Public Talk: “Hey Spotify, tell me what music I like”

On 29 August I will give a public talk in the context of the Raising the Bar event series. Reserve your ticket here!

“Hey Spotify, tell me what music I like”: the dark side of music streaming

Everyone loves Spotify. For a small fee it gives us access to all the music we could want and it knows our tastes better than any friend. It’s also great for musicians – it gives us the possibility to live off our art and be discovered by millions of users. But is it all that it seems? In this talk, little-known details about Spotify’s functionalities, ambitions and business model will be revealed, raising questions about its actual benefits for listeners and musicians. Who or what is actually driving Spotify’s recommendations? Are our personalised playlists actually tailored to us? Why does Spotify want to generate new music using AI? And in the end, do we actually exercise free will when deciding what songs to play next?