Music streamer sharpens user control as it eyes competitive edge
Deezer, the French music streaming platform, has reported its first positive cash flow in 2024 — a key milestone as it edges closer to full profitability. In tandem with this financial turnaround, the company has unveiled a suite of new features aimed at delivering a more customizable and user-controlled listening experience.
At the heart of this rollout is a fully customizable algorithm that Deezer believes will set it apart from larger competitors like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. The new “Manage My Recommendations” tool allows users to take granular control over their discovery feed, letting them exclude individual tracks, entire albums, artists, or playlists from ever being recommended again.
This goes beyond the standard dislike or skip mechanisms seen on rival platforms. Deezer has also introduced a new “dislike” button — a crossed-out heart — which signals to the algorithm that a particular track should be avoided in the future.
Beyond recommendations, Deezer is pushing personalization even further. Users will soon be able to customize playlist covers with a variety of colors and stickers, and adjust the layout of their Favorites tab to highlight preferred artists or albums. These visual customization options are expected to go live next month.
In terms of data-driven features, the platform has introduced My Deezer Month, a new monthly recap tool that complements its popular year-end wrap-up, My Deezer Year. Rolling out in early May, My Deezer Month will display listening stats such as most-played tracks, artists, and genres, as well as comparisons with previous months — a bid to deepen user engagement and mirror similar offerings from Spotify and Apple Music.
Deezer reports that usage of its year-end feature jumped by 30% in early 2025, indicating growing user interest in personalized listening insights.
As the music streaming space grows increasingly saturated, Deezer’s bet on user empowerment and algorithm transparency could be a key differentiator — particularly for listeners who want more control over their digital soundscape.
