[All Platforms] Option to have a true shuffle

[jonathanleyerle]

So I’ve been noticing more and more recently that Spotify’s default shuffle feature doesn’t fully shuffle your songs. It does some sort of grouping to try to get similar songs together based off of what I’m sure is dozens of factors. Every time I shuffle a playlist (the one I noticed this with the most is ~100 songs and 6 hours of mostly full albums) it will group the songs mostly or completely together by album/artist, and given the number of times I’ve re-shuffled and checked the order there’s no way it’s just a coincidence. They also generally seem to be in the same order as well. If I hit shuffle play on a playlist it’ll generally put the same artists at the beginning every time.

With larger playlists of albums I am really not a fan of this shuffling method. If I have 6 hours of music on a playlist I will hardly ever have 6 hours to actually listen through the whole thing, but when I do listen to it I would like to hear all of the music on it equally, and not just the artist or two your algorithm likes to shuffle to first.

Anyways, I’m a reasonable man, all I’m asking for is an option to have a true shuffle (take all songs in the list, put them in a random order, and once they’re all played reshuffle them and play them again). Make it premium only if you want. I don’t think you should scrap the current shuffle algorithm because it sucks. Looking at some of the suggestions on here it seems like some people lobbied hard to have it that way. Just add an option for a true shuffle for those of us that don’t care about potentially getting the same song twice in a row.

[decker12]

I think Spotify would go a long way if they came clean with a complete description of the shuffle system - inside the app - and gave us a choice. Just a slider with a little "i" icon next to it, and when you push the "i" it gives you a breakdown of how it's going to shuffle.

Call one end of the slider "Spotify Shuffle Plus" and the "i" says something like, "Spotify will shuffle your songs by prioritizing all the popular songs from your playlist, mixed in with the groups you play most, plus the solo artists of your groups! Perfect for parties!"

Then the other end of the slider, "True Randomized Shuffle", and the "i" says something like "Spotify will randomize your entire playlist without prioritizing any particular song, genre, or group, by using the Fisher Yates shuffle algorithm."

Make the Shuffle Plus the default and sell it as a "benefit", but then provide the Randomized Shuffle as an option for people who don't want it.

[Blaertes]

Soooooo true. I have playlists with 30+hrs of music because I have grouped them together as similar music, I don’t need spotify to do it for me. It’s really **bleep**ing annoying when you hear the same 80 on loop when the playlist literally has 800 songs. 

[Abimoran96]

I think 100% needs to be considered, I have been shuffling alot recently, but I've noticed it pushes some more popular song forward and I get alot of repeats but theres some songs that I don't hear at all. You should create a completely random shuffle option.

[decker12]

Just cursed Spotify's name again last night with this godawful shuffle algorithm. Literally, told my wife, F SPOTIFY while I angrily hit the Skip button.

I have a 410 song playlist with mostly 70's pop and rock music.

Within 12 songs I heard:

Fleetwood Mac. Stevie Nicks. Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks ("Whenever I Call You Friend"). Kenny Loggins, Loggins and Messina. Another Fleetwood Mac song. Lindsey Buckingham.

That is 7 out of 12 songs, out of 410 songs, all related to each other. If that's in any way random I need to go out and play the lottery.

The stupid Shuffle play put every single Fleetwood Mac and every variation of Fleetwood Mac members all together nearly one after another, and then did the same with Kenny Loggins.

It was so bad I thought I didn't have shuffle play enabled so I double checked and yes, it was enabled. I hit re-shuffle and checked the Playlist area and it shuffled the songs, but did practically the same thing where it lumped together all the Fleetwood Mac variations.

Spotify, you continue to make me HATE the songs I used to love with this garbage.

[mojodrone]

I'm a premium user and my opinion is that Spotify’s algorithmic shuffle stinks. Give us true shuffle.

My ‘Liked songs’ contains 600 songs and I enjoy all the songs in that list. Yet, Spotify's Shuffle play continuously dishes up the same old songs, out of 600 tunes!

Spotify’s shuffle algorithm removes any sense of spontaneity, making for an unsatisfying, dull & predictable experience. This isn't true Shuffle, it's 'Personalized Play' and is completely unusable. There's a sort of arrogance that Spotify force this upon users, 'we know the music you like, better than you do'.  We should be able to disable personalized play, especially in this instance, when it's performing exactly the opposite function to the one required.

I read this from a post in 2017! “We're looking into it and we're working on our shuffle algorithm. Keep an eye on any updates soon. Take care”.

Oh yeah? Please stop marking and closing shuffle complaints as "not an issue" or "implemented”. It's a real problem and I for one am trying to find an alternative to Spotify, because of this issue.

[decker12]

My wife works the same hours as me in our shared office, so while WFH during COVID, we often listen to music together while working. She has her playlists on her Spotify family account, I have mine. We try to alternate them during the week.

Her Spotify shuffle is so bad we've actually accused each other of forgetting to turn Shuffle play on. After months of this, I can actually tell - fortune teller style - what songs her 500+ song playlist will play next. I'm usually spot on knowing that after the 4 Duran Duran songs it strings together out of a group of 8, it'll switch over to the Boomtown Rats. I Don't Like Mondays? I've heard that song so many times we both DESPISE MONDAYS now.

Then we're going to hear Oingo Bongio and maybe if we're lucky, it'll go back to that well known Duran Duran mega hit, "The Chaperone", which Spotify seems to absolutely LOVE TO PLAY for no reason even though it's an obscure B side.

Finally we'll finish out with The Go Gos and then it'll jump into that ONE Madness song she has in her playlist.

If there was an option to list "How many times played" in Spotify, we'd easily see 40 of her 500 songs in the playlist, played upwards of 200+ times over the past 5 months, while the vast majority of them with 0 or 1 play. It's maddening.

That Boomtown Rats song is the perfect example. It's in her playlist ONE time, she listens to music about 4 hours a day, and the total playlist is about 48 hours long. That 3 minute Boomtown Rats song will play 100% of the time in 4 hours. So will every one of the Duran Duran songs even though they're only 8 songs out of 500.

I look at her playlist and see she's added a bunch of Talking Heads, The Eurythmics, The Police, Howard Jones, Petshop Boys, and Depeche Mode. We sit next to each other all day long and I can't remember if I've ever heard a single song from any of those artists in her playlist.

It's to the point now where unless Spotify takes action, it's going to be time to search for another service.

[nbondoc]

Decker 12, I want to compliment you for your diligent effort in detailing exactly what Spotify considers "shuffle". It's pathetic! And no matter how many people have the same complaint for so many years they turn a blind eye to the problem. I don't understand! They have never once responded to any of our complaints. 

[decker12]

All we can do at this point is keep upvoting it and hope it reaches 500 votes, which is the minimum threshold for Spotify to care enough about the feature request to start looking into it.

The real question is, how many customer will they lose because of this ridiculous shuffle play algorithm before this topic reaches 500 votes.

[nbondoc]

I agree....it's time to leave. Any suggestions, please post for the rest of
us.

[mojodrone]

Spotify seem to not care about this issue as it seems people have been complaining for years.

A similar thread reached 900 votes but was also ignored saying 'we like the idea, but we don't have any immediate plans to implement this'.

I'm tired of having great playlist and yet Spotify insists on playing the same songs over and over, like a tedious radio station.

Give us a proper RANDOM shuffle option in preferences.