Spotify’s new playlist art maker gets that design is your passion

Spotify now has a new “Create cover art” option for playlists that lets you make custom collages to represent your playlists. The beta feature, which is available for both free and Spotify Premium members, is launching for English users in 65 markets. The company says it partnered with artists like Ugly Primo, who designed Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti album cover, and Cey Adams, who has worked on albums and logos for The Notorious B.I.G and Beastie Boys.

I gave it a shot and produced the masterpiece below, using a picture I took of a possum that was lurking outside my kid’s bedroom one night. It’s a pleasantly robust image maker, with layering, various effects, and the ability to rotate or change the size of images. It’s still in beta, and at the moment, you can’t edit images once you’ve saved them, or even save drafts.

YouTube Music introduced a similar feature last year that uses AI with preselected themes and prompt elements. Spotify easily could have gone the same route but chose to do something more interactive and engaging than tapping through a short menu. It also says it hired actual artists to make the 40 stickers that users can add to their pictures.

To try it out, open a playlist you’ve made, tap the three dots button, then tap “Create cover art.” (You may need to close the app and reopen it to see this.)