Situation with Kakao M

[MyFirstAndLast]

Apparently Spotfiy has some issued with Kakao M that has caused a lot of music to be removed from Spotify. Can we have some updates from Spotify about this situation and if/when the songs will be back?

[Novy]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for your messages. 

We understand where you're coming from. However, keep in mind that content availability can vary over time and between countries depending on the permissions from the rights holders, so we can't commit to a specific timeline for when it'll be back. 

@Sphirex, we'd recommend making sure that the option to Show unavailable songs in playlists is turned off in the app's settings. 

If anything else comes up, we're always a message away.

Cheers.

[Sphirex]

Hey Novy,

first of all thanks for responding but I should have expected that answer. Not your fault though I should have been more clear but it shows that you aren't aware of it because I had the same discussions with the chat support. Therefore another screenshot attached to show you that this is not related to any settings.

[MattSuda]

@ellaamariaa  @Sphirex 

If you go into the app settings and turn on "show unavailable songs" then the songs will still show up in your playlists but greyed out. That way you can still keep track of them. When the songs become available again, they should be playable again.

[MattSuda]

@ellaamariaa @Sphirex 

I apologize for the inconvenience.

I previously said that if you go into the app settings and turn on "show unavailable songs" then the songs will still show up in your playlists but greyed out.

It looks like this is not behaving the way it normally does in the desktop app. This is resulting in some songs being completely blacked out and not showing a name. However I was able to see the name of the unavailable songs in the mobile iOS / Android app. The songs should still be in your playlists but to see them at this time you will need to go to the mobile app and make sure that setting is turned on. I have reported this desktop issue so it can be looked into.

[Sphirex]

Hey MattSuda,

first of all thank you for fast response! This is actually a good reply we can build upon.

However, this issue is not just on the Desktop App but also on iOS. I am not able to see anything aside from a black bar. What I can do though is tapping on the dots to check the contributors of a song. There I am able to see the artist and the name of the song. Those are the infos I desperately need.

[MattSuda]

@Sphirex 

Thanks for the screenshot and additional information. This will help look into the issue since things look differently for me in the mobile app.

This is not normally how unavailable songs are displayed, but it is being looked into so hopefully this will be fixed soon. Thanks for your patience. 

[LaMarquise]

"keep in mind that content availability can vary over time"

And so can my subscription. I won't pay for a service that doesn't satisfy me. As of today I will move to Deezer and come back if Spotify reaches an agreement with Kakao M. Companies being stubborn for profit no matter what happens to some of the workers and the customers is not something I endorse. 

Have a nice day. 

[Chocodivine]

The Platinum Global Has No Longer Available In This Issue

[Mightbreak]

This. I've been using spotify for more than 5 years, but this just **bleep** me off. I'm not gonna be a subscriber withouth IU's music...

[Charityrose]

They gutted your playlists instead of graying them out so you can't transfer your playlists to Apple Music who has an extensive Kpop library and manages to play nice globally. They're basically holding both Kakao and their own customers hostage at the same time. I've already switched to Apple Music won't be looking back.

[MattSuda]

@Charityrose 

Unfortunately, it looks like the option available in settings to still show unavailable songs in playlists is currently not working the way it normally does. This is resulting in some songs being completely blacked out instead of showing a greyed out name. The affected songs are not limited to a specific genre or label of music. The songs should still be in your playlists so you can keep track of them, even if they are not currently available to play. This issue of blacked out songs is currently being looked into and should hopefully be fixed. Sorry for any inconvenience.

[Sphirex]

Hi MattSuda,

today I received a support mail from Spotify to let me know that it is not possible to show me the artists and titles greyed out like usual. I am starting to get really annoyed by the way you handle me as a paying customer. I really need your reassurance that I will not lose any of my infos in my library which I have built over the last 3 years.

Also why do I receive tons of different infos depending on the person I talk with. Here on the forums I also see Alex (here) for example who does not understand the problems we face.

[MattSuda]

@Sphirex 

I want to be clear that I am a user that volunteers in the community to help other users as part of the Spotify Star Program. I can speak from experience as a Spotify user for 9 years now. It has always been that when songs are currently unavailable, you can go into the settings and turn on the "show unavailable songs" setting and still be able to see the songs in your playlists. The songs will be shown in your playlist, but will be greyed out and unplayable. This is so you can still keep track of your songs. And if the songs become available in the future, they should become playable again and the text will be white again.

