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

[phire]

To add insult to injury here, Spotify's audio quality isn't even that good, even with highest quality settings via premium subscription.

[#3]

Every curse word or “Inappropriate” word just gets cut out of every song and I have explicit content turned on I’m so done wish this app it sucks Apple Music is way better

[Im_Arden]

This would give parents, educators, and sensitive listeners more control over the music they or their children consume. Unlike the current system, which only filters explicit content as labeled by artists and Spotify, this advanced filter would scan lyrics in real-time and mute or skip songs containing selected words. This could be especially useful for groups with stricter content guidelines or individuals who want to avoid certain themes without completely restricting their music choices. Implementing such a feature could enhance user customization and make Spotify more inclusive for diverse audiences. This could use AI to detect words.

[FredericW]

Seems like a reasonable request to have built-in functionality to honor customers preference for listening to original music (indeed, sometimes explicit).

The status update given on 03-03-2025 states: "...suggestion has been marked as a Live Idea and will be reviewed by the Spotify staff once it receives enough votes...".

- This opens the question "how many votes exactly is 'enough' before action is taken? -> the idea was posted in 2022 right)

Like this it seems an easy way to say there is no intention to make this happen.

[phire]

That's exactly what it is - Spotify has zero intention of honoring our preferences to listen to ORIGINAL music the way our favorite artists intended. 

The original post contains a treasure trove of statistics, prior posts, prior votes, etc. on this ONE issue, yet Spotify has given us the equivalent of "meh."

[Daskalovic4]

There is an option for explicit content, you can toggle off if you want to skip every explicit song and on if you want to be able to listen to them. But there is no option for priority. For example I want to listen to the original version of songs and only, but even if I have the explicit version setting on, Spotify prioritises the non explicit songs , and the only way to listen to explicit content songs is to choose them one by one which is not practical and suitable for sure. So I suggest to have an option on preferring the explicit content songs first so every user on Spotify can control what he wants to listen to entirely even if the songs are explicit content ones. It’s unfair for the users to have an option for not listening explicit content songs at all, but  not an option for listening explicit content songs first and preferring them. Please vote so developers can see this and make it happen cause it’s really annoying not being able to hear the songs you want by default. Thanks 

[DougChandler]

I still think the best and obvious answer to this is to link both versions of the song together as one. At the moment they are separate and you can add both to a play list, there is no link. If you have the explicit option ticked you get the explicit version, if not you get the clean version.

This also avoids the current situation where a playlist of the top-40 has half the songs missing as they have explicit lyrics, pretty useless at a kids party. With the above suggestion you would just get the clean versions of the same songs; everyone is a winner.

The option should probably be switched to 'Do not allow explicit content' rather than allowing it, as it is really just families with young kids who want to prevent the prolific swearing in songs.

Also there should be an easy way of reporting a song has explicit lyrics as it is families with young kids who will find them and want to report them with a couple of clicks, not go through a complicated 'report and issue' workflow.