The 30-Second Rule

BaRT measures the success of its recommendation based on the first 30 seconds of the user listening to it.

If they streamed it for more than 30 seconds, the recommendation is tracked to be correct.

The longer one listens to the set of songs, the better the recommendation is.

Spotify’s product director, Matthew Ogle, called this the ‘sweet spot’ for understanding the user’s likes and preferences. He compared skipping before the first 30 minutes to a thumbs down for the algorithm.

Similarly, the first 12-24 hours of release are considered crucial for songs. Things like spikes in stream counts, sharing behaviors, pre-saves matter when it comes to gaining popularity within Spotify.