How Spotify’s AI offers personalisation at scale.
Lately, Spotify users, myself included, have noticed a growing increase in how well Spotify knows you. From the “Daylist”, a playlist that changes every 4 hours and almost shifts alongside your mood throughout the day, to auto shuffle, which plays an old track you might have forgotten about at the right moment. This is not random.
Spotify’s entire strategy is built on AI driven personalisation, and makes use of the Long Tail model, where digital platforms can make niche products valuable if they connect to the right audience (Anderson, 2006). Big artists dominate streams, but millions of lesser-known songs get discovered because algorithms push them into the right playlists.
What makes it even more interesting is the fact that Spotify has become somewhat of a music ecosystem. It links artists, listeners, podcasters, and advertisers in one giant network, with every new user strengthening the system. More listeners means better data, allowing for sharper recommendations and bringing in more users again, a true two-sided network effect (Parker, Van Alstyne & Choudray, 2016).
How does it manage to become your personal DJ?
Through the learning history, user interaction, search history and content features, Spotify allows you to have your own personal DJ in your pocket (add reference from Spotify website). If you play a song, it will track how you listen to the song for, the characteristics (such as genre and tempo) and whether you like it and add it to a playlist (Spotify, 2023). It then cross checks this information against what similar listeners enjoy and suggests the next song for you, allowing you to ultimately enhance the full listening experience.
This means Spotify is capable of surprising you with songs you didn’t even know existed, soundtracking your day seamlessly. The flipside is that this DJ is powered by data patterns and not necessarily intuition. Sometimes it can feel like the algorithm is steering your taste for you to listen to bigger artists or artists you are already familiar with so you continue enjoying the full listeners experience and recommend the app to friends.
While Spotify’s AI can feel like the perfect DJ, it also nudges us in ways we may not fully notice. Should we embrace the surprise and convenience, or should platforms be more transparent about how recommendations are made? I’m curious do you trust Spotify’s algorithm to know your taste, or do you sometimes feel it’s shaping your taste for you?
References:
Anderson, C. (2006). The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. Hyperion.
Parker, G., Van Alstyne, M., & Choudary, S. (2016). Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy and How to Make Them Work for You. W.W. Norton & Company.
Spotify (2023). Understanding Recommendations. Available at: https://www.spotify.com/nl/safetyandprivacy/understanding-recommendations [Accessed 18 Sept. 2025].
Appendix
Display Image. Hand holding a phone showing Spotify as a DJ app (AI-generated using ChatGPT, OpenAI, 2025).
