[Discover] New Releases Section for Followed Artists

[MattSuda]

Please add a section to the desktop and mobile apps where we can see all of the new releases from the artists we follow. When artists release new music, their fans want a way to find it directly in Spotify without having to rely on social media or elsewhere away from the Spotify app. The Release Radar playlist by Spotify only shows some new releases and then it disappears a week later.

This new section would act as a "feed" and update automatically when a new album from an artist you follow is available on Spotify. Please make the feed have a high display limit so we can go back months and months and for sure won't miss any releases.

For a third party solution check out (PLEASE IMPLEMENT IT LIKE THIS)

https://spotifyreleaselist.netlify.app

---> Check out my guide on how to use this third party web app

Screenshot from https://spotifyreleaselist.netlify.app:

The problem with the current "new releases" section is that it doesn't show new releases from artists you follow. It only show the most popular new releases. The only way right now to find new releases is to go to the artist's page and hunt around for the new release or use the Release Radar playlist.

The Release Radar playlist is not what we want. The problem with the Release Radar playlist is that it mixes in suggestions. I want to see followed artists ONLY. And if you check the playlist a week too late, all the songs are GONE.

We need a feed that we can scroll back months and months and months so we can see all the new releases from the artists we follow. We shouldn't have to rush through it and it be gone the next week.

[fbracht]

Spotify is lucky (...) their overall music collection is the the largest available from streaming companies

Goes to show how good Spotify's marketing — at least — is. 

Spotify is far from having the largest catalog of songs among music streaming services. As per Wikipedia at the time of this writing, the top 3 services by how many songs they offer are: 

1. SoundCloud (125 million songs)
2. Apple Music (60 million songs)
3. Tidal (also around 60 million songs, unclear exactly how many)

On this list, Spotify comes at a lagging 7th place, behind most of its main competitors, such as Apple Music, Deezer, Google Play Music, and Amazon's music services (which I'm blocked from nominally mentioning due to automatic censorship coded in this forum). 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_on-demand_music_streaming_services 

TL;DR - Ditch Spotify.

[pcc]

I’m trialing Tidal right now. 

[butchbrown7]

• https://open.spotify.com/artist/1spRuklbIyHmzNFQLka766?si=-bi1hnhDTl6ym6-bf3fkig

[jonerikragnar]

So I found this idea thanks to Spotify due to my recent posted idea, post it right here:

A dynamic playlist, updated with new tracks released by followed artists

I'm an active seeker of new music. I often chose to follow the artist I discover because I want to hear more of them. And probably because I'm a musical hoarder.
 
At this point, it is not intuitive enough to manage, sort and get an overview of the artists I follow, that could be a lot better and a powerful future tool. Just imagine getting a descending list of the most frequent similar artists to the artists I follow.
 
Until then, it would be so very lovely to have a dynamic playlist that automatically updates with all new tracks when released by the artists you follow.
 
I appreciate the "Release Radar" concept and Spotify makes my Fridays sometimes brighter when the list is packed with new exciting releases.
 
I understand that it might be a question of space, but that is manageable with a limiting choice or even an extra cost.

Release Radar is a playlist generated by Spotify, updated once a week(midnight Thur/Fri). I guess this playlist offers a semi-fixed amount of new or newish tracks from artists relevant to the user based on metrics, filters and algorithms.

In short:

• Selection defined by Spotify

• Updated only once a week

• A semi-fixed amount of tracks

• New but not just new tracks


My proposal, the dynamic playlist, is not in the same sense a list defined and generated by Spotify. This playlist's content is to 100 percent filled with tracks from the artist that the user has actively chosen to follow. The primary feature of the playlist is that it gets automatically updated at the exact time all new tracks by followed artists are made available at Spotify.
 
In short:

• The list only features new tracks from the artists that the user has chosen to follow.

• The playlist gets updated automatically at the exact time when new tracks are made available/released.

• Let the user keep track of new music and the artists all the time not just once a week.

[rwcoyote]

The problem i find is not about the artist that i follow... but is about a place to find ALL the latest releases from anyone each week... 

They could do with a release radar for new singles each week and the same for new albums... What i want from the service is about discovering new releases from everyone, regardless or not if i follow them... The problem with release radar is it doesnt tell you if the all the songs are from new albums or not you have to scroll to the right and then go to album... its only then that you realise it's just a single! REALLY Frustrating!! 

[d-roam]

So my follow-up/duplicate idea, which had about 500 votes, no longer exists... I assume it's been merged with this one? @MattSuda, any idea if that's the case?

If so, I hope that means Spotify is finally reevaluating this...

[d-roam]

Interesting, the idea is back now. For the past couple days, clicking on the link to it brought me to a page that said "This page does not exist". But it's back now.

Hopes dashed once again...

[fbracht]

I wouldn't let myself be hopeful if I were you. One must simply understand Spotify's revenue streams to know why it isn't actually in their best interest to offer this feature like we're proposing. 

Spotify is the new radio. And radio's main source of revenue, as the slightly older among us know, is pay-for-play. Labels will pay to have their music played more often, at prime time, etc. By the same token, Spotify must generate a non-negligible amount of revenue from labels paying to include their songs in as many user playlists as they can get away with. Sure, they won't include it when it makes absolutely zero sense to include that song for a particular user, but I'd say a song that's like a 20% match for you will be included in your playlists over a song that's an 80% match for you if the former is being pushed by Spotify by request of (and upon payment by) the label.

Now, I don't have visibility to Spotify's systems to know what I'm saying is the truth. It might not be, and I'm not claiming to know it is. But it rings true to me. It's where I was led when I "followed the money". There's motivation.

Why would you give the users visibility into all the new music they want, in a really easy way like we're suggesting, if this would have a negative impact into one of their revenue streams? Even if it's not the main one? Would YOU do it, if you worked for Spotify and had the chance to give this idea a go-ahead? Knowing that because of your decision the company might end up reporting less revenue by the next quarterly report? I'm not sure I would. 

That's what happens when a company steers itself in such a way that their interests cease to be aligned with their user's. 

As soon as I made all of these connections in my head, I ditched Spotify for good and started using a music streaming service that has motivations more aligned with mine as a user. Spotify wants me to listen to what they push on their playlists, listen to podcasts, and/or listen to ads. I don't want to do either of those things, so now I'm on Apple Music. Apple wants me to stick around in their ecosystem and spend money on subscriptions and app purchases there, and the way to get me to do it is to offer genuinely great products and services. I'm very much ok with that. 

[pcc]

Yep...don't hold your breath.  This will never happen.  The fact that they don't even have a dedicated support ticket system and only have this stupid forum for logging support issues is very telling about their business practices.  THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT THEIR PAYING CUSTOMERS.

[GiZam]

This release Radar is totally dumb and uselsess...