Deezer, the Paris-based music streaming service, has unveiled a major update to its flagship personalized listening engine, Flow, called Flow Tuner — a feature designed to give users unprecedented control over how music recommendations are delivered.
What Is Flow Tuner?
Flow has long been Deezer’s signature recommendation feature, delivering an endless stream of songs tailored to a user’s listening habits. Traditionally, Flow learns from user behavior like listening history, skipped tracks, genre preferences and saved content to continually adapt its recommendations.
With Flow Tuner, Deezer takes this personalization a step further by allowing listeners to directly influence the algorithm itself, instead of leaving the recommendation process entirely in the hands of machine learning.
Here’s how Flow Tuner works:
- Users can activate or deactivate entire genres and subgenres to refine recommendations in real time.
- New genres can be added to broaden listening horizons.
- The changes apply instantly to both current sessions and future recommendations, meaning your Flow adapts with you.
This level of control is a major shift from the typical “black box” approach found on most streaming platforms — where what you hear is mostly dictated by unseen algorithms based on past interaction.
Why It Matters
The idea behind Flow Tuner is simple: music recommendations should not be a mystery. Instead of passively accepting what the algorithm thinks you want, listeners can now shape their musical journey intentionally. Whether you want more jazz during work, hip-hop for workouts, or fewer pop tracks on chill days, Flow Tuner gives you that power.
Deezer’s product team emphasizes that rather than eliminating discovery, this feature enhances it — helping users find the right music for the right moment, based on their feedback.
Transparency and AI Handling
In a landscape where AI-generated tracks are becoming increasingly common, Deezer has taken a cautious stance: AI-generated tracks are excluded from Flow Tuner recommendations. This is part of Deezer’s broader strategy to maintain trustworthy and human-centric music discovery.
The company has also been active in detecting AI content and tagging it platform-wide — a move that underscores its commitment to protecting artist integrity and ensuring authentic listening experiences.
A Competitive Move
Flow Tuner arrives amid a wave of innovation in personalized listening. Other services, like Spotify, have been exploring ways to let users influence their algorithmic results with tools such as Prompted Playlists — but Deezer’s direct genre-level control stands out for its immediacy and user interactivity.
User Feedback and Adoption
Initial conversations in music communities suggest users are excited about Flow Tuner’s ability to tweak recommendations without endless skipping, especially for genres that often get stuck together in traditional algorithmic streams.
What It Means for Listeners
- Greater personalization: Listeners can fine-tune the algorithm in ways previously not possible.
- Improved discovery: Adjusting genres and subgenres can uncover new music that better fits mood and taste.
- More control, less frustration: No more repeatedly skipping tracks that don’t fit your vibe — simply turn the genre off.
Flow Tuner positions Deezer as a forward-thinking platform that not only delivers personalized music but also puts the listener in the driver’s seat. For music lovers tired of feeling like algorithms choose for them, this feature represents a meaningful step toward user-empowered streaming discovery.
