Sättet människor konsumerar musik har förändrats genom historien och i samband med digitaliseringen har nya möjligheter att lyssna på musik uppstått. I samband med denna övergång har även fler algoritmbaserade tillvägagångssätt för musiklyssnande uppkommit. Syftet med studien är att undersöka unga vuxnas upplevelser av den algoritmbaserade Radiofunktionen på musikstreamingtjänsten Spotify. Studien har även undersökt huruvida de algoritmbaserade förslagen eventuellt påverkar användarnas upplevelser och musikbeteenden.Undersökningen är baserad på sju respondenters upplevelser inom åldersspannet 20-30 år, i denna studie definierat som unga vuxna. Studien har genomförts via kvalitativa metoder däribland en inledande dagboksstudie, med syfte att förbereda respondenternas reflektiva tänkande vilket följdes upp med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Därefter transkriberades intervjuerna för att senare kodas och en tematisk analys genomfördes. Resultatet av studien påvisar att det finns en variation i användandet av radiofunktionen samt att majoriteten av respondenterna uttryckt en positiv upplevelse av Radio på Spotify. Studien bidrar med nya insikter kring algoritmbaserade upplevelser hos användare i relation till musikstreaming och framförallt funktionen radio, samt hur användandet kan skilja sig beroende på situation och anledning till användande. / The streaming of music has during the last two decades become a new standard for how people acquire and listen to music. In correlation with this shift, other possibilities for listening to music have been on the rise. The purpose of this study is to investigate the experience for young adults of algorithm-based playlist ”Radio” on the streaming service platform Spotify. The investigation will determine whether or not these algorithm-based suggestions potentially affect the users' experience of listening to music and overall music behavior.The study is based on the experience of seven respondents of ages ranging between 20-30 years old - through this study referred to as "young adults." The qualitative methods this research has followed consists of a simple initial diary study, in order to prepare the respondents reflective thinking before the following semi-structured interviews. The interviews were then transcribed and followed by coding as well as a thematical analysis. The results of the study show that there is a variation in the use of the ”Radio” phenomenon on Spotify and that the vast majority of the respondents participating in the investigation expressed an overall positive experience. Furthermore, this study indicates that the respondents utilize the feature on different occasions and for different purposes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate electric guitar teacher’s experiences of digital tools in their teaching at the upper secondary school arts programme. In order to achieve this purpose I interviewed four experienced teachers in two different age categories, two in their forties and two in their fifties, to see if their attitude or experiences differed in regards to these digital tools. The study is based on a socio-cultural perspective and the result shows that all of the teachers uses several digital tools within the context of their teaching, and also in their own music practices outside of the classroom. The main conclusions are that the interviewed teachers have a positive attitude toward these digital tools, and think they have made their work easier. They also feel like the music is more easily accessible now to both teachers and students alike.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-12-05T15:33:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Jorge Otávio Pinto Pouey de Oliveira_.pdf: 1107226 bytes, checksum: 9af9084c859cf494da3fffc258c8d826 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-12-05T15:33:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jorge Otávio Pinto Pouey de Oliveira_.pdf: 1107226 bytes, checksum: 9af9084c859cf494da3fffc258c8d826 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-06 / Nenhuma / O uso constante de plataformas de streaming para acessar os mais diversos conteúdos é uma realidade. Diante deste quadro, podemos também enxergar estas plataformas assumindo funções neste ambiente digital que anteriormente eram realizadas pelos meios tradicionais de comunicação. Uma destas funções que podemos cogitar é a curadoria musical. O objetivo desta dissertação de mestrado é propor uma investigação e imersão na plataforma de streaming musical, o Spotify, e analisar de que forma ela opera para divulgar os seus conteúdos musicais, criando assim, através de suas estratégias curatoriais, uma noção de um novo jornalismo cultural. As bibliografias acionadas tematizam cultura da convergência, jornalismo cultural, radiojornalismo hipermidiático e curadoria, além de um questionário sobre hábitos de novos padrões de consumo de música seguido da respectiva análise. Dessa forma, este trabalho busca contribuir tanto para desmistificar o papel secundário do jornalismo cultural em relação a outras editorias, quanto entender as novas possibilidades de busca e uso de conteúdos que estão ao nosso alcance no ambiente digital. / The constant use of streaming platforms to access the most diverse content is a reality. Given this framework, we can also see these platforms assuming functions in this digital environment which were previously performed by traditional means of communication. One of these functions we can consider is music curatorship. The objective of this master's thesis is to propose an investigation and immersion in the musical streaming platform, Spotify, and to analyze how it operates to disseminate its musical contents, thus creating through its curatorial strategies a notion of a new cultural journalism. The bibliographies triggered include cultural convergence, cultural journalism, hypermedia radiojournalism and curation, as well as a questionnaire on habits of new patterns of music consumption followed by the respective analysis. Thus, this work seeks to contribute both to demystify the secondary role of cultural journalism in relation to other publications, and to understand the new possibilities of search and use of contents that are within our reach in the digital environment.

