[Mobile] Preview albums for free users

[ollylee03]

Recently, Spotify took away the ability for free users to see what songs are in an album or by a particular artist.

Before, free users were able to select an album, press “preview” or “and more”, and see a list of all the songs in the album, each with a short audio demo. This made it much easier to discover new artists, and created a much more convenient user experience.

The only way to hear samples of songs now is to listen through Spotify-made playlists. Unfortunately lots of smaller artists don't feature on many of these playlists making it very difficult to sample/discover their music. 

Obviously, I understand that as a free user there are compromises that need to be made by users like listening to ads, only being able to shuffle and not being able to listen to specific songs, but removing the ability to see what songs I'm shuffling is silly; so silly in fact that many users thought it was a glitch in the app at first. 

It's clear that this is an attempt to force more free users into going premium but some users simply can't afford it, so this is an unnecessary punishment. Many users, including myself, will be looking for alternative music services if this change isn't reversed. 

[atroxia]

This has made it nearly impossible for me to make playlists. I often make longer playlists built around the discographies of a few artists, and the easiest way do this is by adding songs directly from the artist's profile. I use Spotify specifically for its playlist features, but I'm not going to keep using it if I have to manually search 100+ songs to make even one playlist. Additionally, as someone who listens to many songs in languages other than English, how am I supposed to find an individual song now when my phone's keyboard doesn't have the characters needed to search for it? I genuinely cannot understand why the Spotify team has implemented a change that is so bizarre and actively hostile to its userbase.

[Katerina]

Updated on 2020-07-25

Hello and thanks for bringing your feedback to the Idea Exchange. We've marked this as a new idea.

Spotify Staff will look into this idea once it reaches the necessary amount of votes. More information about how the Spotify Idea Exchange works can be found here.

[AP40]

That was such an a**hole move to remove that feature. Makes the mobile app totally useless for discovery of the unknowns.

[nhibear]

this is not a new idea! You have taken the "and more" feature away to manipulate free users into a subscription. Do't think it's gone unnoticed. Your app barely works as is and now you're going to further alienate users?

I'll be switching to apple itunes and youtube music. 

Get your act together Spotify!

[ParentalControl]

Yeah now the only way to do this through the Web app on a laptop or desktop and from the Desktop app. Sad. It's sort of why I switched completely to the web app and desktop app. The Mobile app is trashy.

Not to mention the web app you can use your browser to block all images block those pornographic images the app recommends to you even with explicit filter on  which makes no sense.

It really stinks because this actually hinders the actual feature you boast about! Creating Playlists.

[lilyhop]

Very honestly thought it was a glitch. I've been on spotify for a long, long time but have never been able to afford premium. I've seen features come and go and go, but have been mostly pleased with the options in the free accounts. This is absolutely the most egregious removal in my opinion, more so than the loss of queue and repeat.

It makes it practically impossible to follow through on new artists, making the discovery playlists more useless. Especially since I can no longer see an artist's most popular songs, which I've always based further interest on.

Frankly I'm hoping that it was a quick market test since the "and more" button remains. If not, it may finally be time to move my buisness else where. Hopefully this will quickly gain the necessary 500

[Bljhbffgbnkll]

Jesus yes, I absolutely hate the new change. I'm really hoping this is just a test and not a permanent change because I will move straight to another platform if that is the case. I can't afford Premium, and there's no way I'm going to continue to stick with Spotify if they keep stepping all over the free users. I've loved Spotify, it's helped me find some awesome bands and introduced me to my new favourite genre of music, but they continue to make changes that don't sit well with free users and frankly I think it is harming the platform more than helping it. They've made it incredibly difficult to find music and make playlists.

If this isn't resolved, I'm ditching Spotify for another music platform. 

[okashiikessen]

Seriously? I've been Premium for a bit, but might have to drop my sub because I'm out of a job. Between this and the whole year end stats review bull, I'm on the verge of finding another service. Because Spotify doesn't listen to these ideas. Not enough people know this community board exists, and the ones who do don't post or vote enough, or are chased away by the mods. 

[BenHargreaves7]

Discraceful that they got rid of this

[ZeeFaulk]

It's so freaking upsetting that we have to "suggest this idea" to Spotify for them to bring the "and more" feature back. For one, it's very manipulative of Spotify in forcing free user to pay for a premium account to get back a once free feature. Secondly, its disrespectful to Artists who want their music to be heard and discovered. I can't say how many times I've supported artists in purchasing merch and going to shows merely based on the fact that I discovered them through  Spotify's "and more" search feature.