Removal of desktop notifications

[Rorey]

On May 15th, we will be turning off the in-app notifications "bell" on desktop. We are continuously working to improve and simplify our notifications features, and this change will allow us to shift our focus to email and push notifications. We are also working on completely new ways of keeping you up-to-date with new album releases, helping you discover new music, and know what your friends are up to.

To make sure you have your email and push notifications set up the way you'd like, check out the steps here.

Please share any feedback you have here in the Community. We're listening, and will pass it all on to the team.

[gareth8]

Yes, annoyingly Swarm.fm seems to have taken a page out of Spotify's book by showing artists it presumably thinks I might like...

[duncanish]

Bring the bell back you barbarians! 

[Pone]

I only tried swarm.fm once and immediately discarded it because I couldn't find a way to not show related artists. Related artists are not based on genre, just what other artists most listeners of the first artist listen to, so it is mostly irrelevant to me.

"Companion for Spotify" on the other hand has been my workaround for the last month, the only drawback is that under new releases it shows any release featuring my followed artists/bands e.g. compilations, collaborations etc, but it is still the best solution. Make it a habit to check once a week or so. I have put a reminder in my Google calendar every friday.

[finleyfreak5]

Why on earth does it make more sense to prioritize email notifications (that I am yet to see, mind you) over desktop in-app notifications? My friends and I would constantly be checking each other's playlists to see what they had added, as we all had similar tastes in music. To me, the shift to email notifications is not only technologoically backwards, it defeats the purpose of the notifications entirely. I want to see the bell brought back, instead of these mystery emails I am supposed to be getting

[geovas77]

Spotify keeps removing features like the bell, lyrics etc and give out a sad excuse that they are working on improving but the truth is they haven't improved the client one bit, it was all so much better back in the days of being able to add apps to the client.

I don't really expect them to add any functionality back to the client, they are just going to keep removing features until all the client has left is a play button.

[justbh]

Please bring back the email notification. I follow a lot of artists, it was extremly useful to be informed by email when one had released new material. I would catch up with these at my own leisurly pace. Now i receive one email with several albums listed by artists i follow, and it not complete. When i receive push notifications on ios, i end up taking a screenshot, and saving it for later. At least give us a choice between push and/or email notifications. Thank you.

[cp299]

I posted a few months ago in this thread, and managed to install an older version of Spotify which the bell worked in. It stopped working in December so I guess they have completely disabled the backend functionality of the bell notification system now. I get no emails with new releases and I turn off app notifications to preserve battery. I now have no way of knowing about any new releases and have only just found out an artist I like had a new release in January. Spotify is almost broken as a result of no notifications and I can't see how or why this is better for them financially or as a service they offer their customers.

[user-removed]

Still dont understand why notifications / the bell was removed. One of the best features in my opinion was getting notified when a playlist you follow added fresh new music, or when an artist I like/follow posted new music.

[Killmarth]

I talk with a friend who runs a label about the notification and his explanation was simple. If, as an artist, you want to receive more views, more notifications, you must pay. I think that's why, they drop the general notification service for another system. Money rules the world!

[duncanish]

I don't buy it. I don't see any artist, even the rich ones, buying notifications priority. 

[joe_rtaylor]

So this is why I haven't been notified when my friends updated the playlists I follow, or my favourite artists released new material. All you have done is made it more difficult to discover new music through your platform, and with the consequent removal of the messaging feature, to use spotify in a social sense. Way to kill off some of your best USPs. I honestly do not understand these decisions. Seriously reconsidering my subscription.

[DenialOfFate]

Are you guys planning on brining back the notifications, or what? You know, the particular function was one of the best things with Spotify; that you easily could see when your favourite artists had released a new album or whatever.

Removing the notifications was not only stupid - it was retarded. Aren´t your trying to be user friendly?

Oh, wait, I used to work for Spotify - I know you´re not user friendly. 😉

[_dan_mooney_]

Fellas, 

Any news on when the push notifications are going to be implemented?

discover weekly and release radar are **bleep**. 

Still not seeing all new releases from artists we're following. 

These lists seems to be what Spotify wants us to listen to. 

How are we meant to know when a playlist is updated? These aren't included in the relsease emails (which aren't very useful either).

Checking each playlist every day is tedious. 

Can we at least get an 'albums coming soon' link? 

[julieemmrich]

I have allowed push notifications on my phone for Spotify, but do not get any. 
I also want to mention that I really miss the notification Bell Button on the desktop app. I browse through new music and messages on my computer, not on my mobile phone, I only use spotify on my mobile phone when I am mobile, so I don't have time to browse through new music when I am mobile. Furthermore I am mostly offline on my phone.

Please just find a better solutions to share news, also on the desktop app.

[Anamon]

---

@_dan_mooney_ wrote:

How are we meant to know when a playlist is updated? These aren't included in the relsease emails (which aren't very useful either).

Checking each playlist every day is tedious.

Release Radar is updated every Friday at 00:00, and Discover Weekly every Monday at 00:00. I believe that's tied to your time zone, although it might just be exactly midnight for me because I'm in the same time zone as Spotify HQ.

I agree, though, that Release Radar is no replacement for release notifications. It wouldn't be even if it was implemented properly, which it is not. I follow about 100 artists, and my lists usually contain none of the new tracks by any of them, while consisting mostly of tracks by artists I don't even like.

[trippca]

This was an excellent (albeit buggy) feature that really set you guys apart. Please reconsider doing away with messaging. 

[tripwired]

Spotify, cmon, ffs, just bring the desktop bell back or give us a new system that works.

An artist called David Maxim Micic released a new album today and I received no push notification to my mobile, despite me having the following option:

New Music

Fresh tracks from artists you follow or might like

PUSH: ON

and of course I didn't get notification in the desktop app because you removed the bell. I only know about the release because a friend told me. This is the same for all artists. I don't want to use Release Radar, and that doesn't provide the same functionality anyway. I want individual notifications for new album releases from artists that I follow. Simple. 

You removed the desktop app 'bell' and push notifications to mobile don't work, just fix it. Removed for costs reasons? Increase your price then. Removed for some other cryptic/business reason? Tell us why. Keep us in the dark? Drive us to another service.

[MasterBleepBoop]

HURRY TF UP SPOTFY and give the users that give you revenue , what they want,back.

[some_yuppie]

I thought you were in the business of adding features, not removing them. Eat a bag of dicks.

[khardman51]

Spotify officially turning into hot garbagel; removing your most uniqure and loved applciation features left and right. Who are your business analysts, they need to be fired.