New Spotify update messing up scrobbling.

[ilovekanyewest]

Plan

Premium

Device

S20 FE (Problem is persistent across all Android devices)

Operating System

Android 13

My Question or Issue

Starting with the May 15, 2023, Spotify update on Android, Spotify changed how artists were displayed on the notification widget. Usually, it would just be the main artist, not any artists featured on the songs, and that's how it's been since I switched to Spotify in January of this year. Still, with the new update, both artists and featured artists show on the notification widget (for example, if Billy Woods had a song featuring Kenny Segal, the artist shown on the widget would be "Billy Woods", but with the new update, it now shows both, ie. "Billy Woods, Kenny Segal". This causes incorrect scrobbling.

Here is how the song Checkpoints by Billy Woods with a feature from Kenny Segal  would've scrobbled before the update; notice how it doesn't include Segal in the scrobble info.

Here's how the same track scrobbles now with the new Spotify version. Last(.)FM would count this as a separate track from Checkpoints by Billy Woods because "Billy Woods, Kenny Segal" would be marked as a completely different artist.

Here's how the track appears inside Pano Scrobbler with incorrect tagging after the May 15 Spotify update.

I scrobble 250+ tracks daily, and having to edit over 100 of them daily because I don't want to incorrectly scrobble tracks is an unnecessary chore. This isn't only a problem happening to me, as my friend with a Galaxy S8 is experiencing the same issue, but my other friend with an S22 running an older version of Spotify isn't. I've also tried other scrobblers to see if it's just a problem with mine, but all of them turn up the same.

I would consider this issue nitpicking but editing scrobbles on Last(.)FM requires a $3 monthly subscription and purchasing that because of a Spotify update is something a user shouldn't have to do. I would love to have this change reverted so I & everyone who scrobbles on Android can have a clean & organized library without incorrectly tagged songs.

Spotify Version: 8.8.36.521

[hans-jürgen]

There are two possible workarounds besides editing your wrong scrobbles in your library as a Last.fm Pro user:

1. You could downgrade to an older Spotify Android app which does not show all participating artists separated with a comma.

2. You could disable Spotify scrobbling in your Android scrobbling app and only use the Last.fm feature for it in your connected Last.fm apps which works independently from the device and only scrobbles the first artist of a song.

[ilovekanyewest]

1. I would downgrade versions, but that would mean redownloading every playlist & that would total up to more than 100 hours, but at this point I see no other choice, I guess.

2. Connecting my Spotify doesn't work well, at least for me, since Spotify doesn't track my streams right a lot of the time (which is another problem Spotify has which I've accepted.)

[AlejaR]

Hey @ilovekanyewest,

Thanks for posting in the Community and welcome.

We understand you want to downgrade the Spotify version, but keep in mind all users should only download the app from our official website; this way we can advise adequate alternatives for any inconveniences.

We understand where you're coming from, and we'll make sure to pass your feedback on to the right team. We’re always working to deliver features that our users love, so sometimes we have to change in order to make way for future innovations.

We'll be here if anything else comes up. Once again, thanks for the feedback.