Music Streaming Services Step up AI to Drive Engagement

Leading music services are increasing their use of artificial intelligence capabilities to offer increasingly personalized experiences to drive consumer loyalty.

For instance, Spotify and Google Cloud announced Thursday (Nov. 16) the expansion of their partnership, leveraging AI to drive engagement with the leading global music streaming platform.

“The collaboration and co-innovation between Spotify and Google Cloud pushes the boundaries of what both platforms can do,” Spotify Vice President of Technology and Platform Tyson Singer said in a statement. “The sheer scale at which we are able to run back-end services and process data, in addition to the cost savings we have been able to achieve, are crucial to the success of our business.”

The collaboration is intended to boost Spotify’s infrastructure, data and analytics, and AI/machine learning capabilities. Specifically, Spotify is looking to parse through its content library more intelligently, to supplement existing metadata, to understand listening patterns for non-musical content such as podcasts, and to spot potentially risky materials.

In August, Apple Music introduced the first personalized new music discovery playlist to rival Spotify’s Discover Weekly mainstay offering, and last month, it was reported that the streaming service is exploring the use of generative AI to help in the creation of auto-populated playlists.

Amazon Music, too, is looking to generative AI to strengthen its competitive position. Earlier this year, Berlin-based audio wellness company Endel announced a partnership with the music streaming company to create a sleep playlist, making the European app the “first generative AI company” to partner with the subscription service on a playlist.

“Working with Amazon Music demonstrates how valuable an artful application of AI can be to large music business players and how engaging the sonic results can be for listeners,” Endel Co-founder and CEO Oleg Stavitsky said in a statement at the time.

The competitive landscape for acquiring and holding onto music listeners is intense. Consumers are willing to spend on streaming, and the majority now listen to music via these services. According to research featured last year in the Subscription Commerce Tracker, a PYMNTS and Vindicia collaboration, consumers spend an average of $278 per month on streaming services. Plus, 80% of consumers reported that they spend money on music streaming subscriptions each month.

PYMNTS’ Provider Rankings of Streaming Apps, which compares popular streaming services based on a range of factors, including channel coverage, use and downloads, found that when it comes to music, Spotify leads, with Amazon Music several spots behind, and Apple Music trailing far behind.

Most consumers do not see AI playing a central role in their lives. According to “AI-Enabled Payments Enhance Customer Options,” a report by PYMNTS Intelligence and ACI Worldwide, 33% of consumers said AI technologies are very or extremely prominent in their daily personal activities.

Similarly, most consumers are not particularly knowledgeable about AI. The same study revealed that 39% of those surveyed reported being very or extremely familiar with the term.

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