Spotify has come up with a puurfect playlist to share with your favorite animals.
From today, the music streaming giant unveils Pet Playlists, a new offering which allows fans of music and animals to enjoy both at the same time.
The playlists run to about 30 tracks and are algorithmically curated, based on listener’s preferences for their little loved ones.
It’s as simple as selecting your type of pet, filling out some extra information and Spotify’s technology does the rest.
Spotify isn’t barking mad. The Sweden-originated company conducted a global online survey which found, among other things, that 71% of pet owners globally play music for their little friends, and even more believe their pets actually like music.
Also, Spotify spent time with musicologist David Teie, a cellist with America's National Symphony Orchestra, and composer of two albums of music for cats. While each playlist is algorithmically created, Teie’s expertise impacted how the algorithm was programmed, according to Spotify.
There’s no shortage of music for pets out there in cyberspace, or analysis to back it all up. It’s a business. In 2018, the U.K.’s Classic FM broadcast a one-off show for pets, and the late Lou Reed and his composer wife Laurie Anderson created a “high-frequency concert” to entertain an audience of Australian dogs and their owners.
One study conducted by the Scottish SPCA and the University of Glasgow and published in 2017 tested the reaction of dogs to five genres of music: soft rock, motown, pop, reggae and classical.
Researchers found that classical music had an initial calming effect, but the mutts soon hungered for other tunes. Reggae and soft rock hit the right spot.