Disappointment over Spotify’s flat year-end wrap is a warning that AI is not everything
Several listeners have taken to social media to complain about how unrelatable and underwhelming this year’s edition was
THERE was much excitement over the annual release of users’ listening summaries by music streaming service Spotify at the end of the year. But this quickly fell flat, when it became apparent to users that the information provided by the company on listening habits this year did not quite hit the right notes.
Fingers are pointing to Spotify’s excessive use of artificial intelligence (AI) to generate the summaries, known as Spotify Wrapped, following deep job cuts in 2023 that affected its day-to-day operations.
The highly anticipated Spotify Wrapped offers users a personalised look into their top streamed songs, artistes and albums for the year. Other statistics, such as how much an artiste or song is streamed on a global level, are also included.
Exactly what is included in the wrap differs each year; however, there has generally been a focus on data summaries that make for a fun comparison with other users.
In 2023, for example, users were matched to a town somewhere in the world where users have similar listening tastes as them.
The service was also previously able to identify music personalities for listeners based on the common threads in their streamed music.
But this year, instead of creative statistics, the service had two new features: one telling users how their music taste evolved over the last year, and another powered by third-party AI. Both were not particularly well-received.
The music evolution feature, which grouped similar music in a month together and titled something abstract, was lambasted for the haphazardly put-together phrases.
There were several variations involving “pink”, “princess” and “pilates”, which had users questioning how these words came together in the first place.
Meanwhile, Spotify’s AI-powered podcast involved a robotic voice telling users what they listened to in 2024. Perhaps it is a useful feature for those who digested information better in audio form, but is a somewhat lazy addition considering Spotify Wrapped already showed listeners their most-streamed tracks.
Lacking a human touch
After Spotify Wrapped was made public, several listeners took to social media to complain about how unrelatable and underwhelming this year’s edition was, lamenting the lack of detailed data stories that made their summaries worth discussing.
A key concern raised by listeners and observers was Spotify’s reliance on AI, which resulted in the wrap appearing rather impersonal and uncreative. Additionally, the Wrapped podcast made use of an external partner – Google’s AI tool Notebook LM, an unusual move, as previous Wrapped features were all made in-house.
It is speculated that Wrapped’s AI pushes were due to several rounds of layoffs Spotify conducted in 2023, letting 2,300 staff members go that year. Chief executive Daniel Ek later said in an earnings call that the wave of staff cuts has been more disruptive to the work than expected.
Of course, Spotify is no stranger to AI. Algorithm-driven song recommendations have been cited as a top source of new music to users of the streaming service, and its AI DJ function puts a fresh spin on music listening. To be clear, the AI DJ was already present in a previous edition of Spotify Wrapped.
It is also worth noting that this supposed bad publicity has not largely affected its stock.
When Spotify Wrapped was released on the morning of Dec 4, shares of the music streaming platform’s holding company, Spotify Technology, rose 1.8 per cent to close at US$502.38 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Bloomberg data showed the stock has climbed 152.4 per cent year-to-date, as at Dec 17.
But this year’s haphazard summaries may eventually bode ill for the company if users flee the platform due to the push into machine learning.
As at end-September, the Stockholm-based company said that its number of paying subscribers grew 12 per cent year on year to 252 million.
For the first nine months of FY2024 to September, revenue from these premium subscribers has grown 20 per cent to 10.1 billion euros (S$14.3 billion).
Operating income climbed to 888 million euros, compared to an operating loss of 371 million euros the year before. Gross margin, a measure of profitability, widened to 29 per cent from 25 per cent previously.
However, following the muted reception to Spotify Wrapped, the company needs to seriously consider if it intends to delve deeper into utilising AI, or if it wants to bring back the creative touch that its users seem to crave.
After all, Spotify Wrapped is no longer the singular option for year-end summaries – peers such as YouTube Music and Apple Music have been rolling out their own recaps, complete with the quirky commentary.
Spotify may need to take a hard look at its priorities, and work on making its insights unique and personal again – or risk losing fans in the process.