Parallel to new technological advancements, including the development of interactive recommender systems, digital music services on the Internet, such as Spotify, have in a short time span gradually replaced former physical media such as CDs and MP3-players and become pioneers on a market with an otherwise uncertain future. By subscribing to the service, users have access to a vast library of music and from any device with Internet access. In order to provide a satisfactory and useful musical experience, different ways of coping with the vastness is required - which is precisely what recommender systems are for. Improved filtering techniques and use of devices built in sensors, make way for new opportunities of more precise and contextually tailored suggestions for track selection, which in turn leads to potential privacy issues when using interactive music services. But where do we stand today? By compiling, exemplifying and discussing three different perspectives with relating to the development of interactive music recommender systems, the objective for this paper is to provide a for science, industry and user, objectively nuanced account of current potentials and expectations. A conducted survey among Swedish-speaking Spotify users as well as a performed asynchronous interview with an industry expert at Spotify, make up the foundation for an analysis based on dimensions and qualities of satisfaction related to the evaluation process of recommender systems. The study shows that users' are somewhat cautious toward future technological implementations, which may potentially infringe on their privacy, yet still accepting, due to the potential of a more personalized music experience. From an industry perspective, the possibility of offering contextualized recommendations is considered potentially valuable. Thus, conditions for realizing a more accomplished recommender system exists, but with some reservations - primarily requests for increased transparency regarding what information recommendations are based upon, and the ability for users to self-regulate what information is made available to the service - which in turn the recommendations shall be based on. / Parallellt med nya tekniska förutsättningar, däribland utvecklingen av interaktiva rekommendationssystem, har digitala musiktjänster på Internet, som Spotify, successivt ersatt den tidigare fysiska CD-skivan och MP3-spelaren och blivit världsledande aktörer på en marknad med annars oviss framtid. Genom prenumerationer erbjuds användare tillgång till ett oändligt bibliotek av musik och från flertalet olika enheter. För att tillgodose en användbar musikupplevelse, förutsätts möjligheten, både för bransch och som användare, att på olika sätt hantera denna oändliga mängd musik – vilket just är rekommendationssystemens uppgift. I takt med förbättrade filtrerings-tekniker och nyttjandet av enheters olika sensoriska data, finns möjligheter för mer precisa och kontextuellt anpassade förslag på musikspår, vilket föranleder potentiella integritetsaspekter i anslutning till användning av interaktiva musiktjänster. Men var står utvecklingen idag? Genom att sammanställa, exemplifiera och diskutera tre olika perspektiv på utvecklingen, är målsättningen att bidra till en för vetenskapen, bransch och användare gemensam, objektivt nyanserad redogörelse att förhålla sig till gällande utvecklingen av framtidens rekommendationssystem för interaktiva musiktjänster. Mot basis av aktuell forskning på området genomfördes en attitydundersökning bland svensktalande spotify-användare och en asynkron intervju med branschinsatt på Spotify, vilka analyserats utifrån dimensioner och kvaliteter av tillfredsställelse kopplade till utvärderingsprocessen av rekommendationssystem. Av studien framgår att användares inställning till framtida tekniska implementeringar, som potentiellt kan inkräkta på den egna integriteten, är något avvaktande men ändå accepterande då en mer personaliserad musikupplevelse ses som positiv. Branschen anser möjligheten att i tjänsteutbudet kunna erbjuda kontextualiserade rekommendationer som potentiellt värdefullt. Förutsättningar finns därmed för utveckling av ett mer fulländat rekommendationssystem, men med visst förbehåll – primärt önskas ökad transparens där det framgår vilken information som rekommendationer baseras på och att man som användare har möjlighet att själv reglera vilken information som görs tillgänglig för tjänsten – tillika rekommendationer ska baseras på.

