Spotify Launches ‘Livi,’ the Spanish-Speaking AI DJ

Spotify this week announced the launch of a new Spanish-speaking version of its AI DJ, more than a year after debuting its English-speaking AI-powered radio feature.

Dubbed “Livi,” the Spanish-speaking DJ’s voice is also based on a real person, similar to the first AI voice model, “X,” which was based on Spotify’s Head of Cultural Partnerships, Xavier “X” Jernigan.

According to the popular streaming service, Olivia “Livi” Quiroz Roa, a senior music editor at Spotify, was chosen as the voice for this feature because listeners worldwide found her voice to be the most relatable and engaging during beta testing.

Spotify’s generative AI radio feature, developed with technologies from OpenAI and its AI voice platform Sonatic, combines personalization technology, generative AI, and an AI voice to offer personalized music recommendations with radio-style commentary that changes based on user activity.

The Spanish-speaking DJ Livi will be available to Premium users in regions where the English-speaking AI DJ is currently available, along with Spain and select countries in Latin America. Additionally, Premium subscribers in these regions can opt for the DJ in either language according to their preference.

Spotify’s AI DJ Success Drives Expansion into Spanish Market

When launching this AI-powered feature, the company anticipated that users would spend more time on its platform. Internal research has confirmed this expectation, “We observe an increase in listenership the week after a user first engages with the DJ compared to the week before,” according to the announcement.

Given that Spanish is the second largest language group globally and with millions of Spanish-speaking listeners on Spotify, it made sense for the company to explore the Spanish language following English. According to the company’s announcement, after launching the English-speaking DJ feature, many Spanish-speaking users took to social media (resulting in over a 215% increase in social conversation) to inquire about a Spanish-language DJ.

This announcement comes in the wake of Spotify’s recent price increase for premium subscribers globally. It also reflects the increasing competition among major music streaming platforms, which are trying to attract subscribers by improving personalized recommendations with more conversational narratives.