block artist / song

[jockyD]

Plan

Premium

Country

United States

Operating System

Android and Windows 10

My Question or Issue

Hi, I've been a Premium user for a few weeks and was really enjoying the service, however today I log into my account from work and my 4 year son is at home listening on the Google Home to "The Number Song" by John Paul internet kid's star.  Here in the song it keeps saying F- you blah blah.  I go to block this song and find from all the threads I do not have permission (but some iOS users might) to be sure a specific artist does not play.  I did find how to filter out the explicit content in the account, but I really want to be able to prevent certain artists from playing in my families music feed.  This is just crazy to me that we can't do this and it's the first thing that makes me think I should check one of the other services available.

Does spotify have a contract with content providers that prevents this?  If not, how is it possible with so many users (and families) on here that we can only block Explicit content, but not filter out specific artists/songs for our child accounts?

Just crazy.  Please correct me if I'm wrong or there is a way to do this.

[user-removed]

Currently the explicit content filter is probably the closest you can get to the feature you're looking for. I believe it can be applied exclusively to your son's account if he has a separate account.

I would suggest you post this as a feature request rather than in the help forum. Other than that, it's a great idea!

[run-GB]

I´m looking for the feature to block Artists (Windows 10 App 1.1.22.633.g1bab253a)
Neither in the App nor in browser there is an option to block Artists (where is it gone ???)
I have turned explicit content turned On (acitve) to avoid trash music.
Please reactivate blocking artists as I don`t want this f....cking RAP-Music.
The second should be to block genres - especially RAP which is in most cases full of criminal, sexismus, discrimination, racism.....whatever....Don`t know why you accept such "artists" (they are not artist in my eyes...)...

[jockyD]

I have been researching more today looking for an answer to this from
any of the online services. It seems no service provides this, however
they do all provide the explicit content filter.

From what I have found-
1) Spotify may have this in iPhone app only (but I don't use iphone and
cannot confirm... can only confirm it is not in android or win10)
2) Google Play Music / You Tube Music - appears to be explicit content
filter only --- some users say doing thumbs down will stop this but it
appears users report it's buggy and inadequate
3) Amazon Music - Can tell alexa to never play a song again, but it
seems users report it is inconsistent or severely lacking in what we
would expect from a basic feature request like this.
4) Pandora - This looks most promising. There are ways to create your
own stations and then thumbs down twice and it will remove. Of all the
services this one looks closest, but I'm still not sure I would switch
for this because I do like spotify the most.

When my son started using youtube kids app I could easily block a
channel (like Ryan's Toy Review) but then similar stations would pop up
(Ryan's Family Review), etc... but it was still possible and I mostly
achieved the results I wanted pretty easily. I know it stinks thinking
about becoming a "Censor" and it's impossible to block everything, but
as I have been reading there are an incredible number of Parents of ALL
these online services that do want this feature in the music apps to
stop their kids from hearing unwanted content (not necessarily explicit
--- but personal parenting choice or kids overplaying the same
song/artist repeatedly and inhibiting diversity)

So I'm almost convinced the Music Content Providers have lobbied or
blocked the companies from having a feature like this because then they
can't force Ariana Grande into our playlists against our consent, etc.
Not saying I have anything against Ariana, but yeah there was some dumb
video of her in a donut shop once and then this Santa song play like
EVERY time you ask Spotify for Christmas music.

Seems buying our own Mp3s and storing our own library is the only way to
really get this feature right now, but I think most of us would finally
agree, that's no longer the best way to listen to music. As annoying as
paying for services can be, this is more convenient and gives us more
access to better content we are and aren't familiar with.

I may give Pandora a try. Not sure yet. Sounds like they're all going
to have a similar problem unless maybe you spend $1000 for an iPhone?

[ErolSock]

You can set a specific artist to not appear anymore in your algorithms but the option is only available on the mobile version (that I have discovered). Go to the artist's page on Spotify Mobile, tap options (the three vertical dots in the top right), then tap "Don't Play This"

[Peter · Accepted solution]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for sharing about this here in the Community!

Currently the option to block an artist from being played can only be enabled on phone or tablet. In order to do so, just follow these steps:

1. Head to the “Artist” page of the performer you no longer wish to listen to.
2. Tap the three dots in the upper-right corner.
3. Tap the “Don't play this artist” option from the dropdown menu.

Afterwards, songs by this artist will no longer be playable and any tracks by the artist included in a playlist will automatically be skipped.

Just a heads-up, this setting does not carry over for songs where the blocked artist is featured - the main artist is taken into account instead.

Hope you'll find this info useful. If you're having any other concerns, just give us a shout and we'll be happy to help you out.

[jockyD]

This was mentioned in one of the first posts and then again on subsequent posts. It only appears to be on apple products and not Android. This thread is specifically asking to be able to do this at the account level and have the control from the Windows 10 and Android app.

