Gustav Söderström, one of Spotify’s new co-CEOshas been at the helm of the Swedish streaming giant for just one two months. But it’s already making its mark with a whirlwind of features designed to give users more control over how they consume music. His latest move, unveiled on stage at this year’s SXSW yesterday (March 13), allows listeners to edit Spotifyinterpretation of their personal taste.
Users will soon be able to review and edit their taste profile, the algorithmic summary of their preferences that shapes their home page, curated playlists and experiences like Spotify Wrapped. They can then search more or less for a certain genre, artist or even “vibe”, directly directing how the recommendation engine responds.
“Taste is not fact. It’s an option,” Söderström said while speaking at SXSW.
Söderström and co-CEO Alex Norstrom took over the Stockholm-based company in January, after the longtime boss Daniel Eck resigned at the end of 2025 to become Spotify’s executive chairman. Both are veterans: Söderström has been with Spotify for 17 years and Norström for 15 years.
The pair previously served as co-presidents, with Söderström also acting as chief product and technology officer and Norström as chief business officer. They will keep their focus on product and business, respectively, but say they plan to synchronize their work rather than run separate fiefdoms with separate teams and meetings.
Even before becoming co-CEO, Söderström had increased Spotify’s product cadence, with the company rolling out 50 new features and updates last year. Recent launches include the Prompted Playlist tool, introduced in January, which creates personalized playlists based on user requests and listening history, and Spotify DJ, an interactive AI assistant first released in 2023.
The updated flavor profile is based on these personalization bets. Users will be able to see how Spotify “reads” their listening habits — for example, noting that they’re more into alternative rock or ’90s hip-hop — and then nudge the system in a new direction. Writing comments like “I want to start listening to more Justin Bieber” will push that preference into their recommendations.
Personalization is also central to Spotify’s broader strategy to dominate not only music, but also podcasts and audiobooks. The company has expanded its video podcast offerings through partnerships with platforms like Netflix and is duplicating his audiobook while logging into the physical book sales. Spotify now has 751 million monthly active users and counts about 3.5 percent of the world’s population as subscribers, and aims to increase that figure to 10 percent or even 15 percent.
The new Taste Profile features will roll out to Premium listeners in New Zealand in the coming weeks before rolling out more widely. Users can choose to fine-tune their preferences – or just keep listening as they always have.
