It is probably a radical idea but how about letting people tailor their own recommendations granularly? Genre, artist, whatever else. These platforms usually have excellent internal categorization...
It is probably a radical idea but how about letting people tailor their own recommendations granularly?
Genre, artist, whatever else. These platforms usually have excellent internal categorization systems but throw trash at the user. Or at least when I last used Spotify which was a while ago.
Unlikely because the reason the recommendations are so bad is because they are able to make them so hyperspecific (and to suggest artists that partner with them more). The bad recommendations are...
Unlikely because the reason the recommendations are so bad is because they are able to make them so hyperspecific (and to suggest artists that partner with them more). The bad recommendations are a feature.
What I'd like is an easier way to keep all songs out of your tastes. I know you can do it with a tap, scroll, tap right now, but I'd like an "Exclude" button so I can quickly mark that a song is what I'm listening to now, not what I want my recommendations to be based on, but also to not actively prevent like an "I don't like this" button.
It is a small part why I personally don't plan to pay for Spotify again, or Youtube or what else. I am old fashioned and are happy to pay for a service, whose value to me justifies it, that is not...
It is a small part why I personally don't plan to pay for Spotify again, or Youtube or what else.
I am old fashioned and are happy to pay for a service, whose value to me justifies it, that is not outright and openly hostile to me.
I'm personally pretty happy with Qobuz. It regularly makes me discover albums I enjoy outside my comfort zone because its front page is actually interesting and not full of slop, and also...
I'm personally pretty happy with Qobuz. It regularly makes me discover albums I enjoy outside my comfort zone because its front page is actually interesting and not full of slop, and also apparently curated by humans.
I genuinely miss the old Google Play Music, its algorithm was fantastic. It introduced me to new (to me) artists that were relevant to my tastes, some of which I still listen to today. Shuffle...
I genuinely miss the old Google Play Music, its algorithm was fantastic. It introduced me to new (to me) artists that were relevant to my tastes, some of which I still listen to today. Shuffle actually shuffled, and "Song Radio" station generation was pretty unique each time. I've only used Spotify since GPM was shut down. Spotify is fine for general music listening, but I hate its recommendations, shuffle, and algorithms. The thing that really keeps me there is that it (seems to be) the only one that has a significant amount of the Lofi artists I listen to, other than YouTube.
I liked GPM's interface better, but imo YTM's is no worse than Spotify's. They're pretty similar imo. And if you had playlists in GPM, I think those carry over? Mine did, at least.
I liked GPM's interface better, but imo YTM's is no worse than Spotify's. They're pretty similar imo. And if you had playlists in GPM, I think those carry over? Mine did, at least.
I'd been railing on YouTube Music's UI in support tickets and whenever the auto survey prompts came up since they did the transition, but I've stuck with it as the only service I'm aware of with a...
I'd been railing on YouTube Music's UI in support tickets and whenever the auto survey prompts came up since they did the transition, but I've stuck with it as the only service I'm aware of with a mix of paid streaming and cloud uploads. At this point it's pretty cromulent. It's still very bloated, but it is a lot better than before and they have a lot of functional stuff that they've improved on, especially in playlists. (I had fun dealing with the 1000 song limit in GPM, but you can actually just make an ultimate shuffle playlist now...) The integration into YouTube to bring up stuff that isn't traditionally streamed, like video game soundtracks or public video playlists, is also nice.
On the downside, though, it's expensive af at this point. It also gets a little stupid when you turn off personalized tracking from a YouTube/Google level, like it forgets what song I was playing after 8ish hours... I'd simultaneously recommend it again if it fits your feature set, and I'd also switch in a heartbeat if another service did what it does and cost less. The easy cloud upload/download piece is really make or break for me.
FYI I noticed recently that you can now customize certain auto generated playlists. For example, my Discover Weekly right now has buttons to make it more focused around progressive rock or...
FYI I noticed recently that you can now customize certain auto generated playlists. For example, my Discover Weekly right now has buttons to make it more focused around progressive rock or electronic music, and when I go to an artist radio I see similar options, but also "Make it non-personalized" which I've been wanting for a while. Maybe it's not exactly what you're looking for, but I was pretty happy to stumble upon this recently. Seems to work pretty well for my needs.
Yeah I've been very vocal that the Spotify app over the last 5+ years has just gotten worse and worse, bloated mess but they've actually put out some decent non garbage features/fixes in the last...
Yeah I've been very vocal that the Spotify app over the last 5+ years has just gotten worse and worse, bloated mess but they've actually put out some decent non garbage features/fixes in the last 6 months or so.
One would hope that with 3 thousand developers it is possible to not produce garbage (perhaps that's the issues) but we are in the era of enshitification.
Neat. I have a family account and used a spare one I could switch to specifically to prevent my own algorithm to be decimated by kids music. I'm probably still going to do that but at least...