What good would it do for me to have to buy a $1100 iPhone to do this and theny block song/artist still shows up on playback from am Android or Google Home device?

I was watching "surviving R Kelly" (uhg, I know)... But I that documentary they mention that when the scandal went viral Spotify blocked anything from R Kelly from playing back from there algorithm. This proves Spotify can do this if they want to, but I suspect the reason they stay silent on this is because they have contract incentives from the content providers to not do this (an assumption only here... But the only thing I can think of with the number of people I've seen online requesting this feature).

As crazy as this may sound, I'd much rather my son listen to Remix by R Kelly than The Number Song by Paul Logan. But since I was a paying customer, that should be my choice and not the choice of Spotify.

Notice how I say was a paying customer. Instead of scaling up to the family plan for all my Google Home devices as I had planned, I just decided to close my premium account altogether. I still haven't tested the other services and from my research above, think they are similar... But really for my family and I these services will always be considered a luxury that we do not need. They are convenient yes, but still just a luxury. Preventing influence over our children who we disagree with (as hypocritical as censorship can be) will always be a much higher priority to us. Ironically there are still plenty of other non-cloud digital paid and free options for achieving meeting this priority. Yes it is much less convenient and more laborious.

Spotify, please let me know when this feature exists at the account level.... Not device specific level... So that I can reopen our account. Thanks

[bishpoop]

Does anyone have any idea on when this will be implemented on all devices? I'm tired of hearing the first 2 seconds of tones (deaf) and I.

[notbot2525]

Is there any plan to implement this feature for the desktop app on Windows 10? Why no love for PC?

[m4dch3f]

Any chance seeing this utility on desktop? I don't like many of the suggested songs or auto continue songs/artists. 

[JeremyDanger]

That option doesn't exist. There are no three dots in the upper corner for the artist.

It's quite frustrating that such a simple option to block content doesn't exist.

I do not want to hear Rap and many other particulars, even good songs get annoying after a few too many repeats.

Implement this feature - you've been asked by your customer many times - do it.

Don't drag heals or BS us about it, it's easy to implement - ON ALL PLATFORMS.

Either way, it's not there on the iPhone, just blank space on the latest version.

[addamiano]

This should definitely be added to the Windows program, frustrating to have to try and navigate through the phone to block an artist or song.

[blah9856895]

This is not a solution if it's not usable everywhere. I.e atm i'm using mac.
And i'm really considering to abandon spotify since some artists, that i really dislike, make it unusable for me if they creep into the end of every playlist.

[jrousseau10]

This solution isn't good enough. If we find an artist or a song by an artist truly repulsive, we should be able to block this on all devices and from ever appearing as a suggestion for additions to our playlists.

[Mihail]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the Community!

We understand that the difference in availability with some features between devices might cause some frustration and we assure you that you're feedback has been passed on to the right team. 

Currently the option to block an artist from being played is available only on mobile devices for Android and iOS users. To activate it, navigate to the artist page and from the three dot menu in the upper right corner select Don't play this artist.  It this case it's a good idea to perform a clean reinstall, so that all app files get built up anew.

If you'd like the feature to block artists account-wide on every device, we suggest that you post an idea about it. The Idea Exchange is a great way for us to keep track of what changes our users are interested in and how popular a certain idea is. This page explains how exactly your feedback reaches Spotify

Hope you find this useful. Keep us posted if you have any questions.

[_sasquach_]

Just want to add my 2cents and give my voice to the displeasure at my ability to customize my listening experience as a PAYING user.  Having the ability to ban/block songs should be a basic option in all services....

Slacker, now LiveXLive has that option..... if their services worked across all my platforms I would go back in a heartbeat (and may still just because....).  Even free subscribers should have this option but at the very least those that are paying to use the service should.  There is NO reason not to add something this simple.

[_sasquach_]

This is NOT a fix, workaround, or answer.  Granular control of what a paying subscriber listens to should be given to the subscriber.  I have a way to like a song, I should also have a way to dislike a song so I don't have to skip it time and time again.  Just because I like a certain artist doesn't mean I like every one of that artists songs.  This is unacceptable!!

[askeptic]

Any information on bringing this in to the 2020? The inability to simply block a song (PC) and have it block on all devices tied to the account seems like something that should of been available day 1.

Great music service held back many annoyances. I am looking at you 1 song per account nonsense!

[mattans]

This feature is like a one day effort.
Just get an intern to do it for $100.
People are moving to Apple Music because you don't have this basic feature

[run-GB]

At last: Option to block "RAP" (espec. Gangsta Rap) - I don`t like to offer this absolutely nothing worse "music" to my children - this Genre should be able to block COMPLETELY - 99 % asocial, aggressive, hurting...