Spotify’s Wrapped annual round-up of users’ favorite tunes has returned, and this year it comes packaged with AI-generated personalized podcasts.
The AI rundown features two synthetic hosts chatting about users’ most played tracks and which artists and genres they prefer; and is powered by Google’s AI tech, NotebookLM.
The tie-in with Google comes as Spotify – like so many other tech ventures – is slimming down its workforce as it fights for users against Amazon, Apple and YouTube’s Music offerings. Apple’s Replay report got to its users a day before Spotify had hit release
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The new podcast feature is available in English to free and Premium users in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, and Sweden. As well as offering a rundown of what users have streamed, it also will look at their “musical journey” through the year as an “evolution.” It will even offer “a custom Your Music Evolution 2024 playlist,” accessible through users’ Wrapped feed on Home.
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“At Spotify, of course, we love audio, we love podcasts, and we’re always looking to be where our users are listening,” Molly Holder, Spotify’s senior director of product for personalization, said during a press briefing. “This partnership with Google seemed like a very exciting integration and a way for us to do just that.”
DJ X In The House
This year also sees the return of the platform’s original AI-powered voice – its AI DJ X, which users can ask to create playlists for them based on what they have been listening to over the year. This option is now available for Spanish speakers.
However, says Wired, AI-generated podcasts don’t seem to have caught users’ attention to date. It will be interesting to see how Spotify fans react to the new offering and whether the personalized touches hit a chord or a bum note.
Wider Taste Test
The annual roundup is also a chance for Spotify to crunch some data and tell its 640 million monthly active users which artists are topping its world chart and which song was streamed by the most users over the year.
In the US, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter took the title for most-streamed song followed by “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar. And you’ll be less than surprised to find out that it was Taylor Swift who took the title of most-streamed artist both globally and in the US with more than 26.6 billion streams globally. Drake, Zach Bryan, Morgan Wallen and Kanye West also made the list for US listeners.
For podcasts, “The Joe Rogan Experience” took the number one spot worldwide and in the US chart, with “Call Her Daddy” in second place.
At the moment, the human podcasters are dominating despite the increasing number of AI-generated shows. Still, Spotify is sure to come up with more AI-offerings before the next Wrapped gets unwrapped.
