{"id":15966,"date":"2022-10-04T22:04:07","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T02:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/?post_type=hck-submission&p=15966"},"modified":"2022-10-04T22:16:19","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T02:16:19","slug":"spotify","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/spotify\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotify – Your Personal DJ Committed to Curating Your Music Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ways in which we access music has evolved from analog storage modes such as vinyl, cassettes, and CDs to digital storage modes like iTunes to the current mode of streaming. Streaming gives listeners the ability to listen to any song of their choice within seconds and has had a large impact on the way music is consumed and artists are paid. With artists being paid based on the number of streams, songs on average have gotten much shorter which also mean that listeners can listen to more songs that they did before and companies can gather a lot more data about listener\u2019s habits. Spotify has been intentional about collecting data and using it to improve its service for listeners and artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a listener\u2019s perspective, the best use of data has been Spotify\u2019s ability to curate personalized playlists that not only take into account songs the listener already likes, but also include songs that the algorithm predicts the listener would like based on historical data. For music enthusiasts, this is a valuable feature as it allows listeners to effortlessly discover new music. Spotify\u2019s \u201cGo To Radio\u201d feature also allows users to listen to music that is similar to a chosen song. This feature learns on the go by allowing listeners to \u201clike\u201d and \u201cdislike\u201d songs and updates the song queue in real time to reflect the listener\u2019s predicted preference. Finally, Spotify\u2019s \u201cWrapped\u201d provides a yearly summary to listeners and shows everything from top 5 played songs, to most listened to artists, to how many minutes of music the listener streamed in the year. This has become a strong marketing tool for Spotify as users all over the world share their results on social media and compare their music tastes with their friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From an artist\u2019s perspective, Spotify helps listeners find new artists that they ordinarily may not have comes across. Spotify has created a platform where the algorithm is able to cut through the noise and predict whether a listener will like a song, regardless of the popularity of the artist. Spotify also uses its data to let listeners know when an artist they like has released a new album or has a concert nearby. This is an additional means of targeted advertising for artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, Spotify has made large investments in its machine learning capabilities to improve its ability to personalize the experience for listeners. It uses ML in 3 main ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n