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

[muldrr]

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

[DoubleEwe]

IT'S 2024! How has this NOT been prioritized and implemented already?! It doesn't seem like something that would necessarily take a lot of engineering time to create either. Please Spotify, fix this!!!

[26388876]

When an artist uploads an explicit song, they could choose a radio edit version as its replacement. This way the artist doesn’t get missed in playlists and listeners don’t miss out on songs. 

[savagemike]

This would be a great feature addition. Like you, I definitely prefer the original over the clean version, and many times in my "daily playlists" I see the clean version, which is hella annoying.

[piddonkadonk]

Wild that I have been wanting this for a decade or so and here we are still in the same place. Appreciate you for starting another thread here. 

All Spotify needs to do is add something into the artist portals allowing artists or artist management to designate multiple tracks as iterations of the OG track and then work with the distrokid type platforms of the world to create that hierarchy or check box making it easy for acts to delineate between the tracks. Then if a user like myself prefers explicit tracks it should simply default to the OG or explicit track on all Release Radar and other playlists automatically populated by Spotify!

I am someone that religiously goes through my release radar every week and then add some of those tracks to other playlists that I have and I do it so often that I’d like it to be easy or intuitive. What’s NOT intuitive you ask? Being forced to assume that almost all of the hip hop I like is going to show up as censored and that means I need to find the name of the track, go to the artist’s profile (which means AWAY from my feed and player) and scour recently released tracks to find the one with some swear words in it! It’s a crazy waste of time to have to worry about within the scope of an international technological behemoth like Spotify! 

I just love that I’m not alone in my beef with Spotify on this one! Keep the dream alive everyone and keep listening to good music. Rock on!

[codeDeepSkyBlue]

Please add a toggle in settings where we always get the original, uncensored version of songs by default. I don't like having to specifically search for the uncensored version of every album I want to hear.

Despite having the "Allow explicit content" toggle enabled, I often get the censored version when asking my phone to play a song.

[Skully9]

I am a premium member and for the first time ever, my Explicit version of Velvet Revolver album Contraband is now a censored version, even though the E stamp remains on the art work. WHY?!?

[#8]

Dj and other mixes are playing "clean versions" which is very annoying when I'm adult and prefer to hear the original song. My settings are correct, but is there a way to stop this from happening. It's really inconvenient.

[phire]

This is quite honestly absurd and baffling that this is still an issue. SPOTIFY, PLEASE STOP TREATING US LIKE CHILDREN AND GIVE US A WAY TO ONLY HEAR ORIGINAL/UNCENSORED SONGS!!!!!!!!

[Vobie]

I don't think this thread even bumps properly, it has been forgotten. Can someone that has twitter tweet this @spotify or something with a link to the thread? It's atrocious that no staff member replies even after it was moved to good ideas, how long has it been?

[Skully9]

Spotify prefers profit and will never fully fix their platform. You can completely uninstall Spotify using their methods and still end up with their maneure. Every update drives the app crazy. Previously created playlists, downloaded for offline listening, begin downloading randomly every time the app is started. This is how censored music is replacing previously downloaded uncensored songs. When I chose a higher quality stream, the downloads took 30 minutes to complete using cellular only. I do not have high speed home internet with Wi-Fi. The app stated it was downloading over 6000 songs. Not factual. Every day, more downloads of various playlists. It has been this way over 2 years and counting. Many screenshots sent in to "tech support" with no real help at all. Start from scratch when completely deleting the app from your OS merely buys them an avenue to ignore you.