[All Platforms] Shuffle algorithm that favours "unpopular" songs

[fraktalisman]

As a paying Spotify premium customer, I need a shuffle algorithm different from the current, non-random shuffle that seems to favor "popular" songs, as has been pointed out by other customers who experimented with what is actually happening (see links to other posts below).

Currently there are only two possible ways to listen to music in playlists, either in the listed order, or shuffled by an algorithm that makes listeners miss out on about 20% to 30% of the songs in the list, favoring the ones that we already listened to hundreds or thousands of times.

I want to be able to choose another algorithm that does exactly the opposite: play songs in a pseudo-random order but leaving out the ones that already have been played frequently, and instead focusing on songs seldom listened to, in order to make me rediscover new songs and inspirations! This is even more important when listening to playlists made by other people, to help me discover new music.

The new algorithm could be called something like "serendipity shuffle" or "discover mode". This could be an option to activate in the user's settings, so the existing popularity shuffle would stay the default option.

In case a serendipity shuffle is too hard for you to implement, a simple randomized shuffle function would also be much better than the current one. This has already been pointed out in other posts in this forum.

See other posts in this community:

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Ongoing-Issues/Shuffle-Is-Only-Going-Through-A-Handful-Of-Songs/idc...

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Ongoing-Issues/Please-stop-marking-shuffle-complaints-as-quot-not-a...

[dil_a8-1p6jxj]

Please put this idea into practice!

[Mrswami]

A lil trick i use to get around this is to shuffle two songs and then remove the shuffle. I'll end up going in order from a random place in playlist, which, is as random as it gets in this app.

[Javierba]

Good luck with this, Spotify don't care ! 

[lukematch]

Like it 110%!

[aflak]

I personally like the shuffle at the moment. When the shuffle is on point, it feels like having my own personal DJ.  Maybe try making your playlists smaller? I have a bunch of lists that are around 40 songs and a few lists around 100-300 songs that I listen to a lot.

[user-removed]

yes +1000 lets get**bleep** to 500

[user-removed]

also like you mentioned an actual random shuffle would be nice not this super **bleep** we have rn

[RazorWolf]

I have a very similar request. I have large playlists, and a lot of the older songs I've heard multiple times already. I'd like to skew the probability distribution of songs played to more recent ones. This would mean I have a higher chance of hearing a recently added song than an older one. It seems like we need better shuffle options all around.

[Tarek_TAD]

It is a brilliant idea and will really distinguish Spotify from other music streaming companies and improve users chances in discovering new songs that they might like.

[AotearoaCraig]

Can a moderator reply to me, please?

Is it possible to add a play-counter to your shuffle player, so when we are shuffle-playing a playlist or the liked songs list, tracks do NOT repeat until ALL the tracks in the list have been exhausted. A play-counter would also stop songs repeating if a listener reshuffles a list during extended listens.