Explicit content

[Melody]

It's great to hear music as the artist intended it to be heard, this means Spotify can sometimes include explicit content.

We recommend looking out for the EXPLICIT tag on any releases (E on the web player).
Note: Our explicit content tags are applied based on information we receive from rights-holders. This means we can’t guarantee all explicit content is marked as such. 

Explicit content filter 

For: Mobile and tablet (more devices coming soon!)

Filter out content labelled as explicit with these steps:

1. Tap Home .
   Got Premium? Tap Your Library .
2. Tap Settings .
3. Tap Explicit Content.
4. Switch Allow Explicit Content off (gray).
5. Tracks marked as explicit now appear grayed out. It’s not possible to play them and they are skipped over by the player.

Things to note about this setting:

• It applies only for the individual account and device. For example, if you apply the setting on your phone, it doesn't filter explicit content for the same account on the desktop app.
• It doesn’t apply if you use Spotify Connect to play to another device.

Remember: Content we identify as explicit is based on information we receive from rights-holders, so we can’t guarantee that no explicit content will play with this setting. If you spot a song that needs an explicit tag, let us know by tapping  next to the song and select Report Explicit Content. 

For full information on this, and for more on finding clean versions we'd recommend check this Support article.

[RandomMarius]

Why does my children have access to explicit podcast pornography on your service?

Your parental controls are a joke...

[RandomMarius]

The Explicit flag seems not to work at all.
My kids can still see:
spotify:show:1DexYD377KGDiKiXZZfNvP

[raitse]

Hi,

It seems your "allow explicit content"  setting does nothing. I have whole albums greyed out. I have the setting on "allow" on both my phone and PC and neither lets me listen to the music. To be honest with the current price I'm paying for the sub I expect things to work. How to fix this?

[Jeremy]

Hi there folks,

Thank you for your replies and feedback.

Can you confirm if you followed the steps that's provided here?

@raitse - can you perform a clean reinstall of the app? This will make sure there's no old cache files causing this.

On another note - does this occur on one specific device or multiple devices?

We'll keep an eye out for your replies.

Take care!

[raitse]

Hi,
Tried uninstalling (had the MS Store version) and downloading it from your webpage. Still not able to play certain songs. I have the app on phone, on my PC and on my laptop. Same problem on each of them.

[Ver]

Hey @raitse,

Thanks for the info 🙂

It's a good idea to try with another account on the same devices to see if that helps. Are there any changes?

Did this happen after, for example, an update?
 

Keep us posted.

[raitse]

Made a new account. No change. Same songs are still greyed out.

[Jeremy]

Hi again @raitse,

Thank you for your reply and confirmation.

Can you let us know if this started after an update for an example?

It would also be great if you can let us know which version of the app you have?

Also, if you manage a Premium Family plan, you can allow or block anything with an explicit tag for other members of the plan.

1. Log in to your Premium Family page.
2. Click on the member you’d like to filter content for.
3. Switch Remove explicit content off.

Keep us posted.

[raitse]

I just noticed this when adding new songs to my playlist. I can't pinpoint when this started.
My versions are:
Spotify for Windows
1.1.73.515.g85e282e2
And
Spotify for Android
8.6.80.1014

I do have family premium. None of the accounts have explicit content blocked.

[Kiril]

Hey @raitse,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

Could we ask you to provide us with links from the app to the greyed out content/album so we can take a look at it and give you a better advice? Just open the Spotify desktop app and search for the faulty content. Use a right click on it or click on the icon with the three dots and hover over Share, then click Copy Song Link. The code will be copied to your clipboard and you can then include it in your reply to this post.

Keep us posted, we'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[Zi7ar21]

How do you report sexual album art? E.g. if it's straight-up pornographic. There is no option to report a song when I right-click on it. The only method of reporting anything I can find is going to the artist's page and clicking the three dots. For "Choose the best description of the content you're reporting." I chose "Sexual content". The following options are available under "What are you reporting?":

• Artist bio text
• "Artist's Pick" text
• Artist profile image
• Artist banner image
• Artist merchandise

None of these apply to album/song cover art. I found that by going to this page (https://support.spotify.com/us/content-policy-reporting/) you can report any type of content. The problem is, you need the URI. Without the URI, there are no options available under "What are you reporting?". I cannot figure out how to find the URI of a song, as the option to copy it does not appear for me when right-clicking the song.

