Songs changing in-place

[MartinMcGirk]

Hello,

I don't want to spam the forum (I posted something half an hour ago too) but while I'm in feedback mode...

I have been a spotify user for quite a while now, and I have observed that certain songs change seemingly in-place. What I mean by this is that I can add a song to a playlist, but very occasionally when I go back to listen to that song again sometime later the version of the recording has changed slightly.

For instance, I was listening to The Heist by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis today on Spotify and noticed that the album which had previously been the censored version was now the uncensored version. The song and links haven't changed, but the recording behind them has.

Nearer the beginning of Spotify (I'm a UK user, so this is going way back) I remember also clicking to hear a song and having a whole different song start playing. This doesn't happen often, but I notice that it happens occasionaly, and I wonder if this is intended behaviour or if this is a bug in the music-loading side of Spotify. It's only a minor annoyance to me, but I wonder about the legal exposure that spotify is opening itself up to if say a user with a small child starts playing a playlist which has been quietly updated to include swear words and inappropriate language.

I feel like as a user, especially as a longtime paying Unlimited user, I have a reasonable expectation that the songs that I put in any given playlist will remain the same over time. I was hoping that someone could clarify why songs occasionaly change?

Thanks,

Martin

[Peter__]

Hey 🙂 

First thing to point out here is that almost all content changes on Spotify come from the record labels directly, and not from Spotify themselves since the record labels maintain their own content in the Spotify catalgoue, so they are free to make changes/remove things if they wish (according to licensing agreements obviously). 

With that in mind, there are a few things which could be happening here:

- The record label could have made changes to the content, and changed the tracks to a slightly different version. 

- The content has been removed from the Spotify catalogue, but another version of it exists in the catalogue. In this case, the Spotify client will automatically link the tracks in your playlist to the other track since I would imagine you would rather have an edited version than no version at all. Those tracks will have a "Go to replacement" option if you right click on them (so will local files). 

Peter

[Gladvold]

Only problem is that some of the replacements are horrible and I would rather not have them in my playlist! And I can still find the old version I like in the library. Would be better if they asked if you want to swap them.

[Peter__]

I think its meant to be a convenience thing, so you don't have to do anything. You can always remove them manually from your playlist. If the original copy you have in your playlist becomes available again it should go back to that version.

[Pwnyboii]

i think this is really annoying, i experienced it only in a negative way. For example i got the song "more" from usher in my playlist and it was replaced with some stupid remix-version, i had to remove it and search for the original (which is still available).

why can the labels just alter the version? so we listen to the other versions? i have no interest in remixes and i think this feature should be removed.

if the version gets removed from spotify i´m okay with the fact that i get another version, but it was the third time that a version changed and i had to remove it and search for the original again to add it

[ClayG]

Noticed the first post was 2012, last post 2014 - which means this must be a rare and infrequent 'issue' only a few of us have...

STILL - it is frustrating when a new 'remix' version of a GREAT song is shoved automatically into my playlist.

Another thing I've found is a couple songs will end... and then another song by the same artist will start - maybe 15 seconds of the song, and then the next track will play. 

Interesting marketing tactic - FORCING someone to listen to something.

Enjoy your ride! 

[MrFluffyChiken]

Been having this issue since I started using it.

Songs that I noticed have been messed with:

I Bet My Life by Imagine Dragons has been straight up changed to Numb by Linkin Park

Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional got changed to an Orchestral version

The Mother We Share by CHVRCHES got changed to a big long joke of itself

Misery Business by Paramore got changed to an instrumental version

Green Onions by Booker/MGs got changed to a completely different song I don't know the name of

NA NA NA by MCR got changed to Helena, also by them

Virgins by Trainwreck 1979 got changed to some other song by them

This is only to name a few. I heard from a friend that it's because of a strike or something.

[chebruashka]

Same here. "Rehab" is replaced with some horrid remix with someone rapping about crystal meth, spliced in the middle of the original.  What nonsense!!  This is as bad as the Pandora scam where whatever you're listening to, they use their "algorithm" to suggest that you might want to listen to whoever is paying them for promotion. "You like Duke Ellington? You'll love Snow Patrol." 

Does this still happen on Premium?

[nosongchange]

Yes, this also happens on premium. It just happened to me. Please Spotify don't give the labels the possibility to change the version of a song. This is really annoying