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.

[st0mtape]

I agree. songs radio is not very helpful with discovering new artists anymore.

😞

[EmlJnke]

In the old UI you were able to drag a song to the "Radio" (I think it was called like that) section in the sidebar, but with the most recent UI change that section has disappeared completely. The old radios are still kind of a thing, when on a new playlist kind 50 song radio you can go to the playlist radio of that "radio playlist" (lowkey confusing yes.) which is, in fact, a classic endless radio, at least for me. As it is just a radio based on that "radio playlist" it's not exactly the same as the real good old one-song radios, but better than nothing i guess.

[MD092]

Ich kenne nur die Vorgeschlagenen künstlerbezogenen Radios. Allerdings erwarte ich dann, dass eben nur Lieder von diesem Künstler oder zumindest aus ähnlichem Genre gespielt werden. Dies ist allerdings überhaupt nicht der Fall. Ich kann mir nicht erklären, nach welchem Algorithmus diese erstellt werden. Das ist meist völlig was anderes. Das finde ich schade. 

[luizfernandorei]

There is no point for the radio feature anymore if it keeps working that way 

[rcs2]

I used to find so much new music with Radio, now it seem to just regurgitate the same songs back to me.

What I find even more shocking is how much Discover Weekly has changed. Surely this should only be music new to me? This now often suggests some of my most played tracks.

Honest question, has anybody had any experience with Apple Music or Deezer? Are they any better? 

[Serialkvetcher]

Apple Music’s radio is…. Diverse, if I can put it mildly. Sure, you may not like everything the algorithm throws at you in the radio, but that’s by design. You get to find hidden gems at times. Artists you may never have known, better bets.

[sigloasesino]

It seems we all agree. I've been using Spotify for over a decade now and it's never been so awful for discovering music as it is right now. Please fix this. I've switched over to YouTube Music. It's a pain in the ass to manage two libraries but I can't stand feeling practically forced to listen to the same damn songs over and over again.

[Captain_bonk]

I really hope they fix this, I went through a change in music taste a year or so ago and whenever I go to try to find new artists or songs, it’s just songs from the same artists that I’ve blocked, or the same stuff I used to listen to. I've been losing it over this and am considering canceling premium and going somewhere else. I’m an extremely tolerant person, but the problem is just that bad

[Optimum1]

I wish I could vote more than once. It seems that no matter what radio I create, whether it's radio for a specific song or artist, or if it's playlists that are "made for you," I always hear the same songs. For now, I'm stuck listening to "Release radar" and "discover weekly" playlists as they are the only ones that don't replay the same songs; however, they only update once a week, so after listening to them, I have nothing else to listen to for the rest of the week

[EmlJnke]

Exactly what I‘m experiencing, the new discover weekly every Monday is like the highlight of the week.