I don't know how to locate the URI of an album/song, so I am unable to report it.

Spotify, at the very least give us an option to hide album art. I found a feature request that has been closed, and I beg of you to re-open it. https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/Music-Turn-off-explicit-Album-Artwork/idi-p/4524643

I will soon cancel my Spotify Premium subscription until this is fixed, this is completely unacceptable.

[raitse]

For example:
https://open.spotify.com/track/5mUEx76KiG6XAwkWj970fe?si=87cc3439d5fc403b

The whole album of "D12 World" except for 4 songs is greyed out.

[Alex]

Hey @Zi7ar21,

Thanks for the post.

You can check out this Article for a guide on how to copy the song URI. All you need to do is right-click > Share > hover mouse over Copy Song Link while pressing the Ctrl key > The option will change to Copy Spotify URI.

Hope this helps.

@raitse, Thanks for the link! Can you let us know which country your account is set to? We'll check the availability of the songs in that region. The grayed out state of some songs might be due to local licensing issues rather than explicit content.

Keep us posted.

[raitse]

Hi,

I live in Finland. Though I doubt it is a licensing problem since the "radio" version of the album is available. But I can't make myself listen to it since every even a bit offensive word is bleeped out and as you know rap songs, there are a quite few of them.

[Alex]

Hey @raitse,

Thanks for the reply.

We've checked the availability backstage and it appears that the only songs in the album D-12 World available in Finland currently are - Git Up, My Band, How Come, 40 Oz.

All other tracks from this album are currently not available for streaming. Song availability depends on rights holders. Our content team works hard to make as much music available on the platform, so something that's missing right now might be made available again in the future.

Hope this clears things up. We're here if you have more questions.

[raitse]

Ok then. Feels really stupid that we have the whole album available as non-explicit but not original. Guess that is some U.S. logic right there. Thanks for the answers anyway.

[Zi7ar21]

---

@Alex wrote:

Hey @Zi7ar21,

Thanks for the post.

You can check out this Article for a guide on how to copy the song URI. All you need to do is right-click > Share > hover mouse over Copy Song Link while pressing the Ctrl key > The option will change to Copy Spotify URI.

Hope this helps.

---

Thank you so much! I was able to copy the URI of the offensive track. Unfortunately when I go to report it at the page from earlier (https://support.spotify.com/us/content-policy-reporting), there is no option to report it for pornographic art. I selected "Sexual content," entered the verification code from my e-mail to confirm I was reporting something, and pasted the URI, but the only option for "What are you reporting?" is "'Now playing screen' visual loop."

This unfortunate design upsets me. ☹️

[Zi7ar21]

Hello, it's been three weeks and I am still experiencing this issue. I have tried again and gotten the same results. To make matters worse, the offensive track is appearing in my playlist's "Recommended Based on what's in this playlist". It should be noted that enabling the option to hide explicit songs does not fix this, as the track is not marked as explicit despite having pornographic album art. I've had it with Spotify, this is silly. There's no way to report songs that are explicit and not marked as such, whether it's for lyrics or disgusting art.

EDIT: On the report page, I found this:
"To notify Spotify of a claim relating to offensive, violent or inappropriate images/visuals, playlists (image, description, or title), or other descriptive text on the Spotify service, please complete the form below. To report offensive or explicit music or podcast content click here." (Was that there before?)
And so I did. After talking to an advisor, they said "Proper action will be taken by our dedicated tem who hanldes this type of cases." So I guess I got what I wanted. It is still a little ridiculous that there is no option to report album art with the automated process.

[Yordan]

Hi @Zi7ar21,

Thanks for your post.

The options to report content vary based on what the content's type is. So, in your case, if you'd like to report an offensive artwork, you'll have to enter the URI of the whole album and not that of one the tracks from it.

If a track is released as a single, it's still considered a part from an album and can be found on the artist's profile, under the Singles and EPs tab.

Hope this info was useful. The Community is always here if there's anything else we can help with.

Take care.

[The94man]

Can you please create a separate tag for Sexually Explicit content? Swearing I don’t mind, but there are some songs out there that are just gross and degrading.