Tinder now lets you use your music taste to snag a date
TinderIf you've ever declared that you just couldn't date someone whose favorite music artist was Taylor Swift, now is your chance to prove it.
On Tuesday, Tinder and Spotify announced a partnership that will let you sprinkle your musical taste into your dating profile.
Tinder will now let you choose any song from Spotify to display as your "anthem," a kind of personal theme song, which potential dates can listen to without leaving the app. You can also opt to have Tinder display your top artists on Spotify, if you want to give people a fuller picture of what you like to listen to.
Tinder CEO Sean Rad tells Business Insider this feature is something Tinder has wanted since the very start, and has actively been discussing with Spotify for two years.
"Music is a big aspect of how people meet," Rad says. "You socialize around the music you love. It says a lot about your personality, what your interests are."
This has two benefits for Tinder, Rad says.
"The more immediate use case is conversation starter," he explains. Tinder has gotten really good at making introductions, but now Rad wants to do more help people get the conversation going, he says. That's one reason why Tinder has rolled out integrations with both Spotify and Instagram. It gives people something to talk about, clues that will perhaps provoke a more inspired introduction message than, "Hey."
The second benefit of integrating music into Tinder is a little more murky: how music tastes actually affect romantic compatibility. While Rad cites sociological studies that suggest it makes a difference, he simply doesn't know exactly how impactful it is yet. Understanding the role of music in compatibility is something that Tinder will have to "develop over time" using Tinder's machine learning processes, Rad says.
Many people say music has an affect on who they choose to date. Tinder will soon have some good data on whether that is grandstanding, or is actually the truth.
This feature will be available in every Tinder market where Spotify is also present.