Spotify has been keen on adding new discovery features to its service for a while now. Today, the streaming option announced yet another tool that keeps your playlists fresh. The new feature is called Daily Mixes and it compiles six different playlists that are constantly updated based on your listening habits. Each mix contains over a dozen songs and more tracks load as you listen so you don’t have to worry about running out of material.
Sitting atop the “Your Library” section of the Spotify app, Daily Mixes are a combination of tunes by the artists you listen to on the regular and other material you might not be as familiar with. As you might expect, there’s the option to “heart” a song to add it to your collection or “ban” a track to keep it from popping up in future playlists. Unlike the name suggests, the Mixes aren’t updated daily per se. Spotify says the name implies that you can enjoy them daily and while the track order may shuffle every day, the data that selects the songs will be updated on a weekly basis.
Daily Mixes are divided by genre. For example, I have playlists for hardcore, hip hop, indie rock, electronic, metal and hard rock. Most of those are an equal mix of artists that I listen to often (or at least from time to time) and new songs that I hadn’t heard of yet. Not all the songs are new releases, so there’s a blend of old and new in each list as well.
These new playlists work a lot like Pandora stations or Spotify’s own radio feature, only now the queue is automatically compiled for you and you can start wherever you want. You don’t even have to pick an a specific artist to get started. Spotify says the new playlists will be “consistently refreshed” and feature “near endless playback” to make listening to music on a daily basis a bit easier. Just like those aforementioned stations, Daily Mixes are based entirely on what you’re listening to and get better the more music you play.
After a few days with Daily Mixes, the playlists seem useful at times when I have trouble deciding exactly what to play. I’m a big fan of both Discover Weekly and Release Radar for learning about new artists and keeping up new material from all of the acts I listen to often, but I don’t think I’ll use Daily Mixes quite as often. It’s still early though, so that may change. Spotify’s focus on discovery continues to provide its users with ways to keep their listening habit fresh. Multiple options mean you can find the one that you like best.
If you want to give the new feature a shot, it’s available now on Spotify’s Android and iOS apps for both paid and free users. New to Spotify? You’ll need to use the service for about two weeks before Daily Mixes will show up for you. For faithful desktop users, the tool will be rolling out to other platforms “soon,” so hopefully you won’t have to wait too long to employ the new goods there.