why is music I don't like appearing in discover?

[ashleycrue]

While I really like discover (I've found some good bands) it has a big problem. I find that bands who play music I don't like appear in big across the top and this morning I notice Ollie muirs amongst the other (metal) suggestions. Is there a way to stop music styles/bands I don't like from appearing in Discover?

[Josh · Accepted solution]

Hello!

Discover is mostly based on what you listen to, if you have the thumbs up or down button under each suggestion you can improve it that way (but some people don't have it yet). If you do it will look like this:

Over time, it will learn you taste, so the more you listen the better it gets 🙂

[ashleycrue]

Ok, Thanks. No, I don't have the thumbs yet.

I've been listening a few months but the sudden appearance in the rest of the page got me.

[hans-jürgen]

I just noticed that sharing a playlist or album in the activity feed also appears in the Discover section afterwards, so I guess it also counts as a "sort of like" which will also influence your personal recommendations. And of course following your favorite artists will also be calculated in this regard.

[Adam]

Hey @ashleycrue -- you said they're appearing as big suggestions across the top, so I'm guessing you're referring to the banners themselves. As you're Premium, you can turn those off by heading into Preferences and ticking "Hide on Discover Page" right at the bottom. 

[ashleycrue]

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@Adam wrote:

Hey @ashleycrue -- you said they're appearing as big suggestions across the top, so I'm guessing you're referring to the banners themselves. As you're Premium, you can turn those off by heading into Preferences and ticking "Hide on Discover Page" right at the bottom. 

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 Thanks for that, hadn't seen that before.

They're also appearing further down as well. Even more so today.

[bertiem1979]

I use the thumbs up / down features regularly and find it very frustrating that after I've said no I don't like that 'thumbs down', that Spotify still suggests I might like it. 

Please sort out the code so that when I say I don't like something it doesn't keep coming up in the Discover section.

[davespart]

Oh just get rid of Discover completely ... I am sosick of having ludicrous suggestions pushed at me that it almnost makes me want to cancel spotify altogether ... especially when added to the fact that my subscription doesn't block ads on my phone or iPad.

[Peter__]

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@davespart wrote:

Oh just get rid of Discover completely ... I am sosick of having ludicrous suggestions pushed at me that it almnost makes me want to cancel spotify altogether ... especially when added to the fact that my subscription doesn't block ads on my phone or iPad.

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Just don't look at it or start the desktop client from a track link so it doesn't load: The Calling – Wherever You Will Go

I'm also assuming you are using Spotify Unlimited, unfortunately ad-free listening on mobile and tablet requires a premium subscription.

[Nullandvoid]

My Discover list is now showing mainly "trending near you" and "popular in your area" suggestions that have absolutely nothing to do with my listening history or my preferences. I'm pretty sick of this. Can we please get an option to turn off unwanted suggestions like that?

[Peter__]

There are a whole load of Discover related suggestions over on the Ideas Exchange:
http://community.spotify.com/t5/Spotify-Ideas/Discover-Improvements-to-the-Discover-Tab/idi-p/382186

[user-removed]

I had assumed that Spotify might be making some money by pushing certain acts - is that not the case then?

I also find many of the things suggested really strange but there must be a logic of the data in there somewhere.

[Peter__]

I'm assuming the discover feed is using some sort of pattern recognition algorithm to see what people listen to and then suggest artists based on that.

After doing a course on something similar last semester in university, I can safely say sometimes it is more of an art than a science!

[Hemuli-SF]

I used to LOVE the discover function, it would bring me bands from my favourite music genres that I've never even heard of. Found lot of good music that way. Now it's all about what's "popular" or "trending" in my area. And 99% of that stuff is music I wouldn't listen even if I was paid to do so. What happened?

[pemala]

Could Spotify or someone else please answer this important question: why does the things I've done "thumbs down" to keep on (and on) to appear as suggestions? Is the thumbs up/down function not for real??

[user-removed]

Crappy section. Bad music really, no button to dislike. Also artists I removed from follow, still posting to my Discover. really annoying when you do not like trance anymore and keep getting Armin Van Buuren posts about new A State Of Trance albums.

No one is gonna fix this crap.

[Hemuli-SF]

Something has happened after my previous post and now it's back to normal, the discover page is showing the kind of stuff I like and not that "trenind" or "popular" crap. 

Thank you.

[Peter__]

Discover as a feature is still quite new, and as a result the Spotify team run a lot of small tests and tweaks to what recommendations people see to see how they react, and what people like and don't like.

You will therefore find, sometimes you get different types of recommendations, some of which may appear to be random or not reflect your taste in music. Personally, I've seen quite a few lately!

[Spot2014]

Hi, sometimes I try new music, litlle like "browsning" thru a number of songs, maybe only listen to each song for say 3-5 seconds. Will that song be added as a song that I have been "listening" to or do you have some kind of filter so that you only count songs that I have been listening to a longer time? I guess my recommendations in Discover will be not be so correct if you count the songs that I have skipped after just a few seconds......

[Peter__]

Not sure how it works, but I would imagine those song's wouldn't count - especially if you are using audio preview on the discover tab (by holding the mouse button down on a play button to get a preview).