The current behavior of this feature where it is blacking out the entire name of the song is not normal and to me seems to be an issue and not intended. That is what I am thinking.

I can understand how you feel. I have checked my library and I am also seeing some songs in my playlist that are blacked out. If this issue is not fixed and I cannot see which songs are missing from my playlist just for reference, I too will be disappointed. But I am confident that this is just an issue that will hopefully be fixed.

[Sphirex]

Hi MattSuda,

thanks for your fast reply. I do understand that you are not an official employee and I am sorry if I point to much of my frustration at you when it should be directed at Spotify only.

Unfortunately I am not allowed to share my mail or chat history here on the forums but I am seriously disappointed in the way how Spotify handle this situation and especially their paying customers. So far it seems like those infos will not be available again (like usual) if they will not be able to reach an agreement with Kakao M. Which by the way is not true because we can see the artist and song info if we click on the three dots -> Contributors. The song infos are still there but we aren't able to see or extract them in a proper way. So all what I am asking for is to make those infos more accessible so I can back up my data to add songs in a different version or as a local file.

As you already mentioned Spotify did not handle it like that in the past and therefore I am confused why their support keeps saying otherwise. For me it is not acceptable that they touched my library to such an extent that I do not know what I have liked in the past.

I also do not understand why there is no proper statement or a fix yet. They had three business days at least.

[Sphirex]

This is for everyone who cares and loves kpop as much as I do:

After chatting with tons of agents via chat and mail I can guarantee that the songs have been removed completely and that the remaining black bar is not a bug! Spotify does not have access to any data related to Kakao M's catalogue.

Unfortunately Spotify did not share a statement with us yet so I am here to share the informations I've got. Spotify will not be able to help us to figure out which songs were removed exactly. We are completely in the dark. The only way to get your data out of Spotify to move on is to right click the unknown song to choose contributors. There you will be able to extract the song artists and name.

Out of experience this license issue with Kakao M won't be solved anytime soon. Apple Music had the same issues in the past and needed quite some time to renew their agreement. If you would like to know more about the power struggle between both companies please check out YouTube. There you will be able to see the dark future for all kpop listeners on Spotify and how Apple Music struggled with Kakao M as well.

Apparently Kakao M & Spotify are acting against the will of the artists and fans. "Regardless of who is at fault, why is it always the artists and the fans that suffer when businesses place greed over art?" - Tablo (Epik High).

Best regards,
Sphirex

[Charityrose]

Goodbye Spotify - Hello Apple Music

[MattSuda]

@Sphirex and others

I have an update to share regarding this issue.

Spotify is aware of the issue, but they won't be able to return the songs to their original places in your library and playlists. You'll need to re-add them when they become available again. Normally the songs are greyed out when unavailable. However, availability can vary over time and between countries, depending on the permissions from rights holders. In this case since the songs are blacked out it means they were totally deleted from Spotify.

Like you said, the current workaround to see which songs are blacked out is to right click or tap the options menu for the song in the web player, desktop app, or mobile app and go to the credits option. There you can see the song title and artist so you can keep track of the songs that are currently unavailable. 

[Charityrose]

If we have to rebuild our playlists from scratch anyway, why would we stay
with Spotify? Personally, I just used Soundiz to transfer my butchered
playlists over to Apple Music. I'll rebuild from there.

[Sphirex]

Hi MattSuda,

thanks for your update but as Charityrose already said there is no reason to stay at Spotify. Of course losing a license may happen but the way the costumer support treated me and the whole situation as such is unacceptable. You could replace the support with bots and we would not notice the difference. Therefore I have canceled my subscription.

Regardless, my playlist is not only a playlist but also an inventory of my favorite music. Just because a song becomes unavailable, it is still my favorite and in that case I might want to be reminded to get that song from other sources. Instead of doing just that I have to re-add them myself when they become available again...

...but who is going to notify us when they become available again? Obviously not Spotify because Epik High and P Nation re-uploaded their songs on their own already.

[hihinit]

Same here!!! If I can't get my IU songs back, will probably consider another platform. 😞
Look forward to Spotify's reply!