"Unavailable" Albums - Complaints & When are they coming back?

[TechTWP]

Hi there,

I have been using Spotify for approximately 5 years, and when it comes to streaming music without having to 'buy' music, Spotify has been my most used music streaming platform. However, there are some complaints that I have about the "availability" of some songs that become grayed out, and then I end up becoming disappointed that these tracks are "no longer available in my country" under "changes in distribution".

The purpose of my message is to question the Spotify Community and the 'distributors' what is the purpose of making these tracks "unavailable" from its distributor, how long do licensing agreements last, and when will they become available again.

The list below is only from my 830 liked songs in my Spotify account. Out of my liked songs, 3/830 songs are greyed out. For this topic, I'm only talking about the albums and what song I have 'liked' and my 'complaint' from that album because of its "unavailability". I would be happy to receive answers for that but let me explain what I am "complaining" about the unavailability of some albums and tracks.

Don Henley - I Can't Stand Still

The only soundtrack that I am well disappointed with its current 'unavailability' is "Dirty Laundry", which in my opinion, is one of Don Henley's most popular songs. From my research via Quora, this has become recently "unavailable" in the past days this week. Out of all the songs in this album on Spotify, 2 out of 11 songs are available, and "Dirty Laundry" is not one of them. There was a third one available, but now I'm beginning to think that the album is now heading towards full unavailability from my statement.

Autograph - Sign in Please

This album includes two of my favorite Autograph songs, "Turn up the Radio" and "All I'm Gonna Take". I noticed that this album, as of me composing this message, has been "unavailable" for over a month now. What also disappoints me is the fact that it's available everywhere except the United States (my home country), which seems unfair since the unavailability of this album is only in one country, because this was always available there since I have started streaming music on Spotify. I just hope the distributor didn't change its "availability" to make it no longer available in the United States infinitely.

Questions for the community

From my research, I know that songs become "unavailable" because the licensing agreement for some tracks expire and have to be renewed, or the distributor has made some changes with the album/track with new restrictions. I only explained the most common reasons excluding poor connection, because that's what I often hear about grayed-out songs on Spotify.

I do have a few follow-up questions for the Spotify community and the distributor of these songs, and I would love to have answers for that:

• How long do licensing agreements last, and how long does it take to strike the expired license?
• What changes of the track/album "availability" does the distributor commonly make, and why do they create such "restrictions" for some tracks?
• Does the Spotify community contact the distributor for licensing agreements, and the track restrictions the Spotify community expects when the track is released or readded on Spotify, or is that only the distributors business?
• From my recent view of the unavailability of Don Henley's Album, "I Can't Stand Still", I saw only three tracks available. As I mentioned above, when I recently viewed the album again on Spotify, only two are now available (as of 10-7-2022). So, in this case, is that the distributor's process of turning an album from "available" to "unavailable", or does an entire album become "unavailable" with all tracks grayed out?

Closing words

I would be happy for these songs to become available again so that I can enjoy them again, but if get an answer from distributor that these albums will not be available again in the meantime, then I will be sad to remove them from my liked songs playlist, as these tracks are my well-favorite. I have been composing this message to the community, and I wish I get feedback for this, and my questions answered. Please do not take my statement seriously, I just wish these tracks would become available in the meantime.

Updates

10-9-2022: Both tracks are still "unavailable". Please give me feedback. 😞

[TechTWP]

Are you kidding me? None of the staff members care about give me feedback about my complaint? I spent HOURS writing this message and NO ONE gives me answers, NOBODY! PLEASE give me feedback!

[hansenkd]

Not only will the moderators and "Rock Stars" never reply with any information about song/album removal and the reasons for it, it seems they are actually forbidden from doing so.  If you get any response, it will be an inane form text about Spotify wanting all the world's music, it's up to artists and labels, yadda yadda, contact the label or the artist, blah blah.

One thing you will NEVER get is any sort of reason for a specific removal, even if it's somewhat prominent.  Only if there is some public statement or it's covered by other media in some prominent case like Neil Young will you get any specific info. It is apparently absolutely forbidden to share this information, even though in many cases, Daniel Ek and his posse know the exact circumstances behind these removal.

[BrandonH84]

Put these songs and entire albums back on Spotify NOW!!!!!