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Setting to prefer original (explicit) content over clean alternatives (and vice versa)

Issue

While listening to music, especially when listening to through Autoplay after an album, through Discover, Daily Mixes or automatically generated playlists, Spotify often plays the "clean" edits of songs that have their original version tagged as explicit.

The option "Allow playback of explicit-rated content" is there for people who don't want explicit content, but the behavior of this option is not ideal for people who have it enabled.

If an explicit version of a song exists, I do not want to hear the censored, chopped up version with often mangled lyrics. I want to hear the original song as the artist intended it. In my opinion the clean version is nearly always inferior to the original.

Currently it seems like the use-case of people who want to hide explicit music is valued higher than the use-case for people who want to listen to the original. I would argue that we should be treated at least equally.

 

Example

What got me here today was while listening to "Ten thousand hours" by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and hearing "Make sure the soundman doesn't block-block the drums" and hearing frequent "Shht"'s really breaks the flow of the track.

What especially triggered me, is that it showed that I had "hearted"/liked the song. I did like the original version, and it occurs in multiple playlists of mine. The clean version does not.
Note that this is not a complaint about this song in particular, it is just an example that occurred today.

 

Proposed solution

If the "Allow playback of explicit-rated content" option is ticked, the "clean" content is very likely of no value to the user, and should never be favored over the original version.

If you do not want to force this behavior to the entire userbase, or change existing behavior for existing users, then an option could be to add an extra opt-in setting to "Block playback of clean edits when original is available" or something similar. So basically the exact opposite of the currently already implemented "Allow playback of explicit-rated content" is desired: never allow clean edits.

Your team might well come up with a different, perhaps better solution, but the end goal would be to never have to listen to a "clean" version again when the original is available.

 

Previous submissions and discussions

Many ideas have been submitted before, they are however all closed, marked as duplicate, marked as "unclear" or found to have not enough votes.
This new submission is an attempt to combine all previous efforts and hopefully get some traction.

While not all of the options discussed below are exactly the same, they are all about this topic and they all suggest some way of playing the original over the clean edit.

If you see all the previous topics in the table below (there are probably others that I might have missed), it is clear that this is a frequently brought up topic in the community.

Hopefully listing them here helps people find this feature request.

 

Category Status Date User Title Url Comment
Idea Implemented 2012-03-29 11:01 PM thegooch Censorship https://community.spotify.com/t5/Implemented-Ideas/Censorship/idi-p/32561 While marked as implemented, it isn't really, you still get censored music very frequently
Idea Inactive 2017-05-17 10:08 PM princebolkonsky [Music] Clean Tag for censored / edited Tracks https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/Music-Clean-Tag-for-censored-edited-Tracks/idi-p/16806... "Not enough votes"
Question Redirected to Ideas ‎2018-07-18 12:21 AM kneeboard85

 Is there a way to only play explicit versions of a song? Basically filter out radio edit versions

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Content-Questions/Is-there-a-way-to-only-play-explicit-versions-of-... Right idea, just posed as a question
Idea Closed 2020-04-08 05:21 AM NeoDinero [All Platforms][Playlists] Explicit https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/All-Platforms-Playlists-Explicit/idi-p/4925000 "Not enough votes"
Question Unsolved ‎2020-04-15 11:53 PM CouchMountain Stop putting censored versions of songs in my Release Radar and Discover Weekly https://community.spotify.com/t5/Content-Questions/Stop-putting-censored-versions-of-songs-in-my-Rel... Much discussion and suggestions in comments
Idea Closed 2020-06-08 06:05 PM MaadhavShah [All Platforms] Remove The Clean/Edited Versions Of All Songs/Albums If Preference Set On Profile https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/All-Platforms-Remove-The-Clean-Edited-Versions-Of-All-... "Haven't heard back from you"
Idea Closed ‎2020-08-06 09:57 PM Rodez [All Platforms] Force Explicit https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/All-Platforms-Force-Explicit/idi-p/5012341 "Not enough votes"
Idea Closed ‎2021-02-11 09:56 AM jonthore_ [All Platforms] Remove the edited versions of songs setting https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/All-Platforms-Remove-the-edited-versions-of-songs-sett... "Not enough votes"
Idea Closed 2021-04-29 03:57 AM MusicLord [Other] Playing Uncensored songs only https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/Other-Playing-Uncensored-songs-only/idi-p/5195990 "Not enough votes"
Idea Closed 2021-06-25 10:38 PM BIGSTEPPA [Desktop] Have censored music not play https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/Desktop-Have-censored-music-not-play/idi-p/5227514 "Not enough votes"
Idea Closed ‎2021-11-12 04:27 PM Kevin1174 Can you please stop putting clean songs in my release radar playlist https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/Can-you-please-stop-putting-clean-songs-in-my-release-... "Doesn't meet requirements" --> "Unclear ideas"
Idea Closed 2022-02-26 11:38 AM Dylax [Browse] Only Explicit Songs Filter https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/Browse-Only-Explicit-Songs-Filter/idi-p/5347736 "Doesn't meet requirements" --> "Checking for existing ideas"
Idea Closed 2022-08-19 11:12 PM VuanJega [All Platforms] Disable Censored Songs https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/All-Platforms-Disable-Censored-Songs/idi-p/5419323 "Doesn't meet requirements" --> "Checking for existing ideas"
Idea Closed 2022-08-25 08:08 PM rileycullen11 Stop prioritizing the "clean" versions of songs https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/Stop-prioritizing-the-quot-clean-quot-versions-of-song... "Doesn't meet requirements" --> "Ideas about pricing, subscription or content related requests. We cannot influence those."
Idea Closed 2022-08-26 08:34 PM Jakeheut [Browse] Hide Non-Explicit Albums https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/Browse-Hide-Non-Explicit-Albums/idi-p/5421959 "Doesn't meet requirements" --> "Checking for existing ideas"

 


And while they are not 100% related, these topics might not have been raised if this problem was solved, they seem to have found clean options of a specific song, while they explicitly wanted the original version.

 

Category Status Date User Title Url  
Help - Specific Content Unsolved 2018-05-11 06:50 PM Dai_Evil_Doer Sensored Metal?.. Not on my watch https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/Sensored-Metal-Not-on-my-watch/idi-p/4479610 Question about specific content censorship
Help - Specific Content Unsolved 2018-05-18 06:49 AM Smarre [All Platforms][Music] ”The Way Of The Fist” - Five Finger Death Punch https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/All-Platforms-Music-The-Way-Of-The-Fist-Five-Finger-De... Question about specific content censorship
Help - Specific Content Unsolved 2018-05-22 07:08 AM -0z_r97pbpx7w Can't play explicit version of "the way of the fist" Five Finger Death Punch https://community.spotify.com/t5/Other-Podcasts-Partners-etc/Can-t-play-explicit-version-of-quot-the... Question about specific content censorship
Help - Specific Content Unsolved 2018-10-28 05:30 AM user-removed [All Platforms][Music] ooh killem explicit version is censored https://community.spotify.com/t5/Closed-Ideas/All-Platforms-Music-ooh-killem-explicit-version-is-cen... Question about specific content censorship posed as idea, not 100% the same idea as this but still kind-of related
Help - Specific Content Unsolved 2019-06-22 10:11 PM karolina0 i cant play certain explicit songs? https://community.spotify.com/t5/iOS-iPhone-iPad/i-cant-play-certain-explicit-songs/m-p/4773855 Question about specific content censorship

 

 

And these older ideas were referenced from some other ideas/questions, but I get Access Denied:

Category Status Date User Title Url  
Idea Acces Denied ? ? [Mobile][Music] Show Explicit content option per default https://community.spotify.com/t5/Archived-Ideas/Mobile-Music-Show-Explicit-content-option-per-defaul...
Idea Acces Denied 2013 ? Explicit Only Edited Only Option https://community.spotify.com/t5/Archived-Ideas/Explicit-Only-Edited-Only-Option/idi-p/401396

Updated on 2022-10-31

Hey! Looks like your idea is growing up fast and it's amazing! We are going to change its status to 'Good Suggestion' now and we hope it continues to be supported by more and more users.
Thanks again for your suggestion. We really appreciate it 🙂

More information about how the Spotify Idea Exchange works can be found here.

Comments
OscarDC
Status changed to: New Suggestion

Updated on 2022-10-12

Hello @muldrr,

Thanks for submitting your idea to the Idea Exchange!

 

We appreciate this detailed report you made. We've gone ahead and marked this one as a New Suggestion. Spotify Staff will look into this idea once it reaches the necessary amount of votes.

 

Also, we've merged the votes of those previous ideas you mentioned into this one. This process will archive those old ideas so they can't be accessed anymore. This is in order to have all the "support" for the idea focused in just one thread and avoid any confusion for new users who'd like to vote for this feature as well.

 

More info on how your feedback reaches Spotify via the Idea Exchange can be found here.

 

Cheers!

EthanPowell

This is a great idea. I'd definitely like to see it implemented. 🙂

unclerk

I agree %100 on this. I listened the example that you gave, on Genius, it really doesn't have any lyrics that should be considered as explicit content to me but it really annoyed me too. It should be implemented as it should be

SoSoJuicy

Thank you! Edited songs are pretty much the worst thing ever! Why no option in settings to hide edited song, allow explicit ones is there...?

Luan
Status changed to: Good Suggestion

Updated on 2022-10-31

Hey! Looks like your idea is growing up fast and it's amazing! We are going to change its status to 'Good Suggestion' now and we hope it continues to be supported by more and more users.
Thanks again for your suggestion. We really appreciate it 🙂

More information about how the Spotify Idea Exchange works can be found here.

Peter

Great idea - I'm all for it. A common use case of mine is that I'll search for an album and the "clean" version will appear in the results (to the exclusion of the original, explicit version). I'll heart/download the album to listen to it offline, and when I come to play it I'll realise that it's the clean version, by which point I'm stuck with it.

AdrianM0073

Yes, stop playing radio edited trash on my adult Spotify rotation.

BabyEcho0_YT_SP

holy that's a lot of words, good job

daviddennison

My man hit em with the spreadsheets haha this is a feature we've been waiting for for years!

3x

You speak from my heart, thank you for your efforts!