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Receiptify

Michelle Liu (2020)

Receiptify by Michelle Liu :: Supported by FRFAF (#2021-008) from STUDIO for Creative Inquiry on Vimeo.

 

“Receiptify” is an online web application developed by Michelle Liu, a first-year undergraduate studying Information Systems in Dietrich College. Liu’s project generates realistic-looking “receipts” from users’ Spotify playlists, and was used more than one million times during its first few months. Receiptify was supported in part by Microgrant #2021-008 from the Frank-Ratchye Fund for Art @ the Frontier.

Examining the media we consume— in this case, music— can offer a glimpse into our lives at a given period of time. Receiptify, a web application that generates a user’s most-played Spotify, Last.fm, or Apple Music tracks in the form of a receipt, allows individuals to capture these moments in a shareable format. This data was modeled to replicate a wrinkled-up receipt, because receipts, while often discarded and forgotten, can serve as a powerful tool to capture moments and stories throughout the passage of time.

Users can log in to their desired music service and select a time period— one month ago, six months ago, or all-time— and Receiptify creates a receipt, personalized to the user’s listening history. Song titles and artist names are displayed as the “item” on the receipt, ranking is displayed as “quantity,” and song length is displayed as “amount.” This receipt can then be downloaded as a png file to share with friends and family— a feature that has garnered it millions of users across the globe.

Receiptify has been featured in the following press: