Spotify will let users personalize the genre of Discover Weekly playlists

Spotify is adding new personalization features to Discover Weekly, the popular and influential playlist streamed by millions of users. The regularly updated playlist will now have buttons for genres like pop, R&B, and funk at the top, allowing users to tell Spotify what they want more of.

The Discover Weekly playlist is one of the more noteworthy things Spotify has introduced: the company says songs on the playlist have been streamed more than 100 billion times. The weekly mixtape — generated via Spotify algorithms — promised to introduce users to new music that they might enjoy, pulling from listener data. But more recently, there have been complaints that Discover Weekly playlists, meant for finding new music, were spitting out the same songs, and that the platform’s systems weren’t accurately classifying genres. (Spotify told Business Insider in May that it had updated genre accuracy and the Discover Weekly recommendation algorithm.) In addition to the genre options, the Discover Weekly playlist is getting a refreshed look with different cover art.

Spotify reshaped how people listen to music, prioritizing the playlist over the album or even the artist themselves: playlists became a battleground for labels and artists who wanted exposure. In the last few years, the music platform has taken personalization even further, tailoring selections to the individual user. The company has introduced features like an AI-powered “DJ,” an AI text-to-playlist builder tool, and even a fake AI podcast with fake AI hosts that discuss users’ listening habits. The ability to more closely guide the Discover Weekly offerings signals that hyper-personalization remains a priority — and perhaps that Spotify is aware of some of the user dissatisfaction.