They use human curation for many of the pre-built playlists, but those humans are also assisted by some interesting algorithm work on the backend. For instance

They use human curation for many of the pre-built playlists, but those humans are also assisted by some interesting algorithm work on the backend. For instance, the Fresh Finds playlists - music that's good but very new or undiscovered - are made by curators who sift through songs and artists listened to each week by "tastemaker users". Spotify combs through their listener data and identifies users who have a habit of listening to music that later blows up and becomes much more popular. They tag those users anonymously and use their taste to inform the Fresh Finds playlists, which also feed the rest of the editorial department. Really cool stuff. https://news.spotify.com/us/2016/03/02/introducing-fresh-finds/ https://news.spotify.com/us/2016/03/02/introducing-fresh-fin...