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.

[blahsi]

Notifications probably would have had more engagement had artists been utilizing it, and if new music notifications hadn't taken hours/days to appear... after you'd already discovered them on your own. Also, I mainly used the notifications for when friends sent me messages (another feature you recently removed). To get more engagement, its responsiveness needed to be tweaked, not fully removed.

[Diegokooks]

I understand that the messenger system will take a large part in hand work, but your service with this new Disability that you add to the platform is going to remove Popularity and Followers, keep it for sure .... you are making your platform a Incomplete site, (it's unfortunate) Greetings to nonconformists and One not very co-ordinated to Spotify .. If you want money exchange of what you do you should add, there is no subtract possibilities

[boudewijndanser]

I wonder how they come up with these "idea's" because clearly the community doesn't see it as an improvement... 

[chris_2]

Honestly, what's the point of following people at all if we can't get updates when they have new music or send playlists? Removing functionality removes value. I have kept premium for a long time even though things keep getting removed, but if you take much more away it won't be worth having.

Bring back messages and notifications.

If you want to take something, take radio. Your radio sucks. But I left Pandora for Spotify for a reason and it wasn't radio, it was the amazing functionality and ability to personalize.

[mbstrom]

Can anyone recommend another streaming service you can transfer spotify playlists to? A service that actually will notify you about the artists you follow, not f...ing charts?

It's tragic that the missing "bell" button in the desktop player, which is the reason for me writing this, is still "here" on the top of the page (Spotify Community Bar) next to the search bar. What a great way to annoy your subscribers!

[pcc]

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@boudewijndanser wrote:

I wonder how they come up with these "idea's" because clearly the community doesn't see it as an improvement... 

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I'm pretty sure that their changes are being driven by the record labels wanting to force certain music on people through the release radar and other bs auto generated play lists.  I stopped paying for spotify premium a while ago and tried out Apple Music and Google Play Music.  They were both OK but I decided to come back to Spotify hoping that they would bring notifications back.  Obviously that isn't going to happen so I will be leaving again in 10 days when my current subscription ends.

[so-long]

removed messages and changed look of the desktop client to something awful on top of ignoring everlasting begging for bringing the bell back. i'm gone guys, moving to whatever the **bleep** i can find that's not actively trying to make a once wonderful thing worse.

def not paying for this nonsense anymore.

[user-removed]

Today a new Depeche Mode album was released. Not a sign of it on Spotify even though I follow the **bleep** out of the band and have my playlists full of their songs. Re-tar-da-tion. I'll patiently wait until Apple music gets better and will happily cancel my subscription with Spotify. This feature was so simple and straightforward and so many people have requested it back yet Spotify is still playing dumb and deaf. You guys suck.

[joshisms]

I don't know why everyone is so surprised by the changes Spotify continues to make or not make. They don't give to craps about its user base and their preferences. The only way to make a company listen is with your wallet.

My suggestion to everyone who is upset - stop paying for Spotify! Do it today!

Everyone should stop paying for Spotify today! Tell your friends, post it on social media, let's organize a mass exit from Spotify! Maybe when they have no remaining paying users they will start listening! #exitSpotify #spexit #boycotspotify

I have been a paid user for a long time and absolutely loved Spotify and even recently upgraded to Family plan. Unfortunately, the love affair died today and I will be canceling my account before my next billing cycle as I refuse to continue to use software that gets worse and worse with every reiteration and cannot support a company that doesn't publish a customer service number and refuses to listen to its user base, despite what data analytics tell them.

Money Talks. Bullsh*t Walks. #exitSpotify

[pinkmoon]

As some have hypothesized in this thread, it's becoming clear that the removal of desktop notifications is about dictating what customers hear.

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Dictating The Top 40

Spotify’s Discover Weekly and Release Radar playlists aren’t just some of its most popular and differentiated features. They give Spotify newfound power to choose what artists and songs a large swath of its listeners hear. Instead of focusing on peer-to-peer sharing or direct channels between the artists and the fans, it’s prioritized music discovery methods that put it in control. Spotify wants to take the place of the thousands of radio stations that record labels typically kiss up to.

If Spotify can use its owned playlists to make or break different artists, it can use this influence to demand better deals from the labels. Record companies that offer it lower royalty rates, don’t do exclusives with its competitors like Apple Music, or get their artists to release special re-recorded Spotify Sessions of their hits could see their artists placed more prominently in Spotify’s playlists and their audiences grow. Labels that don’t play ball with Spotify might sublty notice they’re not getting the same playlist love. Spotify’s already been accused of this retaliatory behavior. Even though it denied the practice, the threat could be enough to coerce the labels.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/18/dictate-top-40/

[flagged]

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@pinkmoon wrote:

As some have hypothesized in this thread, it's becoming clear that the removal of desktop notifications is about dictating what customers hear.

I feel this too.

Half of the tracks suggested to me I don't follow (that artists).

Without this functionalluty I miss a lot of new releases of small artists that will not be "featured" by Spotify.

I frequently visit http://app.swarm.fm. This web app gives you a list/tiles of new releases of your spotify account. It is the best resolution I have found.

[otomokol]

I am so deeply disappointed that you would remove this feature from Spotify.

Is it so hard to grasp that I would like to see notifications on my laptop, when I decide to open Spotify and not get even more vibrating notifications on my phone / e-mail accounts?

E-mail notifications for new songs on a music streaming service is such horrible backwards thinking, I seriously can not wrap my head around how you can possibly believe this replaces the bell.

And you have to understand that not everybody sits there waiting for a new album to release and listen to it that instant, but want to be notified of it when they decide to sit down and listen to some music.

[ChiliJunkie]

Why does Spotify keep removing key features so much wanted and needed from its users that pay an insane amount of money a year for this service?
Give us propper notifications.

[jasmineambry]

Yooooo, 

I really liked the inbox function.

I liked being able to send songs to my friends through it and now since you deleted it all the songs they sent me are gone too. Make it better, don't get rid of it. 

[user-removed]

Please bring it back!

[Da76]

Now's the time to share your thoughts people ...

https://www.facebook.com/SpotifyCares/posts/621142271415295

Do it! 🙂

[AviTu]

I posted on the Spotify Support FB page as suggested - they referred me to a post on page 70-something of this thread where they state that they have no intention to brng back the bell - and informing users that they can find everything they need in "release radar".  

No thanks...

[pcc]

Which is why I cancled my paid subscription...again.  I'll be moving back to Google Play Music or Apple Music until I find something better.

[sistersremix]

No Notifications and no more Inbox. At this rate, there isn't gonna be any difference between Spotify and Apple Music. Oh yeah. Apple Music has MORE music.

They need to acknowledge the premium paying power users or they're gonna lose us... If they get rid of the friends sidebar I AM OUT.

[MartinSchroede1]

This is so stupid. I am paying for Spotify and now you make it harder for me to know what new music is coming out. I don't want intrusive emails or push notifications. I want the non-intrusive bell. What reason would there be to turn it off?!