News September 24, 2018

Spotify are letting you use your DNA to curate tailored playlists

Spotify are giving listeners the chance to get in touch with their cultural roots, allowing them to use their own DNA to curate tailor-made playlists.

For years now, Ancestry has been providing people with the chance to trace their genealogy in order to gain a greater understanding of where they come from, and just who is in their family tree.

For the past few years however, AncestryDNA has been offering a far more in-depth approach to this, allowing users to send off a sample of their DNA to get a detailed breakdown of their genetic makeup, as well as what the service calls a “ethnicity estimate”.

Now, AncestryDNA has teamed up with Spotify to give listeners the chance to basically listen to their own cultural heritage.

https://twitter.com/Ancestry/status/1042752764701491201

“It’s so much more than the stats and the data and the records,” explained Ancestry’s Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Vineet Mehra to Quartz. “How do we help people experience their culture and not just read about it? Music seemed like an obvious way to do that.”

Spotify’s global head of partner solutions, Danielle Lee, also echoed this sentiment, noting that this service will “encourage [Ancestry’s] audience to explore the soundtrack of their heritage.”

So how does it work exactly? Well, if you’ve already sent off a sample of your DNA to Ancestry, then you’re undoubtedly already aware of what sort of “ethnicity estimate” the service has provided you with. Effectively, this is just the next step, and offers a playlist created out of that estimate.

For example, does Ancestry tell you that you’re 20% German? Then, once you input your ethnic regions, based on their AncestryDNA results, Spotify will generate a playlist that consists of 20% German artists. So if you’re looking for a good way to listen to your roots, then this is it.

If you’re worrying about privacy though, you needn’t fret too much, with data from either services not being linked or shared between the two, and these playlists being created solely on data that Ancestry customers wish to share.

Of course, the very notion of sending off your DNA to be tested by a privately held company is undoubtedly a tad daunting, so Spotify have also begun giving listeners a far less invasive option.

By solely using your Spotify account, the service also offers a breakdown of your musical DNA, so that you can see just where your tastes lie. While this service is also rather exciting, it’s not quite up to the same level as the DNA-based approach.

Whatever your thoughts on the matter, Spotify and Ancestry are well and truly proving that the future is now.