Spotify debuts ‘Niche Mixes’ you can build based on description alone

Spotify launched a new feature today called Niche Mixes that lets you create your own personalized mixes based on just a few words of description in the Search tab. For instance, you could type in an “activity, vibe or aesthetic,” the company notes, then append the word “mix” to generate the custom playlist. This new feature is available to all free and premium users in English starting today.

The company describes this feature as “a set of personalized playlists that combines all that our Mixes offer in a playful way.”

“We’re giving listeners access to tens of thousands of Mixes unique to them based on, well, almost anything they can think of,” Spotify said in a blog post.

The feature allows users to instantly generate a playlist for almost anything. For example, you can search for “Feel good morning mix,” “90s running mix” or “driving singalong mix,” among other things. The Niche Mixes will have a “Made For You” label below the name in search results.

You can find these playlists under “Your Niche Mixes” in the “Made For You” hub located under search, after their creation. In addition, Spotify will suggest a carousel of five-19 Niche Mixes made for you, which are updated every day.

Spotify suggested a few Niche Mixes to get users started, including its Cottagecore Indie Mix, Bubblegum Pop Mix, Discofox Mix, Feel Good Driving Mix, Fun Road Trip Mix, Travel Mashup Mix and others.

Spotify wants you to be creative with your prompts by inputting decades, activities or vibes to get results. In tests, TechCrunch reporters found the feature was able to generate a wide number of results. Even typing in the words “shower mix” in the search box returns rows and rows of possible mixes, demonstrating the feature’s possible scale.

However, you may run into keyword combinations that don’t offer results if they’re not terms that could not be tied to music somehow. Plus, there are some holes in the coverage, as the service was able to return a “cooking mix” but not a “cooking dinner mix,” for instance.

The streamer is not the first app to try a feature that generates a list with a prompt. An app called LineupSupply renamed itself to Playlist AI and added a playlist generator that works by text input — something that may have pushed Spotify to develop this feature.

Spotify has been revamping its app in recent weeks with a number of AI-powered features. In February, the company launched an AI DJ feature, which plays personalized songs along with AI-powered spoken commentary.

Additional reporting: Sarah Perez

Spotify debuts ‘Niche Mixes’ you can build based on description alone by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch