In context: Spotify has long had a collaborative playlist function that lets two (or more) users add their favorite songs to a shared collection. However, the process is manual and takes some time to build a soundtrack. Now, the music streaming app has a feature that can create these types of playlists instantly.
On Tuesday, Spotify announced a new feature called Blend. It has been in beta testing since June, but is now rolling out globally to all free and premium users. Blend’s primary function is to create a collaborative playlist between two friends instantly. It analyzes each person’s musical tastes based on the music they stream the most. It then makes a list combining the two preferences.
Sometimes you will share many musical tastes with a friend, and other times not so much. For this reason, developers added another feature to Blend before it exited beta. With the newly created playlist open, users can tap a button at the top of the list to view their compatibility score and “the song that brings” them together (below).
The compatibility score is listed as a percentage of how much the partnered users’ tastes overlap. For example, when creating a list with a colleague who I knew shared similar musical interests, we scored 90-percent compatibility. Conversely, when I blended with my wife, our score was only 67 percent. In general, the higher the compatibility, the more songs on the list you will like. However, lowers scores open more opportunities for discovering new music that you might like.
Another cool Blend feature is that once the playlist is created, it updates daily based on what the two users stream. In this sense, the Blend list is dynamic, continually changing over time. This aspect should theoretically keep the list from becoming stale.
Creating a Blend is easy but is not as straightforward as Spotify makes it out to be. The press release states, “Tap ‘Create Blend’ in the Made for You hub on mobile.” I could not even find the “Made for You” hub on the iOS Spotify app, let alone “Create Blend.” However, if you encounter the same problem, tap search and enter “blend.” You will see it in the results listed as a genre (above).
Once you tap it, the Create Blend option appears for you to select. Next, tap invite, and you will get options to send a link via text message or other means to your friend. Once your partner clicks the invite link, Spotify will create a Blend list in both of your libraries.