Spotify experimenting with new music-discovery feature

Spotify looks like it’s experimenting with a new way for its 248 million monthly active users and 113 million subscribers to discover new music.

The feature is called Taste Buds and allows users to tap into the listening habits of friends and people they follow to discover new music.

It’s not official yet, but it was discovered by Hong Kong-based tech researcher Jane Manchun Wong, who reverse-engineers apps for hidden features and security vulnerabilities.

She’s uncovered many secret tests conducted by tech companies this way.

Taste Buds sees Spotify reverting to the importance of social for discovery, after focussing more on its playlists.

Details are sketchy, especially when it might go live.

But we do know that users can search for followers, find their most favourite songs (at this stage on desktop only), and add them to their own libraries.

Earlier this year, Spotify tested a Friends Weekly playlist.

It’s not known if Taste Buds is just a working title: There’s a dating app in existence which links people via their music habits.