Yandex Music has updated "My Wave": now the service selects music not only according to the user's taste but also for a specific situation. Recommendations take into account the time of day, day of the week, the device from which the music is played, and the listener's habits. For example, if a user likes jazz and plays music from a laptop on a weekday, the system might suggest "calm jazz for work".
The main innovation is hyper-contextual recommendations — they appeared on the main screen in the form of colorful interactive waves. "My Wave" can now create personal scenarios: for example, select rock and roll for a run if the listener likes this genre and often plays music for running.
The generative model ARGUS is responsible for the update. It analyzes a longer history of user actions, finds non-obvious connections, and rebuilds recommendations in real time. According to the service, hyper-contextual selections are played 30% more often than regular settings, and tracks from them are added to the "Collection" 64% more often. The number of dislikes in "My Wave" decreased by 4%.
For a quick change of mood, the "Shake My Wave" function has been added: recommendations can be updated with one tap or by literally shaking the phone. During testing, every third user took advantage of it, and tracks after such a scenario were added to the "Collection" 73% more often.
The updated "My Wave" also features AI-generated remarks with facts about artists and their music. These are created based on open sources — news, interviews, and press releases — and help users get to know the performers better. After the appearance of such remarks, transitions to musicians' profiles increased by 11%, as did plays of tracks from their pages.
In addition, the application now includes a "What to Listen To" section with a personal showcase, trends, editorial selections, a chart, "Superlaunch", audiobooks, podcasts, and children's content. The update is already available to some Yandex Plus subscribers in Russia and Belarus, and will be rolled out to all users in the coming days.
