Spotify might put AI ads in its free tier because it wants to annoy you into upgrading
I can’t lie — I’ve completely lost interest in Spotify and the long, long wait for Spotify HiFi. I’m not sure it’s actually going to happen at this point, given we’ve been waiting for what feels like hundreds of years.
But there’s still part of me that hopes it’s Spotify HiFi on the way when Spotify makes headlines again, only to be shot down when it’s something completely different. And this time, it’s no different.
Apparently, if you’re a free user of Spotify, you might end up listening to an ad that’s been entirely AI generated.
As if ads weren’t bad enough…
According to The New York Times, we might see a whole new type of ad on the green circle. Spotify is going to had out an “A.I. tool for brands in the United States and Canada to generate scripts and voice-overs” for adverts.
The idea is to make it easier for firms to get adverts on the platform, with less investment needed to get products in front (or in the ears) of listeners.
It’s interesting that Spotify isn’t first fixing pre-existing problems with its ads system, or adding any real value for anyone beyond companies that want to flog their latest thing at you.
There are still issues with sexually explicit adverts and podcasts on the platform (via Bloomberg), and ongoing irritation at having to pay more and more for a platform that doesn’t offer the same feature set as rivals.
There’s no Spatial Audio component and no hi-res streaming — all things you’ll find on more of the best streaming services like Apple Music, Tidal, or Qobuz. There’s not much music-wise to keep people subscribing to Spotify anymore.
Perhaps instead of looking at adding A.I. adverts to bombard free subscribers with, Spotify should be looking at increasing value for the end user — because if all your users jump ship, you won’t have anyone to play your adverts too.
But what do I know? 2024 saw record profits for Spotify, which is looking into more ways to generate more capital. It couldn’t even get Wrapped 2024 right last year, so I’m not holding out hope we’re going to get the next Volkswagen ‘think small’ ad out of Spotify’s A.I. advert generator.
Or maybe it wants terrible ads so that you say ‘fine, I’ll upgrade my sub!’
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