How does Spotify Blend affect my own algorithm?

[treetrunks]

I've just recently started using Spotify Blend with a group of 5 people. We all have very different taste in music, which is interesting, and I do want to listen to their music--within the context of Blend, that is. 

I am curious if & how listening to Blend is going to change my own Spotify algorithm. I don't want these tracks & genres to start popping up in my own personalized content (such as my Discover Weekly).

It seems to me that if using Blend does impact each person's algorithm, our music suggestions/contributions to Blend will actually become homogenized? Like it will just start a feedback loop where we all "listen" to the same songs and then receive the same suggestions?

Curious if anyone has any insight to how Blend affects your own Spotify/personal experience so far!

[AlejaR]

Hey @treetrunks,

Thanks for posting in the Community and welcome!

We understand where you're coming from and we'd like to add some insights. When you combine your listening experience with that of a friend, it becomes quite difficult to create an accurate playlist because some users have very similar musical interests while others have very different tastes.

So, the blend does indeed impact everyone's algorithm, but take into account that most of the suggested content within the app is based on your listening habits, so it takes into account all the content you listen to as a whole. That being said, it's possible you received some suggestions based on the content you may listen to within a blend.

To avoid receiving suggestions based on a blend, you can use the Private session feature. Anything you listen to in a Private Session may not influence your music recommendations, e.g. Discover Weekly. You can read how to activate it in this article.

Lastly, we'd recommend having a look at this article, in which you can learn more about how the blend was designed. 

Hope this clears things up. If you have any questions or need anything else, the Community is here for you.

[Craftysloth]

I wish there was a way for Spotify to just auto enable "private listening session". The way they currently have blends absolutely destroy your algorithm. It's completely ruined my husband's experience with the app, because when he wants to use it when not listening to our blend, it exclusively gives him my songs.. 

[Maria]

Hey @Craftysloth,

Thanks for reaching out!

While there isn't a way to automatically switch on a Private session, you can always chose to exclude playlists from your Taste Profile. This means that any listens from that playlist will have less impact on taste summaries and upcoming recommendations.

If your husband would like to exclude your Blend from his Taste Profile, he just need to follow these steps: 

1. Tap the 3 dots near the top of the Blend/playlist.
2. Select Exclude from your taste profile.

Keep in mind that songs that are on an excluded playlist but are listened to from outside the playlist, such as in Liked Songs, will still be included in the Taste Profile. It may also take 48 hours for selected playlist to be excluded from the Taste Profile, so some recommended content (for example Discover Weekly) will possibly not be affected until the following week.

Hope this helps! Cheers 🙂

[TheAxelr9r]

Thanks for the fix Maria. I drive my friend to work and we listen to our blend in the car. Over time it's just become his songs and artists because Spotify thinks I'm obsessed with them.

In my opinion blends are a special case and should always be excluded from taste profile because no one is listening to a blend on their own and it's often the same person playing a blend (whoever owns the speaker) so it's gonna corrupt over time.