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

[Kirby1470]

Is there a way spotify could just make this happen? I cant imagine it would be too difficult and it is wildly inconvenient when I'm driving because I can't look at my phone to change the song. I think every community member would appreciate it! on top of that 450 votes should easily be enough reason to make this happen because how many people that don't post on here are running into the same issue? we all love spotify even more and it would turn you into an even greater company just for doing what a small population of people on here are asking :). Ive been dealing with this for years and I finally found a post mentioning it so ets make it happen and make these customers happier than ever :)). That one is for my double chin 

[sry96811]

I would like to bump this because I'm dealing with my discover weekly and release radar only giving me clean versions when I have 0 history of listening to clean version. It makes zero sense. Why is my suggested rap clean?! 

[PrinceKross]

I hope commenting gives traction, this has been bothering me all year as a fan of Young, Wild & Free

[mjdobson]

This has always been a frustration to me, and I really wish it would get fixed

[Carentaciane]

I literally came here to complain about the exact same thing! I know for a fact that I've been listening and added the explicit version on my playlists, but now a bunch of my playlists are showing me the "clean" version instead of the original, and they even have the audacity of showing up as a liked song! Yes Spotify, I like to hear my songs in their original form, not the chopped up thing you're trying to shove down my throat.

Anyways, thank you for putting all of that in such a formal and elaborated way (and with proof too) so Spotify maybe someday do it, the plan is very simple and straightforward. Very sad to realize they've been ignoring it since 2022... But hey here's for hoping 

[SilentNyte]

It would great to take this idea a step further and allow you choose preference to all the different versions of a track.

If all version of a track were group together you could set preferences for different track tags:

Artist

- Original artist (prefer the original artist over those that have cover it)

- Most popular artist (prefer the most popular version of the song)

Release

- Original release (prefer the original release if it was released as a single)

- Original album release (prefer the first time it was released on an album)

- Most popular (prefer the most popular version of the song)

Version

- Explicit (prefer the explicit version)

- Clean (prefer the clean version)

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/Track-version-grouping-and-preference/idi-p/5825428#M280...

[Vobie]

It has been over a year since this pretty simple feature was moved to "Good Suggestions". Can we get a status update? This keeps ruining my listening experience.

[matt_bark]

Wild we still don’t have this, I really would have expected some movement on a feature that allows us to listen the way the artists originally intended.

so quick to add these family filters and censorship features, so slow to give us workarounds. 

[jstbingo]

Agreed! Although I want it for the opposite reason haha

Despite the fact that I obviously play the clean versions with very few exceptions, my wrapped, DJ, and Discover playlists always insert the Explicit version. All we want is a "I prefer to be served Clean <---> Explicit songs" toggle.

[Brettla16]

Recently I have been going into albums of artists, some that I have already saved, just to realize that I've been routed to the censored version. I use the "on repeat" and "release radar" playlists a lot, and whenever I go to the album directly from the songs in these playlists, I get the censored versions. I understand this may have been developed to assist with Spotify's ad revenue, but I have premium, so not sure why so many users are being affected by this change. 

I agree with previous users that have stated that the toggle for explicit playback should be switchen to clean playback or censored playback, and give users the ability to turn that off or on. That way, everybody's happy.