Multiple Stakeholders in Music Recommender Systems

Abstract: Music recommendation services collectively spin billions of songs for millions of listeners on a daily basis. Users can typically listen to a variety of songs tailored to their personal tastes and preferences. Music is not the only type of content encountered in these services, however. Advertisements are generally interspersed throughout the music stream to generate revenue for the business. Additional content may include artist messaging, ticketing, sports, news and weather. In this paper, we discuss issues that arise when multiple content providers are stakeholders in the recommendation process. These stakeholders each have their own objectives and must work in concert to sustain a healthy music recommendation service.