Crazy news: Spotify collects voice data. What’s next?

Spotify is the best music streaming service there is. Some might even say it is the holy grail of music, streaming here to save us all. Thanks to its free plan, people from around the world can sign up and immediately have access to an enormous library of songs and podcasts. But is it as simple as we think? Or are we paying for it in some other way?

Based on your current activities and mood, the app may show you advertisements. 

Spotify is used by hundreds of millions of people every day, and most of them use it across several devices without logging out. We all contribute to Spotify’s enormous data machine with every song listened to, a playlist made, and podcast played. Every day, new data exceeds 100 billion points.

Spotify knows this information’s value and uses it to help sell ads. According to Spotify’s marketing, these real-time, individualized insights reflect the audience’s emotions, thoughts, tastes, and habits (rather than just their demographics and device IDs. As a result, 165 million of Spotify’s 365 million monthly users choose not to listen to those ADs, while 200 million people tolerate them.

Lately, Spotify’s started collecting users’ voice data. So, here’s the question “How will Spotify use this data, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of voice data collection?”  

What info does Spotify have about you?

If you really wonder what Spotify knows about you, you should read its 4,500-word privacy policy.

In short, Spotify keeps tabs on everything you do on their web player, desktop, and mobile apps. All your actions, including taps, the song starts, playlist plays, searches, shuffles, and pauses, are recorded. For example, Spotify has recorded that you began playing “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus at 12:05, listened to it for two minutes, then searched for the “Girl Power” playlist and listened to it for the next three hours.  

Information you provide when signing up for a Spotify account makes up the bulk of the company’s database on you. Your name, email, phone number, birthday, gender, address, and country may all be entered into it. If you want to pay, you’ll also be required to submit your billing details. According to the company’s privacy policy, it may also collect information from cookies, as well as details about your browser, operating system, and the devices connected to your Wi-Fi network.

Should I mention that by connecting with other businesses and services, Spotify may learn even more about you? For example, if you sign up using your Facebook account, it will be able to “import your information.”

Spotify may also use and distribute this data in other ways. One of these “alternative methods” is for Spotify to use your data to improve existing voice features and create new ones.

Have you heard of ‘Hey Spotify’? 

As Spotify claims, with the help of this new feature, customers can have voice-controlled access to their customized Spotify experience whenever and wherever they choose.

For sure, ‘Hey Spotify‘ is easy to use and has undeniable advantages:

  • You can simply turn it on, use the wake word “Hey Spotify,” play music, adjust the volume, skip tracks, and more.
  • You may now access Spotify Voice from anywhere in the app with the “Hey Spotify” command, bypassing the need to first open the program’s Search page. When you say something like, “Hey Spotify,” play my Daily Drive,” the playlist will start playing automatically.
  • It’s easier to listen to music you like: from the musician you’ve been listening to for years to the new song that won’t leave your brain. If you can’t remember the title of a song but know the artist or genre you like, Spotify can still help you find it. Alternatively, if you’re in the mood for podcasts and want to pick up where you left off in your most recent listening binge, you can always ask us for recommendations.
  • The application will start listening to you as soon as you say, “Hey Spotify…” and will stop once it has answered your question or completed your request. In addition, Spotify will always let you know, with a visual or audible in-app cue, when it is listening for your voice commands. The program will continue to listen to “Hey Spotify” for a short period of time every few seconds but will delete those brief recordings if you don’t say the command.

This is a perfect feature if you can’t or are not in the mood to type. 

Sonantic – new AI engine now works with Spotify 

Streaming media mammoth Spotify is buying a voice AI company to broaden its audio technology capabilities, which might lead to new features and revenue streams within the company and outside. 

Sonantic, a startup located in London, was acquired by the corporation. Sonantic developed an artificial intelligence engine that can generate incredibly lifelike, synthetic human voices from the text.

Spotify suggests that the company could implement this technology in a number of ways, including by employing AI voices so that those who aren’t looking at their devices can nevertheless get useful recommendations, like when people are in the car or otherwise occupied and unable to look at a screen while listening.

Spotify thinks high-quality voice will be important to grow a share of listening in the long run.

To increase Spotify’s market share, the company recognizes the long-term importance of high-quality voice and has begun exploring many prospects for text-to-speech capabilities throughout the platform. While consumers’ eyes are off their displays, this voice technology might provide valuable context for upcoming recommendations. Using voice in these situations can make it easier to create new audio experiences and open the door to even more new opportunities. 

Also, this technology might be very beneficial to users with disabilities. It will be exciting to see the possibilities in the future.

However, is it that exciting that there will be one more way for a platform to get your data?

How does Spotify’s voice control use your data?

Good news: your voice data is used to target advertisements, but you still have control over it.  

Spotify’s collection of voice data has prompted some legitimate concerns about user privacy, which the company is trying to resolve. 

According to the platform, “Spotify can be controlled with your voice. By activating voice controls, you enable various features, like finding songs and playlists using your voice, recording and publishing your podcast directly on the Spotify Service, and even interacting with some advertisements. Your privacy and security come first.”

Also, the company claims that it isn’t taping your conversations. 

You might not like where your info goes, though. In its FAQ section, Spotify revealed that it not only used the information to improve voice capabilities and create new features but also to provide “more relevant” (i.e., targeted) advertisements. Spotify also mentioned that there were times when data was shared with third parties, including cloud storage services and other partners.

More voice data collection features are to come?

Spotify filed a patent titled “Identification of taste attributes from an audio signal” in February of 2018. Simply said, this system might evaluate the age, accent, gender, and even mood of a Spotify listener by analyzing their voice and surrounding noise. As an added bonus, it says it can figure out where the speaker is (a bus, train, or coffee shop) and how many people are in the vicinity. It wasn’t until January 12, 2021, that this patent was finally approved. 

The microphone on your smartphone would capture and analyze the sound to learn about your taste in music and then give personalized recommendations. 

There were a lot of outcries when the news of Spotify’s patent filing came out. That’s why Spotify had to comment on the new patent and shared the following statement: “Spotify has filed patent applications for hundreds of inventions, and we regularly file new applications. Some of these patents become part of future products, while others don’t. Our ambition is to create the best audio experience out there, but we don’t have any news to share at this time.”

Wrapping up

Freebies from corporations never come without strings attached. Spotify, with its 356 million subscribers, is the most popular music streaming service in the world, and as a result, it has access to an enormous quantity of data.

While its current recommendation algorithms have been well received, would the service’s users be willing to exchange personal information for deeper insight into their musical preferences? Or will users even be able to choose? 

Anyway, we are entering a time where artificial intelligence can produce or at least curate our musical experiences, which may be fascinating or terrifying, depending on your perspective.