Latest news with #DiscoverWeekly
Tom's Guide
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
Spotify just gave Discovery a big upgrade — here's what's new for you
Spotify's Discover Weekly turned 10 years old this week and the music streaming platform is celebrating with updates and customizable options to your algorithm. For the unfamiliar, Discover Weekly is a playlist that refreshes every week with new songs and artists based on your listening habits. It's meant to help you find music that you may not have heard before. Since Discover Weekly was released in 2015, there haven't been many updates to the feature. But there are some now. Spotify highlighted the last decade with a celebratory blog post with stats like over 100 billion songs streamed, "56 million new artist discoveries" and "emerging artists" driving the Discovery. In the post, the streamer also revealed a new update to Discover Weekly that gives you a little more control over what music it presents to you. Now, you can tell the algorithm that you're looking for new genres. As an example, I love dirty southern rock, but tastes change or I'm in a different mood and so may want Discover Weekly to feed me something different, like Brazilian funk. If you're a Premium subscriber, you can now select up to five genres and Discover will generate a playlist of up to 30 songs. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Often, algorithms can seemingly get stuck, especially if you listen to a lot of similar music. So this could be an opportunity to get new flavors in your ears. "These controls are currently rolling out to Spotify Premium users, with plans to bring them to more listeners soon," the blog post reads. The company has also given Discover a "refreshed" look which Spotify says is meant to reflect the "ever-evolving nature and the dynamic energy of weekly discovery." While the feature should be available now to Premium subscribers, the streamer did not provide a release window for when other users or subscriber tiers will get it.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
The Velvet Sundown, a suspected AI band, tops 550,000 listeners on Spotify in under a month
In a little less than a month, a band calling itself the Velvet Sundown has amassed more than 550,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. With two albums — 'Floating On Echoes' and 'Dust and Silence' — released in rapid succession in June, the group's sudden rise has been as mystifying as their digital footprint is sparse. The group's bio is drenched in dreamlike metaphor, introducing its members as 'vocalist and mellotron sorcerer Gabe Farrow,' guitarist Lennie West, bassist-synth alchemist Milo Rains and percussionist Orion 'Rio' Del Mar. But no trace of these supposed musicians exists online, not even a modest trail of interviews, performances or social media activity. That is, until an Instagram account surfaced on Friday, June 27, bearing images critics have called 'eerily AI-generated.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Velvet Sundown (@thevelvetsundownband) Skeptics have raised red flags across Reddit and music journalism circles. On Spotify, all songwriting and production credits go solely to the band, a rare practice in today's collaborative industry. There is no producer. There are no tour dates. There is no record label. Even a quote in their bio — 'they sound like the memory of something you never lived, and somehow make it feel real' — allegedly from Billboard is nowhere to be found in the publication's archives. 'The Velvet Sundown aren't trying to revive the past,' the band's 'verified artist' profile reads on Spotify. 'They're rewriting it. They sound like the memory of a time that never actually happened.' Photos of the band are bathed in amber light and have an almost airbrushed, artificial quality. But what stands out even more is the vacant, lifeless expression on each musician's face. One long-haired member holding an acoustic guitar — resembling a blend of singer Noah Kahan and 'Queer Eye' star Jonathan Van Ness — is especially uncanny: too flawless, too serene, more like a stock photo than a real person. Meanwhile, Deezer, a music streaming service that flags content it suspects is AI-generated, notes on the Velvet Sundown's profile on its site that 'some tracks on this album may have been created using artificial intelligence.' The group has reportedly been featured on more than 30 anonymous user playlists and recommended by Spotify's Discover Weekly algorithm, raising concerns about transparency and artist authenticity.
Stuff.tv
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Stuff.tv
This Spotify upgrade fixes my biggest complaint with my favourite feature
The Discover Weekly playlist is among Spotify's best features, delivering hours of eerily-accurate recommendations every Monday. It gets replaced every week, serving up new music for you to discover. It's my favourite feature from the music streamer – but it's not perfect. Unless you save the playlist, recommendations are lost forever, and, crucially, you can't tweak what types of music it suggests. Or at least you couldn't. To celebrate 10 years of the Discover Weekly feature, Spotify is giving its beloved playlist a proper glow-up. The music streamer has finally added new listening controls that actually let you steer the vibe of your playlists. Note that you will need to be a Premium subscriber to access this feature. This means no more praying the algorithm picks up on your latest music phase or trying to game the system. I can't be the only one that's tried bingeing a specific genre the night before Discover Weekly refreshes! Now, with a few taps at the top of the playlist, you can nudge Discover Weekly towards more indie, more pop, or mix things up entirely. While you get to influence what kind of musical rabbit hole you tumble into every Monday – Spotify does this without wrecking your long-term recommendations in the process. This is the kind of control I've been longing for, making an already great feature even better. Premium users also get access to a new design for Discover Weekly playlists. It freshens things up without completely binning the understated vibe we're used to. Discover Weekly playlists have now racked up over 100 billion streams, so are clearly an essential Spotify feature. All of this is rolling out today for Spotify Premium users on mobile. Just make sure you've updated the app, head over to the Made For You section, and prepare to finally enjoy Discover Weekly on your own terms. As I mentioned, these new features are part of the Premium subscription, which starts at $10.99/£10.99 per month.
Engadget
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Spotify adds genre controls to Discover Weekly
Spotify's Discover Weekly is celebrating 10 years of being a very ok feature. To celebrate the milestone, Spotify is giving Discover Weekly a full refresh, letting you choose between up to five genres for the playlist. The option will appear at the top of your playlist and provide songs based on your listening history. The 30-track playlist will update accordingly. There are also visual changes, with Spotify stating, "the playlist's vibrant new design reflects its ever-evolving nature and the dynamic energy of weekly discovery." Spotify claims that Discover Weekly has led to over 100 billion tracks streamed. It also notes that users find more than 56 million artists every week — 77 percent of which are emerging artists. These updates will initially be available to just Spotify Premium users, though the platform plans to extend it more broadly soon. Genres will start being available on Discover Weekly today, rolling out to mobile accounts over the next few weeks.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Spotify revamps its Discover Weekly playlist after ten years
Spotify's Discover Weekly playlist, which shares new listening recommendations every Monday, is getting an update. Ten years after the debut of Discover Weekly (yes, we feel old, too), Spotify Premium users will see new controls at the top of the playlist, which allow them to push their recommendations toward certain genres. So, if you mostly listen to 80s rock, but you're starting to develop a soft spot for K-pop, you can select different genre filters to push the algorithmic curation in the right direction. This feature is intended to give users a bit more control over what kinds of new music they most want to hear from their Discover Weekly playlists. According to Spotify, users have streamed over 100 billion tracks on Discover Weekly, with 77% of Discover Weekly listens being from emerging artists. To access the new-and-improved Discover Weekly, Spotify Premium subscribers can navigate to the 'Made for You' hub, then navigate to their Discover Weekly playlist. There, if the latest Spotify version is installed, users will be able to see the new genre controls. For an app that can feel overwhelmingly dominated by algorithmic recommendations, Spotify has recently announced features geared toward giving the listener input over their listening algorithms. The queue was revamped, showing what Spotify recommendations are coming up and allowing users to choose in advance what stays on deck. Listeners can also 'snooze' songs that they're tired of so that the song won't be played for thirty days, but also won't be hidden for good. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
