Tech

Spotify Has a New Tool That Connects Seemingly Incompatible Musical Tastes

Behind Spotify’s user interface is The Echo Nest, a fantastically powerful music analysis division that probably knows more about your musical tastes than you do. The latest project out of that skunkworks is a tool called Sweet Spot. FastCo takes a look.

The Sweet Spot app first asks for your favorite artist followed by the other person’s favorite artist. After working its algorithmic magic, the tool displays a playlist of songs from one spectrum to the other, each one connected to the last by a degree. The results are like a musical version of “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon,” or what you might imagine a Pandora station gone off the rails would look like—starting with a punk band and ending with a pop star.

Sweet spot screenshot

 

Continue reading how Sweet Spot works here.

 

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39679 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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