Has Spotify DJ killed the radio star?

Comment by Harry Hughes.

Artificial Intelligence is THE hot topic at the moment, with every company trying to incorporate AI into their business to find new ways to interact with their customers.

Spotify is the latest kid on the block to dip their toe into AI, with Premium customers in select countries such as the US, Canada, and Australia gaining access to their newest feature: ‘Spotify DJ.’

This came after Spotify purchased London-based AI company Sonantic in June last year.

Spotify DJ bears the name of Xavier ‘X’ Jernigan, who is Spotify’s real-life Head of Cultural Partnerships and former host of Spotify’s first morning program: “The Getup”. Think of X as your own pocket-sized, personal radio DJ, who’ll play all your favourite music and maybe introduce you to a few new ones along the way.

However, given that I’m someone who works daily in Australia’s radio industry – which, I’ll admit, might make me a little biased – I’m not overly impressed with Spotify’s foray into artificial DJs.

Earlier in the year, I began to hear about Spotify DJ being released into the US. To anyone who knows me, it will come as no surprise that I was quite intrigued by what Spotify was doing. AI and its rapid development and utilisation over the past year is fascinating to me, so I was eager to see what Spotify had to offer, particularly as I enjoy the Spotify Wrapped playlists. Given that the service wasn’t yet available in Australia, however, it slipped back into the depths of my mind.

Fast forward to this last month – Spotify announced Xavier would be coming to the app, finally giving us a new way to listen to our favourite music and, in Spotify’s words, “connect even more deeply with artists you love.”

However, this isn’t the reality.

I opened the Spotify app, and after tapping on the shiny new Spotify DJ panel I was greeted – by name! – by ‘X,’ who proceeded to tell me about himself and began playing music he thought I’d enjoy … First up: Taylor Swift.

The music selection within ‘Spotify DJ’ is predictably on point – you’ll get a steady mix of music from different genres with the hits you love, a few that’ve fallen out of rotation, and some new songs you’ve never heard. After enough time with one vibe, it’ll automatically switch it up. Alternatively, tapping the button in the bottom right will have ‘X’ swoop in to save the day by changing tracks then and there. Although, I have noticed it tends to favour the same songs when you’re starting each listening session, which is slightly disappointing.

Look, I’ll give credit where credit is due. The engineers at Spotify have really honed their custom playlists and radio stations. But as for ‘X’ himself, I’m left feeling a little underwhelmed. I can’t help but compare him to the big-name radio stars we all know and love today.

First of all, I understand that it’s still early days for Spotify DJ, but c’mon – an American DJ? No offence to the person X was based on, but I don’t really want to only hear an American accent! We have so many amazing voice actors here in Australia, and we’re talking about Spotify; they have a ton of money to spare. They could’ve trained another voice model.

Furthermore, as I mentioned before, Spotify sees ‘Spotify DJ’ as a way for listeners to “connect even more deeply with artists you love”, by having commentary to go alongside the music you love.

However, what we actually get is a series of incredibly surfaces-level interactions from ‘X,’ ranging from:

“Here’s a song you’ll like, next up is …”

To:

“Let’s take a trip down memory lane to what you were listening to in 2018 …”

And … that’s about it.

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably wondering how, considering that bots like ChatGPT can write decently – or, at least, more engagingly than this – it’s amazing how one-dimensional X is. Not to mention this ‘commentary’ is few and far between, which makes me wonder what the point is.

After all, Spotify already has radio stations based off selected songs, as well as their ‘For You’ playlists, which are custom generated based on different genres you like.

So, what exactly am I looking for? It feels like I want something that will actually connect with me rather than doing a half-arsed job at it – it would be great if X would interact with where I am, the time of day, or even the weather to give him a more human-like feel. Given that it’s completely computer-generated, it doesn’t feel like a tall order to ask for something like that.

Imagine if, after listening to a song, X dropped a fact about it, or mention that it’s raining, and the rain always reminds him of this song – actually using the lyrics of the songs to guide his segments. Or even that the artist is coming to Sydney … My content brain is running wild!

That’s where I think radio wins in this race! When you tune into your favourite station, not only do you get to hear great music, but you also get to connect with (mostly) interesting hosts who keep up to date with the latest news and hear the stories of other people who listen to station. Hosts regale you with stories from their lives and make you feel like you’re talking to a friend.

I also think it’s interesting that Spotify has gone down this path of creating a ‘radio-like’ experience, considering they’ve always wanted to be different from traditional radio by only playing music rather than having what they apparently consider to be annoying people talking about random stuff in their lives or endless goddamn ads! What’s made them change their tune? And what does that say about the importance that radio and connection plays in our lives?

If Spotify wants to dip their toes into the generative AI space with Spotify DJ, I feel that, rather than the half-arsed approach they’ve got right now, they need to commit to it more and make it feel more like radio. In its current state, it’s really got me wondering … what’s the point? It’s not adding anything of substance to their platform – more than anything, it feels like they’re just jumping on the AI bandwagon.

Perhaps the question we should really be asking is this: is radio dead? Has Spotify taken over as the reigning musical champion in our lives? I don’t think so. I still feel like radio lives to see another day.

However, it’s still early days for Spotify’s virtual DJ. Who knows what direction Spotify will go with this?

Like many industries, I think radio-heads need to keep a close eye on what happens with things like Spotify DJ, as the past few years have shown that artificial intelligence is here to stay and will only get better. It may seem like AI is still far behind the real thing, but I also think that we’re getting closer to the day when AI and a human will be – or at least close to – indistinguishable.

About the author:

Harry lives and breathes all things audio and radio. He been working for Nine Radio since 2018 as an Audio Producer, and producer for the Camping & Off-Road Radio Show. He is also a Freelance Audio Producer, where he works on podcasts, sound design for film and anything in between.

Harry is currently in his 2nd year (Part-Time) at the Australian Film Television Radio School, where he has been having an amazing time honing his skills as a radio professional.