Spotify’s New Algorithm and Age Confusion: Delight Alongside Ethical Debate

Music streaming platform Spotify is determining a “Listening Age” for listeners based on their musical tastes through its annual Wrapped campaign, sparking both delight and dismay on social media. This feature is essentially created by analysing collected listener data, which categorises users into a specific age bracket based on their song preferences. According to Spotify, this is a “playful hypothesis” based on the “reminiscence bump,” or the tendency to reminisce about the past. The algorithm examines a user’s listening history and compares it with other listeners of a similar generation to ascertain this age.

However, this feature has created confusing situations for many users. For instance, 37-year-old Mark Morgan found his musical taste to be akin to that of a 72-year-old. He surmised this occurred due to listening to a Linda Ronstadt song from 1970. He remarked that whilst it might make one feel a little less modern or “cool,” he had listened to the song because of a popular TV series. On the other hand, 67-year-old John Howes from Malvern received a listening age of just 17 because he regularly listens to new music. The case of John Porter from Berkshire and his daughter Bethan was even more striking. The 60-year-old father’s musical age came out as 21, whilst his 21-year-old daughter was shown as 59. These examples demonstrate that the data science behind Spotify is predictably thin; rather, it is a tactic to encourage people to share their findings. Digital marketing expert Troy Osinoff believes this campaign has become the most successful marketing tactic of the last decade because people are obsessed with themselves.

A list of the top artists preferred by UK listeners is provided below:

Alongside Spotify’s marketing success, a controversial aspect has also emerged. A counter-campaign named “Unwrapped” is underway, questioning certain ethical aspects of Spotify. In particular, criticism is being directed at the platform’s hosting of AI-generated music and its willingness to run ads from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE is tasked with finding, detaining, and deporting undocumented immigrants, and its role in implementing Donald Trump’s immigration policies has led to numerous protests and arrests. Spotify has claimed that these ads do not violate its policies and are part of a broad campaign by the US government. They further stated that users have the opportunity to manage these ads via thumbs up or down. However, this controversy has cast somewhat of a shadow over Spotify’s delightful feature.