Spotify & "Song Radio" is Essentially Just an Echo Chamber & Doesn't Breed Discovery

[cawul]

This hasn't always been the case, and I don't know if this has to do with the amount of time I've had my Spotify account or if something about the algorithm has drastically changed - but whenever I start a radio based off a song or artist (which is with the intention to find a NEW artist or NEW music that is related to the song/artist I'm starting the radio off of) it just creates essentially a playlist of music I've been listening to - and not even within the same genre off the song.

I've realized that I haven't found any new artists or any new music, and just continuously listen to the same things over and over again which is quite depressing. The point of the song radio or at least how I use it is to discover new artists that are in the same realm of the artist I'm listening to, and I think you all at Spotify are putting everyone - artist AND listener - at a huge detrimental disadvantage by having it go that way because then there is no discovery for new artists and there is no way for listeners to get into new music without scouring the platform instead of giving good recommendations based off your algorithm. More than anything I want to be able to discover new artists based off song radio, not just hear the same songs I've been listening to. If I wanted to listen to those songs, I would just continue to listen to them. Especially since maybe when I start a song radio off something that is midwest-emo/indie, it'll still play hyperpop/rap in the same playlist which are two completely different genre's and moods.

[mintOlivia]

I wish it would absolutely function more like Discover Weekly, where it does give me completely new songs that are related to what I've been listening to, yet aren't the same. I love getting my Discover Weekly, but it's so disappointing when it only updates once a week. At least the radio would be more fluid (right? I've never used radio because of the above issues so i dont quite know, lol!)

[lsdc]

The discovery of new music, that is different but sympathetic to the user's taste ,is one of the key features of Spotify that comes up in relative comparisons of (the increasingly growing number of) music streaming sites.

Not paying attention to this aspect of the platform (or should it be service?) is neglecting a key differentiator.

To do so seems complacent. 
That usually doesn't go well in competitive environments.

(comment entered while listening to Playlist radio which seems to play back what is on my Playlist....)

Question:  is this Ideas Forum an Echo Chamber? 

[xan4]

Wish I could vote for this twice, definitely noticed this with radio. I also use radio for discovery, I now have to skip through about 15-20 songs before hearing new music...

[raiyan396]

radios have been extremely repetitive for me, the best way to find new music would be with the suggested playlist feature, but that feature doesn't allow me to reject songs, so songs that I wouldn't want in my playlist continue to show up in those 4-5 songs.

[GroovyRouvy]

Radio mode is and always was about discovering new music, not based on "popularity" or "my favorites", instead based on the selected song. Google Play Music had the best algorithm for this, but the service was merged into Youtube Music without keeping the brilliant algorithm which was inspiring like crazy. I discovered roughly 30% of my favorite songs through this radio feature, which was brilliant! Just picking a song you like and hitting the radio button worked like a charm, somehow it managed to find songs with a similar mood and barely adding songs to the playlist which I had to skip (maybe 1 out of 20). After moving to Spotify the ratio drastically dropped and I kept on skipping songs which didn't fit the initial song, jumping between styles / genres. 

I like to emphasize how important a discovery feature like the radio mode actually is! This is my primary way to discover new music, which I can like and share with my friends. Unfortunately the new radio mode isn't living up to what I need and what I'm used to.

Especially as a new Spotify member I'm starting to feel locked in to the songs I already know, barely any new songs comes through. I know how many awesome non-mainstream artists are out there, waiting to be discovered by a smart algorithm which recommends songs based on mood and style of the reference song.

Please don't miss out this great opportunity to take your huge pool of music and automate the recommendations as described - this is a big unique selling point if you do it right, since Google Play Music has left the building!

[madmodgirl]

There is a similar post that mentions this about bringing back the dislike button. The customization of playlists has gone down so much since they got rid of it. Without it many of the other features like radio, daily mixes etc. aren't effective. That idea has been up for two years with more than 2000 likes on it but it does not seem to have made a difference. In the meantime, I've switched to apple music because after like 7 years of being with spotify I refuse to pay for a service that doesn't care about what their customers say.

[lsdc]

@madmodgirl

After 6 years of Family Premium, and more usage before that, I am considering a switch as well.

If Spotify does not take any notice of its paying customers, then I guess leaving is a way of registering our complaint.

(A kind of nuclear dislike button 😉)

[courtwaters]

this was an issue that i had on my old account, and i thought that it would change when i made my new account but nothing. always the same songs i have on rotation unless i listen to a genre completely different from my usual taste

[sigloasesino]

I think those of us who care about discovering music are being neglected in favor of an algorithm that probably encourages repetition because it leads to more play time for most of the people. Which is of course a key metric for Spotify in order to keep shareholders and labels happy. Just like the way Facebook allows fake news and racism to spread in their platform because it leads to more likes and comments.

This iteration of the web really sucks.

[AndrewBlizard]

I rely on curated playlists and friend recommendations to find music. I would love to see more diversity in generated playlists to balance favorites and new tunes outside of Discover Weekly and Release Radar.