Spotify is a music service that offers on-demand streaming and is available in several countries worldwide. As the company and the interest for it grows, more and more parties are involved and those involved, including the record labels want to control and get an overview of their products. They want to be able to see, for example, when a product is available on Spotify and in which countries. Spotify is in May 2013 in process of developing a to be used by administrators on Spotify in order to meet the record labels with the information requested. The new software intends being used by administrators but also by the record labels so that they will be able to overview their products availability. We were asked by one of the developers to conduct user interviews and tests to result in a design proposal on how the display page of information about a product could be visualized more clearly so that it suits both record labels and employees at Spotify. The results of our contextual interviews were translated into a prototype with two display pages. One of them in list format to satisfy administrators and their work and a the other one in shape of a map primarily intended to accommodate the record labels. We made use of contextual design and its working models and interviewing techniques and worked iteratively with several prototype testing.

Mobile applications should work regardless of which type of wireless interface is used, and should be able to conceal unstable connections from the user to improve user experience. Therefore, network testing is important when developing mobile applications, but it is a challenge to reproduce network conditions when using real cellular networks since the test engineer has no control over the quality of the cellular network. Existing software tools can restrict bandwidth and add latency to the connection, but these tools do not accurately emulate cellular networks. This thesis proposes a system where it is possible to shape the network traffic for connected devices to mimic the network patterns of a real cellular connection when running on a WiFi connection. The design presented in this thesis is intended for testing mobile applications under diverse 3G connection parameters, such as latency, bandwidth and other characteristics. This thesis was conducted at Spotify, a company that provides a music streaming service which is a frequent user of network data traffic. The 3G emulator was evaluated using the Spotify Android application by measuring the correlation between packet traces from a real 3G connection and the 3G emulator. This correlation was compared to the correlation between packet traces from a real 3G connection and the current network emulator at Spotify. The evaluation shows that the proposed 3G emulator outperforms the current network emulator when performing tests on the Spotify application for Android. By using this emulator, we expect the network testing to become more effective as any 3G condition can be tested with repeatable results.

The goal with this assignment has been to study the product Spotalike and develop a new version to make the product more attractive. The studying of the product was done with the help of user data, such as how Spotalike is being used, what target audience it has, why it's being used, etc. The new version of Spotalike was planned by making design sketches and prototypes which were created as a first step in order to get a better picture of what the result would be. The new version is not available to the public, but it is fully functional and works locally. The solution that was concluded was to develop a music player which is built on the founding principles of the old Spotalike. The music player is developed with React and is powered by Spotify. Besides the old functions there are also new functions that has been implemented, and the interface has been redesigned. There is currently no new user data available to determine the result of the development, since the new version of Spotalike hasn't been made public yet. / Målet med detta projektarbete har varit att granska produkten Spotalike och utveckla en ny version som gör produkten mer eftertraktad. Problemgranskning har gjorts med analysering av användardata – hur Spotalike används, av vem, varför den används, osv. Den nya versionen av Spotalike planerades med hjälp av designskisser och prototyper som togs fram som första steg för att få en bättre bild av slutresultatet. Den nya versionen är inte tillgänglig publikt, men är fullt funktionell lokalt. Lösningen som togs fram var att skapa en musikspelare som bygger på de grundprinciper gamla Spotalike har. Musikspelaren är bygd med React och använder Spotify i bakgrunden som motor. Utöver de redan befintliga funktionerna så har även nya funktioner tagits fram och gränssnittet har redesignats. Någon ny användarstatistik för att se om lösningen har gynnat bra resultat i form av användarupplevelse finns inte tillgänglig då tjänsten ännu inte har hunnit bli tillgängligt publikt.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how metadata from Spotify could be used to identify the language of songs in a dataset containing nine languages. Features based on song name, album name, genre, regional popularity and vectors describing songs, playlists and users were analysed individually and in combination with each other in different classifiers. In addition to this, this report explored how different levels of prediction confidence affects performance and how it compared to a classifier based on audio input. A random forest classifier proved to have the best performance with an accuracy of 95.4% for the whole data set. Performance was also investigated when the confidence of the model was taken into account, and when only keeping more confident predictions from the model, accuracy was higher. When keeping the 70% most confident predictions an accuracy of 99.4% was achieved. The model also proved to be robust to input of other languages than it was trained on, and managed to filter out unwanted records not matching the languages of the model. A comparison was made to a classifier based on audio input, where the model using metadata performed better on the training and test set used. Finally, a number of possible improvements and future work were suggested.

