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Streaming platforms often boast of having created sophisticated algorithms, which line up with the musical tastes of each user. No matter whether they like folk music, rock or even drill and “ethereal.”
However, these recommendation systems are far from perfect, as highlighted by a recent study led by Christine Bauer from Utrecht University in the Netherlands and Xavier Serra and Andres Ferraro from Pompeu Fabra University in Spain.
These researchers found that recommendation algorithms neglect songs performed by female artists and promote the generation of playlists dominated by their male counterparts.
Before coming to these conclusions, the researchers combed through the listening habits of 330,000 users over nine years. It turns out that only a quarter of the artists they used to listen to were women.
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
But what is the reason for this apparent lack of interest in female musicians? The answer: the algorithms. Indeed, the researchers discovered that the first recommended song was, on average, performed by a man. Listeners had to wait until the seventh or eighth song before they found one performed by a female artist.
“Results suggest that there is a considerable difference with respect to the average first position of female and male artists in the recommendation ranking. In short, the exposure of content by female and male artists is not balanced,” the researchers wrote in their study.
