Spotify isn’t the only company to dabble with using AI to generate playlists — on Tuesday, Amazon said it would do the same. Amazon Music is now testing Maestro, an AI playlist generator, allowing U.S. customers on both iOS and Android to create playlists using spoken or written prompts — which can even contain emojis.
Amazon suggests that in addition to emojis, users can write prompts that include activities, sounds or emotions. They can also choose from prompt suggestions at the bottom of the screen if they don’t know what to write. Seconds later, an AI-generated playlist will appear with songs that will — in theory — match your input.
The product is launching in beta, so Amazon warns that the technology behind Maestro “won’t always get it right the first time.” Like Spotify, Amazon has also added some guardrails to the experience to proactively block offensive language and other inappropriate prompts, it says. (We’re guessing people will try to break through those barriers in time!)
Image Credits: Amazon
Maestro is not yet widely available. While Spotify’s AI generator is starting its tests in the U.K. and Australia, Amazon’s product is launching to a “subset” of free Amazon Music users, as well as Prime customers and Unlimited Amazon Music subscribers, on iOS and Android in the U.S. for the time being.
Subscribers will gain access to more functionality, however. For instance, they’ll be able to listen to playlists instantly and save them for later, but Prime members and ad-supported users will only be able to listen to 30-second previews of the songs before saving them. This could potentially push more users to upgrade to the paid subscription if they like the AI functionality. The move also follows the general trend of making premium AI experiences a paid offering.
Image Credits: Amazon
To access Maestro, users will need the latest version of the Amazon Music mobile app. They will have to tap on the option for Maestro on their home screen. They may also see the option to use Maestro when they tap on the plus sign to create a new playlist. From there, users can either talk or write out their playlist prompt idea, then tap “Let’s go!” to start streaming it. The playlist can also be saved and shared with friends.
Amazon suggests prompts like “😭 and eating 🍝”; “Make my 👶 a genius”; “Myspace era hip-hop”; “🏜️🌵🤠;” “Music my grandparents made out to”; “🎤🚿🧼”; and “I tracked my friends and they’re all hanging out without me” to give you an idea of how silly the prompts can be for this new experience.
The company didn’t say when the beta would roll out more broadly, only that it would expand to more customers over time.
