There are many ways to share music with your friends through Spotify, but the company is rolling out a new “Blend” feature that lets users automatically create a shared playlist that updates daily based on both listener’s music tastes. Blends are available to all free and premium users, and you can invite any other user to create a Blend together. Spotify handles the curation process itself, filling the playlist with tracks it thinks both listeners will like.
Blend doesn’t just focus on mutual favorites, however. Any tracks either person has favorited, added to their library, or listened to in the past can end up on the playlist.
Screenshot: Brendan Hesse
You’ll see your “Taste Match Score” when you start a new Blend to see how your preferences match up with your friend’s, but even people with similar tastes might wind up with unexpected—or downright strange—blended playlists.
To test the feature, I made a Blend with my partner. According to Spotify, we have a 73 percent Taste Match Score—which makes, since she and I are die-hard metalheads (we literally met in a mosh pit).
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Still, that slight 27 percent offset makes for a pretty eclectic mix that has our favorite death metal and hardcore punk bands sharing the spotlight with Megan Thee Stallion, Run the Jewels, and video game soundtracks.
Of course, if you wind up with a mix that clashes too much, both users are free to favorite or hide songs from their own Blend without affecting the other user’s playlist. But the potential for weird playlists is clearly part of Blend mode’s appeal: To see how your musical tastes line up with your friends and family, and share new music with each other.
How to make a Blend with someone in Spotify
Open Spotify and select the “Search” tab.Scroll down and tap “Made for You.”Select “Create a Blend.”Select a friend to create a blend with. If you don’t have any Spotify friends yet, tap “invite” to share the Blend link with a phone contact via your messaging, email, or social media app.Your friend needs to accept the invite to create the Blend. You will receive an in-app alert and a push notification once the Blend is ready. You can also tap “Share this Story” to share the playlist on other social media apps.Your Blends are accessible from the Library tab.[TechCrunch]
