Spotify
Synthesized existing research about how different age groups use music as an emotional health aid to develop an AI-driven plug-in for the world’s most popular music streaming application.
TL;DR
Creating an AI plug-in for Spotify, the biggest music streaming app in the world, to satisfy users’ emotional health needs.
My Role
Researcher and Ad Voice
My Team
Ella Gormanlove, Art Director
Smera Dhal, Art Director
My Research Tools
Google Scholar, Midjourney and Notebook LM
Project Deliverables
Supportive research to support Spotify Spectrum, our AI plug-in to help users find the perfect song for the right moment.
See the full project breakdown below. ⬇️
The Problem
Spotify’s AI is more presumptive than complimentary, offering users long lists of music suggestions it assumes they’ll like.
The Solution
Spotify Spectrum, our AI plug-in to allow users to pick the right song based on their mood.
The Context
During periods of social isolation like the COVID-19 pandemic, people looked for emotional comfort online.
How the Problem & the Context Changed Spotify
Spotify is the most popular music streaming app in the world. With over 210 million subscribers, the brand welcomed 15 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2020 - with the COVID-19 pandemic being a key contributor. The Q1 findings released by Spotify Technology S.A. stated that two in five consumers they surveyed in the US said they were listening to music to manage stress more than they typically do.
Source: Spotify Technology S.A. (2020, April 29). Spotify Technology S.A. announces financial results for first quarter 2020. Business Wire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200429005216/en/Spotify-Technology-S.A.-Announces-Financial-Results-for-First-Quarter-2020
The Ask
How can Spotify spread positivity by using technology to bring listeners closer to the creators and communities they love?
Research Findings
Our research objective was to understand how people use music to support their emotional health.
1
96% of Spotify listeners see music as an avenue to lift their mood, however music can make users feel a range of emotions.
Source: A Sonic Science study conducted by Spotify & Neuro-Insight, surveying 624 participants over a decade.
2
The ways in which users’ use music a emotional health aid varies based on generational differences.
A majority of Generation Z aged users (18 - 27 years old) and Millennials up to age 40 are more likely to use music to combat loneliness than for emotional self-regulation
A majority of Millennials aged 40+ and Gen X users aged >50 are more likely to use music to combat emotional self-regulation than for loneliness
Sources:
Hennessy, S., Sachs, M., Kaplan, J., & Habibi, A. (2021). Music and mood regulation during
the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One, 16(10), e0258027.
Herrero, E. M., Singer, N., Ferreri, L., McPhee, M., Zatorre, R., & Ripolles, P. (2020).
Rock’n’roll but not sex or drugs: music is negatively correlated to depressive symptoms during
the COVID-19 pandemic via reward-related mechanisms.
Ziv, N., & Hollander-Shabtai, R. (2022). Music and COVID-19:
Changes in uses and emotional reaction to music under stay-at-home restrictions.
Psychology of Music, 50(2), 475-491.
3
Spotify’s current artificial intelligence model, which involves using MIR (also known as music information retrieval), uses hard contextual information such as location, time, time of data collection and acoustic characteristics of songs to give users music suggestions how it assumes the user is feeling.
Sources:
Assuncao, W. G., Piccolo, L. S., G., & Zaina Luciana, A. M. (2022). Considering emotions and contextual factors in music recommendation: A systematic literature review. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 81(6), 8367-8407. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-022-12110-z
Krogh, M. (2023). Rampant Abstraction as a Strategy of Singularization: Genre on Spotify. Cultural Sociology, 0(0). https://doi-org.proxy.library.vcu.edu/10.1177/17499755231172828
Till, C. (2023). Spotify as a technology for integrating health, exercise and wellness practices into financialised capitalism. Big Data & Society, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517231210278
Important User Experience & Product Considerations
The research collected revealed issues related to user experience for us to solve.
How can Spotify’s current AI model grant more control to the user instead of simply funneling extensive lists of music suggestions to them based on their perceived mood and other related factors?
How can Spotify’s current AI model better account for the wide emotional spectrum that users have?
How can we create a tool which connects users to positivity regardless of demographic differences, such as age and/or generational variations?
Question
What can we create that satisfies users’ overlapping emotional health needs while supporting them in finding the perfect song within Spotify’s vast auditory library?
Our Solution
Spotify Spectrum, a user-driven artificial intelligence tool that allows the listener to have more control over the music option suggested to them during times of heightened emotion. This tool invokes a new way for Spotify to suggest songs and musical selections to its users by acknowledging musical preferences as the spectrum they are (pun intended) and by delivering more control to the listener.
Spotify Spectrum Product Ad Showcase Video
Video by Smera Dhal
Key Feature: Axes, Icons & The Invisible Grid
Informed by our research into how users’ emotional spectrum influences their music preferences, the Spotify Spectrum plug-in lets users explore an invisible grid, with each point representing a song they can listen to instantly.
Artwork designed by Ella Gormanlove
The Turtle icon on the X-Axis represents slower songs. Users can move their finger toward it to find music with a slower tempo.
The Sun icon on the Y-Axis represents happier songs. Users can move their finger toward it to find upbeat music.
The Cloud icon on the Y-Axis represents sadder songs. Users can move their finger toward it to find music with a sad or angry tone.
The Hare icon on the X-Axis represents faster songs. Users can move their finger toward it to find music with a quicker tempo.
Step-by-step User Experience Walkthrough: Mobile
The web walkthrough shows the user journey for someone experiencing Spotify Spectrum for the first time.
1. User accesses the Spotify Spectrum plug-in from their app homepage.
2. User is informed on how Spotify Spectrum works.
3. User finishes the introductory process.
4. User can access the Spotify Spectrum grid and axes. Any place on the grid lands them on a recommended song.
Artwork designed by Ella Gormanlove
Why This Works
When users are experiencing intense emotions, especially distress, they don't want to spend time picking the right song to feel better.
With Spotify Spectrum, the platform can use their existing AI model to continue offering music suggestions while letting users stay in control of their music preferences in the moment.
Project Reflection
I am pleased with the quality of secondary research that I did for this project. Without using AI tools like Google's Notebook LM to go through numerous research papers, I wouldn't have uncovered the consumer insights that shaped the solution.