Spotify experiments with more tailored, AI-driven ‘Prompted Playlists’

Spotify Introduces Enhanced Playlist Customization

Spotify has unveiled a new feature called "Promoted Playlists," designed to give users greater influence over the platform’s music recommendations. This update, initially available to Premium members in New Zealand, marks the first time Spotify is offering such a level of personalization, according to the company.

Currently, the feature is in beta and supports only English. Spotify plans to refine it further before expanding to additional regions.

Personalized Playlists Tailored to Your Listening Journey

With this new tool, users can craft playlists that truly reflect their musical preferences by describing exactly what they want to hear. Unlike previous options, these playlists draw from your entire Spotify listening history, not just your recent favorites, creating a more comprehensive snapshot of your musical tastes.

This development builds on Spotify’s AI playlist feature introduced last year, which also relied on written prompts. The latest version, however, allows for much more detailed and extensive instructions. Spotify representatives explained that the upgraded AI leverages broader world knowledge, enabling users to create highly specific playlists through longer prompts.

Another notable improvement is the ability to reach further back into your listening history and to choose how frequently the playlist updates, setting it apart from other AI-driven playlist tools on the platform.

Examples of Custom Playlist Requests

• Requesting a playlist with “tracks from my favorite artists over the past five years,” and then refining it to include “rare songs I haven’t discovered yet.”
• Asking for “upbeat pop and hip-hop for a 30-minute run, followed by soothing tracks for a cool-down.”
• Seeking “music from this year’s top movies and trending TV shows that align with my taste.”

Users can continue to adjust their prompts for even more precise results and can decide how often the playlist refreshes—whether daily, weekly, or on a custom schedule. This empowers listeners to create their own versions of popular playlists like Discover Weekly or genre-specific Daily Mixes, but tailored to their unique interests or timeframes.

Each playlist comes with explanations and background information, helping users understand the reasoning behind each recommendation. Additionally, Spotify provides suggested prompts to help users get started with the new feature.

Spotify Joins Other Platforms in Algorithm Customization

Spotify is not alone in offering users more control over content algorithms. Instagram, for example, has recently introduced a feature that lets users influence the types of reels they see. Similarly, Bluesky, a decentralized alternative to X, allows users to select their preferred algorithm for content curation.