Spotify is introducing a new AI playlist creation tool called Prompted Playlists to its Premium subscribers in the United States and Canada. This feature allows users to create a playlist simply by describing what they want to hear in their own words.
Prompted Playlists builds on an earlier AI playlist product launched in 2024, which worked with simpler prompts. The new version is more advanced, letting users explain their desires in greater detail and in a conversational style.
In a demonstration, Spotify showed how a long, descriptive prompt could generate a playlist. One example prompt asked the AI to find an unfamiliar artist or one the user had barely heard, then build a playlist to introduce their catalog, placing the songs the user would most likely enjoy at the top.
According to J.J. Italiano, Head of Global Music Curation and Discovery at Spotify, the goal is to make playlist creation accessible to everyone, regardless of their music knowledge. He explained that most people do not have the time or energy to craft the perfect playlist for every mood, and this tool provides access to that creative process without needing to know specific genres or industry terms. Italiano stated that if you can describe a feeling, you can make a playlist.
The AI powering the feature analyzes music trends, charts, culture, and history in real time, along with the user’s entire listening history on Spotify. While playlists are personalized by default, users can also instruct the AI to ignore their listening history to discover new music and break out of their usual habits.
Prompts can be entirely free of musical terminology. A user could request a playlist inspired by the weather or a favorite television show. Since prompts are shareable, this could give rise to a new type of creator who designs AI prompts for others to use. While the prompt is the same for everyone, each resulting playlist would be unique, tailored to the individual’s personal tastes and listening history. Users can then further modify these generated playlists.
Spotify describes Prompted Playlists as the next evolution of its earlier AI feature. The new version is more attuned to real-time trends, understands a user’s full listening history, and offers deeper control. The older AI playlist feature will remain available, with both products existing side-by-side.
The new feature has some usage limits as it is still in beta, and these limits may change. It is currently only available in English. Spotify has not announced a timeline for a global rollout, stating it first wants to learn from these initial launches in the U.S. and Canada.