What happened to Radio Stations?

[d34ry0u]

• Every artist's 'radio' (in the Windows 10 App) is now a simple playlist that a couple of people subscribed to - so it's not even personalised anymore...and no: I don't want to use/switch on-off the 'Autoplay'-option every time I like to keep the music going. I still can 'Go to radio' on iOS though.

• The button to create a new radio station is gone (in the Windows desktop app)

• I can't create playlist radios anymore. The option is just...gone.

I only recently switched from Apple Music to Spotify because of the better recommendations and the radio functionality and I'm already thinking about going back after my trial period.

Also, while listening to the old radio stations on my desktop pc I still have two thumbs up/down-buttons to improve the radio. However, the apps on my iPad and iPhone feature a heart and a crossed circle. Pressing the heart adds the current song to a 'Liked from radio'-playlist (completely ignoring, which radio station it was played on...it all ends up in one playlist...who would want this???), pressing the crossed circle makes the song unable to be played ANYWHERE.

Only adding a previously 'disliked' song to your library makes it playable again. You can remove it from the library after that, but it's not exactly intuitive and/or fun (there isn't even a message why a song can't be played).

[angelx644]

Playlist radio was removed as an option, they don't plan on adding it back. Many of us are very upset. 
I also don't understand why there are differences with the Thumbs up/down system used for Radio Stations, and then the heart and ban symbol for Daily Mix (even on desktop).
There is no logic or consistency with how these systems work within one platform, god forbid crossing platforms.

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/All-Platforms-Radio-Bring-back-Playlist-Radio-context-me...

[ameliejoyy]

 Radio station were basically just playlists of music related to  certain artists, so thats what it was changed to now. If you just search an artist like drake and go under playlists, there should be some things you like. To me I dont like this new take way spotify did, hopefully they will bring back radios in the future

[perera_eu]

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@ameliejoyy wrote:

 Radio station were basically just playlists of music related to  certain artists, so thats what it was changed to now. If you just search an artist like drake and go under playlists, there should be some things you like. To me I dont like this new take way spotify did, hopefully they will bring back radios in the future

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I have to disagree here. They start as simple playlists, but as you liked / disliked songs they shaped up to be more of what you had in mind while still having songs you never heard before. Sure, if you listened for a while songs would repeat, but the same goes for a playlist and now I can't get rid of songs I don't  want to hear without making a playlist. And if I do that, I don't have a living station that updates itself anymore. What I would have liked to see is them adding some less popular songs to radios based on what you liked instead of the obvious, most famous ones, this is straight up the opposite.

[ChemicalRed]

Did Spotify remove the whole radio feature? It previously showed a variety of genres and I could create new radio stations. Now I see nothing other than the previous radio stations I listened to.   

[FozzieBear]

FYI Spotify you are about to lose a subscriber.  I switched to you from Apple Music, pretty much messing up my entire families set up, because of your features. Radio algorithms that we can cultivate was at the top of the must have list. I’ve been recommending you to friends and family since. Fix it fast or lose us forever. 

[Easton94]

I am looking at other options as well, I can't stand the new configuration.  The radio function is alot of times the way I find new music, quit messing it up Spotify!!

[08u7x_j4-42dj]

I agree whole heartedly! I loved creating my own stations and modifying with thumbs up to make the station more attuned to my tastes. These new changes are ridiculous.  C'mon Spotify, why do you insist on f'ing up a good thing???

[zo_har]

I also miss the feature to vote up/down songs in a radio station and amend it to my liking. Don't get the difference between a Station/Radio/Playslists at the moment and it's a shame to lose a dynamic station.

[derekdouglas]

This is not a good change.  I've always loved Spotify's algorithms as I've discovered great new music through Release Radar and Discover Weekly.  So obviously Spotify has the tech to create great suggestions to me.  I always loved the radio feature since it had the thumbs up/down feature which I assumed would not only influence the station but also my likes/dislikes.  Also, Radio now seems to be just a playlist rather than a station.  On my Mac app I still have the Stations section but am unable to add Radio Stations to it, rather you follow them and Spotify adds as a playlist.

