[joe_the_user]

I'm genuinely confused by people who complain about Spotify's recommendation algorithm. I have eclectic, often obscure tastes, and I've found it to be an incredible way to discover new music.

I too have "eclectic, obscure" tastes and I couldn't get anything from the recommendation algorithm and canceled after a month. I don't remember the thing recommending anything that seemed more obscure than what I searched for. And I made playlists.

But seriously, some people's tastes are served by Spotify and some find it frustrating. It would be nice if those who don't get immediate satisfaction had a more sophisticated approach available. My hunch is the company would prefer less customers and more control.

[Broken_Hippo]

To be fair, the recommendations are based on what you listened to lately in addition to what you've listened to in the past. A month probably wasn't long enough - it isn't really an immediate satisfaction thing when you have off-center tastes in music. If 70% of folks like popular music, that's the easiest thing to recommend.

They might want a bit more control, I don't know, but I very highly doubt fewer customers is the goal. If they wanted fewer, they could just pull the free model completely. I'd guess piracy would increase and they'd get blamed, but I don't know.

[joe_the_user]

To be fair, the recommendations are based on what you listened to lately in addition to what you've listened to in the past

So each day when my mood changes, I'm suppose start searching for a bunch of tunes and after an hour, I get what I want?

If 70% of folks like popular music, that's the easiest thing to recommend.

"Brilliant AI" ... turns into just top40 radio and victory is proclaimed.

They might want a bit more control, I don't know, but I very highly doubt fewer customers is the goal

This is what I said with a slightly different spin - they're willing to trade control for customers. Whenever companies engage in annoying or abusive policies that drive away customers, it's not that they don't want customers in the abstract, it's that they prefer control and profit margins over customers.

[xvector]

It definitely took a couple of months before Spotify honed in on my tastes, but it was definitely worth the wait.