February 03, 2010

By By Andre Paine, London

Spotify is getting an upgrade this week with a new artist discovery process.

The streaming service's research and development team has built a new artist recommendation system that connects Spotify's entire catalog of artists.

The system draws on data collected over millions of user listening hours to power the recommendations. Spotify users will get a new 'related artists' tab added to the artist overview page.

"Artist recommendations have been fine-tuned meaning music fans can now dig down much deeper into the Spotify catalog," said Erik Bernhardsson, Spotify developer and project leader, in a statement.

"Improving the way in which Spotify users can discover exciting new artists and music in general, such as by sharing playlists, will play a vital part in Spotify's continuing evolution."

Spotify is currently live in six countries: Sweden, the U.K., France, Finland, Norway and Spain. It offers ad-funded free streaming alongside premium subscription and a-la-carte download options.

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