Streaming och användandet av digitala musiktjänster tar upp en allt större del av våra vardagliga liv, vilket kan komma att påverka musikens mening och betydelse för oss som musikkonsumenter.
 Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur tre stycken utvalda respondenter förhåller sig till musik via dagens strömmande musiktjänster, samt ifall den digitala musikkonsumtionen påverkat respondenternas musikkonsumtion och på så vis skapat några vardagliga mönster eller beteenden hos dem. 
 Studien utgår från ett antal teoretiska ramverk, som alla stärks med tidigare forskning. Studien bygger på tre stycken huvudsakliga teman; vilka är identitet, där teorier om medierade minnen och psykologiskt ägande ligger i fokus, följt av temat musikens kulturella betydelse vilken lyfter teorier om konvergens och kulturell cirkulation. Till sist innefattar studien även temat musikens påverkan, vilken i sin tur lyfter teorier om påverkan samt om postdigital sensibilitet. Studien bygger på tre stycken kvalitativa intervjuer som utförts med musikintresserade personer i åldrarna 20-30 år. Dessa intervjuer har transkriberats och analyserats via en tematisk analys, där analysen strukturerats utifrån teman med respektive underkategorier. I analysen vävs respondenternas åsikter och tankar ihop med de teorier och den tidigare forskning som lyfts i teoridelen, där kombinationen av åsikter och teori leder till fram till analysens resultat. Resultatet av analysen visar på hur respondenterna i denna undersökning har en stark relation till musiken, där musiken spelar en väsentlig roll i det vardagliga livet. Musiken agerar många gånger tidsfördriv eller bakgrundsbrus vid andra sysselsättningar, alternativt som ett sätt att påverka re- spondenternas humör eller för att öka deras handlingskraft. 
 Digitaliseringen av musik har bidragit till en ökad lättillgänglighet och mobilitet, som har påverkat respondenternas musikkonsumtion samt bidragit till att respondenterna idag upplever musiken som mer individualiserad än någonsin. Respondenterna upplever även att den digitala musikkonsumtionen har bidragit till att skapa vissa mönster, dels i samhället och dels hos respondenterna 
själva.

This paper examines data from Spotify’s API for 2017-2018 to determine the effects of song attributes on the success of tracks on Spotify’s Top 200 Chart across five different countries: the U.S., Norway, Taiwan, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. Two dependent variables are used to measure the success of a song – a track’s peak position on the charts and the number of days it survives on a country’s Top 200 Chart. Using ten separate regressions, one for each dependent variable in all five countries, it is concluded that the presence of a featured guest on a track increases a song’s peak position and the number of days it survives on the charts in almost every country. Further, songs that are perceived as “happier” are more successful for both metrics in Norway and Taiwan while those that are louder and more aggressive have a shorter lifespan on the charts in three out of five of the countries studied. The paper concludes that further research should be conducted with a larger, more diverse dataset to see if these findings hold and if they are present in other countries as well.