Preferred previous Radio setup. 

[mylengrave]

Yeah, the radio is just 50 songs playlist, that's all. They do not even change a lot. I wanna listen to Madonna's Radio, so after 50 songs I can only listen to the same 50 songs from the beginning. It's tragic, I loved radio option so much:(

[angelx644]

I'd recommend:
make a playlist with one or two of your favorite Madonna songs, maybe some
other Pop you like,
set Autoplay to on, play your playlist, get to the end (listen or skip),
let Autoplay generate a radio station based on your playlist, Subscribe to
this radio station.

It will now appear in your Stations list, and can be tuned to your
preference.

[s-cjbikj_tpd]

Just a guess, but maybe Spotify came under pressure to remove the Dislike button as it was affecting playing frequency and revenue for some lables/artists etc.  It's clearly a retrograde step for the listener, no questions about that, so why else would Spotify want to annoy its customer base?  To satisfy customers on the other side of the equation I think.  Pandora used to do the customised listening really well (RIP). It definitely  broadens, refines and improves the listener experience.  Come on Spotify, back up!

[dumbaccount]

This is a horrible change and I couldn't be more disappointed in Spotify. It's BS that they are silent on this issue, too. 

A big thumbs-down for Spotify. You **bleep** this up.

[DavidP1]

It's just terrible. Can no longer use a genre radio. For example, how do I play an 80s radio? Previously, I had one that I created in my stations. Now I have to go to search, then decades, then all out 80s, then go to the properties then choose to go to the playlist radio and.....I have no option to save/follow that radio so I can have it saved to my radios and recall it whenever I want. What seems like a couple extra clicks on the mobile app actually makes it impossible to use on the head unit of a car. Browsing through the head unit, I can see the radios that Spotify cooked up for me or suggestion, but cannot access the 80s radio that I want.

[DavidP1]

Another example of how bad this is. Let's say I want to play a Kraftwerk based radio, like I used to do from my stations just a few months ago. If I go to radios, I see it as a recommended radio. Of course, I have no control over what shows up in recommended radios. If I select it, it looks like a proper radio, with more songs loading at the bottom. How do I get to save or follow that so I can recall it easily later on? If I search, I can see something called Kraftwerk Radio, but it's a playlist, fixed with no infinite loading. I can follow that but it's still not a radio, and there's no option to go to the playlist radio. On the search, I also find Kraftwerk as an artist. Then I can go to the artist radio, and of course, despite being called a radio, it has no song loading at the bottom! I can follow it, but doing that is useless, as it doesn't show up anywhere for me to select. And all of that is on the phone. Still no way to access specific radios on a headunit besides the recommended ones and the daily mix. This is really not rocket science, the way something like that should work. Let us define our radios from an artist or a song the way we used to and save them to the radios area so they can be recalled.

[DavidP1]

Why is this still not fixed?

We still cannot save radios. When I go to radio on my Android app, I cannot see my own radios, just the recommended ones. When I play a radio, I can see it in my radios on the app, or on my car's head unit, but that's only momentary and they're gone the next time, so all I have is the recommended radios and a big blank when I click on "my radios". The only way I can go back to them is through the previously played. I haven't checked but those probably replay all the same songs again.

Seriously, fix your nonsense, Spotify, because as soon as Pandora moves to a higher bitrate, you're going to lose a boatload of clients, starting with this one.

[alv4]

Again Spotify ruinning Core features.

I'm getting tired...

[richwastaken]

Does spotify even read these posts? how can we get the attention of someone from spotify ?

[angelx644]

They honestly do not read these posts. There will be a reply in 3 years
saying they won't change it.
Twitter is the best way, but they will DM you to avoid bad press on their
page. @SpotifyCares is the account, which, lol.