Neat. I have a family account and used a spare one I could switch to specifically to prevent my own algorithm to be decimated by kids music.
I'm probably still going to do that but at least there's an option now if I ever decide to downsize.
Ha, thank god. No, I don't care that Stray Kids or some Roblox song has just come out thank you Spotify. I will admit it was fairly good about not playing those songs when I was listening to other...
Ha, thank god. No, I don't care that Stray Kids or some Roblox song has just come out thank you Spotify. I will admit it was fairly good about not playing those songs when I was listening to other things.
As others have said Spotify's recommendations are crap to begin with and even if you start a private session it still takes notes.
It is probably a radical idea but how about letting people tailor their own recommendations granularly?
Genre, artist, whatever else. These platforms usually have excellent internal categorization systems but throw trash at the user. Or at least when I last used Spotify which was a while ago.
Unlikely because the reason the recommendations are so bad is because they are able to make them so hyperspecific (and to suggest artists that partner with them more). The bad recommendations are a feature.
What I'd like is an easier way to keep all songs out of your tastes. I know you can do it with a tap, scroll, tap right now, but I'd like an "Exclude" button so I can quickly mark that a song is what I'm listening to now, not what I want my recommendations to be based on, but also to not actively prevent like an "I don't like this" button.
It is a small part why I personally don't plan to pay for Spotify again, or Youtube or what else.
I am old fashioned and are happy to pay for a service, whose value to me justifies it, that is not outright and openly hostile to me.
I'm personally pretty happy with Qobuz. It regularly makes me discover albums I enjoy outside my comfort zone because its front page is actually interesting and not full of slop, and also apparently curated by humans.
I genuinely miss the old Google Play Music, its algorithm was fantastic. It introduced me to new (to me) artists that were relevant to my tastes, some of which I still listen to today. Shuffle actually shuffled, and "Song Radio" station generation was pretty unique each time. I've only used Spotify since GPM was shut down. Spotify is fine for general music listening, but I hate its recommendations, shuffle, and algorithms. The thing that really keeps me there is that it (seems to be) the only one that has a significant amount of the Lofi artists I listen to, other than YouTube.
fwiw imo the algorithm on GPM's successor, YouTube Music, is still a lot better than Spotify's.
I hated the "demo" of YTM they gave me when they announced the GPM sunset. How is the interface, now a days? Worth giving a second chance?
I liked GPM's interface better, but imo YTM's is no worse than Spotify's. They're pretty similar imo. And if you had playlists in GPM, I think those carry over? Mine did, at least.
I'd been railing on YouTube Music's UI in support tickets and whenever the auto survey prompts came up since they did the transition, but I've stuck with it as the only service I'm aware of with a mix of paid streaming and cloud uploads. At this point it's pretty cromulent. It's still very bloated, but it is a lot better than before and they have a lot of functional stuff that they've improved on, especially in playlists. (I had fun dealing with the 1000 song limit in GPM, but you can actually just make an ultimate shuffle playlist now...) The integration into YouTube to bring up stuff that isn't traditionally streamed, like video game soundtracks or public video playlists, is also nice.
On the downside, though, it's expensive af at this point. It also gets a little stupid when you turn off personalized tracking from a YouTube/Google level, like it forgets what song I was playing after 8ish hours... I'd simultaneously recommend it again if it fits your feature set, and I'd also switch in a heartbeat if another service did what it does and cost less. The easy cloud upload/download piece is really make or break for me.
FYI I noticed recently that you can now customize certain auto generated playlists. For example, my Discover Weekly right now has buttons to make it more focused around progressive rock or electronic music, and when I go to an artist radio I see similar options, but also "Make it non-personalized" which I've been wanting for a while. Maybe it's not exactly what you're looking for, but I was pretty happy to stumble upon this recently. Seems to work pretty well for my needs.
Yeah I've been very vocal that the Spotify app over the last 5+ years has just gotten worse and worse, bloated mess but they've actually put out some decent non garbage features/fixes in the last 6 months or so.
One would hope that with 3 thousand developers it is possible to not produce garbage (perhaps that's the issues) but we are in the era of enshitification.
Neat. I have a family account and used a spare one I could switch to specifically to prevent my own algorithm to be decimated by kids music.
I'm probably still going to do that but at least there's an option now if I ever decide to downsize.
I mean, the algo is smart enough that I've never had 'Lava Chicken' pop up while blasting death metal, but neat enough feature.
Ha, thank god. No, I don't care that Stray Kids or some Roblox song has just come out thank you Spotify. I will admit it was fairly good about not playing those songs when I was listening to other things.
As others have said Spotify's recommendations are crap to begin with and even if you start a private session it still takes notes.
The original announcement: https://newsroom.spotify.com/2026-09-15/exclude-kids-family-music-toggle/