set's duration. In the future, I'd also love to see Spotify really play into the DJ personality and provide an option for remixes for select tracks. A complementary RJ personality that delivers music or podcast news (like releases and upcoming concerts) would be a good feature that listeners on the go can use instead of scrolling through the app.
I'd also love to see an AI DJ for desktop in the future, since personalization would be much easier to carry out on a bigger screen. This would also set Spotify up for a better user interface experience if the platform decides to introduce better personalization features that resemble existing features like Mix.
Spotify's AI DJ is a treasure trove of promises, so I hope that the audio streaming platform can open its eyes to the untapped potential that it's sitting on. As the feature has been getting more improvements recently, hopefully, Spotify will consider user criticism as the DJ evolves and is made available to more users. Well, at least they've also brought lossless audio to the service, too.