Spotify’s Google Assistant-Powered Music Suggestion, Podcast Recommendation Features Now Live

Spotify has announced that users who listen to music on a Google Assistant-powered device can now get music recommendations via simple voice command. Additionally, Spotify has also revealed that its podcast recommendation feature is also now live. Spotify will rely on algorithms to analyse the listening habits of users and will then curate a list of recommended podcasts with the name “Your Daily Podcasts”. Lastly, Spotify has also announced its first three original podcasts for India that will go live in the country on December 3.

Starting with the Google Assistant-powered music recommendation feature, Spotify has announced that the virtual assistant can now find and play a song that suits the music taste of users with just a simple voice command. All users who stream music from Spotify on a Google Assistant-powered smart home device like the Google Home just need to utter a command such as “Hey Google, Recommend some music” to play a recommended song selected after assessing their music listening history.

Other activation phrases include "Play recommended music" and "Find recommended music." If the recommendations are not what the user wants, they can then say "Play something else/ different" or "Try something else/ different." This feature currently has support for English language only, and can reportedly be used irrespective of geographical location. However, it is only available for Spotify Premium subscribers.

Moving over to the world of podcasts, Spotify has announced that its algorithms can now study the podcast preference of users to curate a podcast playlist for them. The podcast recommendation algorithm will kick off once users have listened to at least four podcasts in the past 90 days. When that happens, users will see a new “Your Daily Podcasts” playlist in the “Your Top Podcasts” shelf on Home or in the “Made For You” hub on browse. This feature is now live for users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, UK and the US only for both free and premium tiers.

Additionally, Spotify has announced its first three original podcasts for India in a bid to make inroads in the Indian market. The three Spotify original podcasts for India- "22 Yarns With Gaurav Kapur" hosted by Gaurav Kapur, "Bhaskar Bose" hosted by Mantra Mugdh, and "Love Aaj Kal With Aastha & Ankit" hosted by Aastha & Ankit – will go live on December 3.