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Spotify have launched 'now' which in theory should mean it takes the pressure out of making playlists.
Having streamed over 25 billion hours of music, Spotify are now pioneering a new type of listening experience - where they create playlists for you. Launched today at an event in New York 'Now', it was described by CEO Daniel Ek as "a new Spotify experience that's more accessible, personal, and usable than anything in music."
The company's Vice President of User Experience Rochelle King described how their new service 'Now' offers playlists music she might like simply based on her demographic with songs that match various activities (while showering/waking up/commuting etc). Quite how they're generated isn't at the moment particularly clear but will be revealed shortly - whether your demographic is enough to determine precisely which Foo Fighters track you want to listen to at that moment remains to be seen.
As The Verge point out. "It all seems a bit like Songza, which is now part of Google. It's about not having to decide on what music you want — your streaming service already knows what fits."
They've also developed their IOS App so that when you're running it can now match your speed to an appropriate music using your player's inbuilt accelerometer . "Finding the right music that fits your pace, taste, and has the right energy ... is actually quite a challenge" said Gustav Söderström, Spotify's chief product officer. It apparently takes only five seconds to match your tempo and works with your existing playlists. They've also come up with six different playlists, including one entitled 'Burn' curated by Tiesto. Perhaps most excitingly they are also planning to team up with Nike + and RunKeeper.
Spotify also have promise specially curated shows from Icona Pop, Jungle and specially curated radio and Tyler the Creator.
Spotify also announced that it will now be able to handle video clips, with the promise of exclusive content - which could mean potentially that music videos could premiere on Spotify, much like Tidal's recent Nicki Minaj/Beyonce love-in. Partners involved include MTV, Vice News, Comedy Central, Epic TV and the BBC.
The event was closed with a performance by D'Angelo and Questlove - which shows quite how big a player in the future of music Spotify is right now.
