Whether you’re an artist, a listener, or a little bit of each, there’s one factor that has been true since time immemorial: Music needs to be shared. If you’re grabbing the AUX on a automobile journey with pals or making a playlist for that particular somebody, there’s only a sure connection that comes with sharing within the genres and songs which have private which means to you.
That’s why in 2021, Spotify took that connection to the subsequent degree with Blend, our shared new social listening expertise that mixes the totally different tastes of family and friends, in addition to followers and artists, into one. With Blend, you possibly can create a customized playlist that balances what you and your folks wish to take heed to, merging these music tastes to create one thing everybody can get pleasure from.
“Sharing music is a really vulnerable thing—but it also brings you closer together,” says Gianna Pisano, a product advertising and marketing supervisor at Spotify. “Those moments when you realize you and your friends have been listening to Stick Season by Noah Kahan on repeat, or have played boygenius’s new record for five days straight—Blend surfaces all of those insights, puts them together, and does all the work to make a playlist for you and your crew, updated daily. All you have to do is listen and explore.”
Connection in Collaboration
The creation of Blend took place through customized options that have been already in use on a smaller scale.
“Our personalization team was already working on a similar feature that we were excited about,” says Ian VanNest, a senior product designer. “Initially we had used it to connect mixes for listeners on Duo or Family accounts and that ended up being an instant hit. Eventually we decided that extending that functionality to everyone was the way to go.”
At launch, Blend allowed two customers at a time to mix musical tastes. But the personalization group realized that extra folks would make for a merrier expertise. So in March 2022, we expanded the quantity of people that can mix to 10, creating an much more highly effective, collaborative software that allowed much more folks to really feel linked to 1 one other by means of their shared love for music.
“Increasing the amount of listeners to make use of Blend was a natural next step,” says Maia Ezratty, an engineer who works on personalization at Spotify. “We don’t only connect over music with one person at a time. We listen to music with our families, go to concerts with our friends, and stream music at the office. I love creating a Blend with a group of friends when we’re together—right away, we have something that represents all of our music tastes that we can play while we hang out. And it’s a conversation starter!”
Beyond that, Blend has provided teams of listeners a chance to benefit from the music they’ve in widespread and rejoice the variations in musical style on a granular degree.
“Blend has a lot of perks to it, but by far the two best parts of creating a Blend with your friends are finding the artists you have in common and discovering artists that you didn’t know about,” says Ward Ronan, Spotify senior knowledge scientist. “Music has all the time been a strong solution to convey folks collectively, and Blend not solely acknowledges that relationship, however actively helps it develop.
Getting Closer to the Artists We Love
After followers responded enthusiastically to having the ability to Blend with teams, the personalization group began to consider the way to evolve the playlist additional. And in an age the place it’s simpler than ever for followers to attach with celebrities on a extra private degree, the group discovered inspiration for his or her subsequent innovation. The consequence was Blend’s new capacity to let followers create a deeper bond with artists by combining their tastes.
“We wanted to harness the power of Blend to create a bit of that same sense of connection between celebrities and fans,” explains Maia. “Music taste is so personal, and Blending with our favorite celebrities makes us feel like we’re getting to know them better by giving us a little window into theirs.”
In a number of fast steps, followers can now Blend with artists like BTS to find the songs that get the Okay-pop group dancing once they’re not onstage, discover out which tracks they’ve in widespread with Megan Thee Stallion, and—most lately—see how a lot their total style aligns with that of Miley Cyrus.
Blend has been extremely common with followers because it debuted in 2021. Recently, it’s grown considerably in reputation, and since June 2022, the variety of Blends with artists has greater than doubled. Of the artists followers can Blend with at present, BTS, Post Malone, BLACKPINK, Lizzo, and Stray Kids are the most well-liked as of May 2023.
Music has all the time been one of the highly effective methods for artists to share their lives and experiences, and for listeners to attach with each other and really feel understood. And by means of Blend, followers have a magical solution to join with pals, family members, and even complete strangers, in a shared second of enjoyment.
Want to match your favourite anthems with Miley Cyrus’s? Click under and let Blend do the remaining.