Apple Music, YouTube Music Add AI-Generated Playlist Support

Photo Credit: Lorenzi

Apple Music and YouTube Music have joined the AI-generated playlist party with features designed to turn text and voice prompts into personalized music selections.

YouTube Music just recently revealed its AI Playlist feature, and Redditors today spotted Apple Music’s “Playlist Playground” beta. On YouTube’s end, the playlist generator is live for Premium subscribers in the U.S. and potentially select global markets.

As summed up by the platform, one can pump out AI playlists by navigating to Library while on mobile, tapping “new,” and selecting the relevant option.

(Though the feature isn’t immediately appearing for some stateside subscribers, fully updated app or not, navigating around for a moment and then circling back to Library seems to fix the issue.)

From there, this latest threat to the human curator can whip up playlists based on mood, genre, or idea – besides fielding requests seeking similar-sounding tracks, works released during a specific window, and much more.

Additionally, YouTube Music’s AI Playlist creator fields on-the-fly post-generation adjustments (with plenty of pre-written prompts available to tap) and isn’t hesitant to tackle left-field asks.

Meanwhile, Apple Music’s playlist-generator counterpart looks similar to YouTube Music’s and those that previously rolled out; it’s unclear when a full-scale launch will arrive.

As for how the tools fit into the bigger streaming picture, YouTube Music in particular is pulling out all the stops in an effort to attract subscribers with features as opposed to pricing.

In general, this seemingly straightforward objective – convert YouTube proper’s many listeners into paid Music (or Premium) subs – has proven challenging given the streaming arena’s stiff competition.

Against this backdrop, YouTube Music made lyrics exclusive to subscribers and, on top of pay-walling the feature, quietly reenabled offline viewing. Throw in a free playlist-transfer option – powered by TuneMyMusic, this would have cost users a small monthly payment in the not-so-distant past – and you’re left with an increasingly compelling offering.

Time will tell whether these and forthcoming updates translate into material subscriber gains for YouTube Music. There are certainly a number of factors in play here – from pricing differences to upcoming AI derivatives and much else. But DMN Pro will be providing detailed breakdowns of domestic paid-user shifts moving forward.

More immediately, amid an across-the-board focus on harnessing AI to connect listeners with appealing music, could allowing users to avoid machine-generated slop be the ticket to gaining an edge over the competition?

Of course, we don’t have a concrete answer to the interesting question. But we do know that Deezer is still making headlines for its ability to detect and label AI uploads – as Spotify plots an AI-audio crackdown of its own.

Furthermore, the growing chorus of AI-slop complaints isn’t confined to one DSP. On Reddit – there’s plenty of related evidence on different platforms as well – the past month has seen YouTube Music, Spotify, and Apple Music users alike rail against AI garbage.

In this way, helping fans avoid music they don’t want to hear could become a central focus sooner rather than later.