Introducing Smart Shuffle!

[Joan]

Introducing Smart Shuffle! 

We know that our users love creating their own playlists to capture key moments in time – in fact, playlists created by users often become their most-streamed playlist for the first several months but listening to these playlists slowly fades overtime, and users are eager to discover new music.

With this in mind, we’re excited to launch a new play mode called Smart Shuffle that keeps listening sessions fresh and provides personalized recommendations that perfectly match any listeners’ playlist vibe. 

This update will roll out to Premium users on mobile devices starting today.

How does Smart Shuffle work?

• You can use it in any playlist created by you, and your Liked Songs.
• To activate it, just use the Shuffle button to switch between regular play, Shuffle mode and Smart Shuffle.
• When Smart Shuffle is on, recommendations are added to your session automatically. You can find all the recommendations sitting in your queue.
• You will be able to recognize the music we are recommending with the sparkle (✨) symbol next to the track. For a playlist with more than 15 songs, we’ll recommend one song for every three tracks.
• And the best part, your original playlist remains untouched, so you can add any new track that catches your ear.
• If you like a specific recommendation, just save it using the plus button in the Now Playing View. If that song doesn’t hit right, just tap the minus to remove it from the recommendations. This is then used to better adjust the suggestions we put forward.
• Every time you turn Smart Shuffle off, a new mix will be available every time you activate it again.

Introductory pageHow the queue will look

Adding and removing recommendations.

Different playback options.

FAQ

What about the Enhance feature?

For now, Smart Shuffle will replace the Enhance feature.

What will happen to Discover Weekly and other regularly updated playlists?

For the time being, no changes to those will be made. Smart Shuffle aims to improve the listening experience for user curated playlists.

Does this mean that using Smart Shuffle will cause my carefully curated playlists to get cluttered with new recommendations?

No! Your original playlist remains untouched, so you can add any new track that catches your ear. Smart Shuffle won’t change your playlist without your explicit permission. What changes instead is what you'll hear during each specific listening session

We hope you're as excited as we are about this new play mode. The official Newsroom announcement is out, you can check that out too. For any and all feedback on the matter you may have, you're more than welcome to comment in the thread below.

[GreenShinyThings]

Please remove this feature.  Literally no one wants it.  I keep getting in my car this week only to find out it's playing songs I never selected.  Just stop making horrible changes.  It's making me want to unsubscribe from your increasingly crappy service.

[Darth_GTB]

@maeibi, I can see where you coming from. I think some people like Smart "Shuffle" because it feeds you songs that are popular in your country. So if you are used to listen to genres that are usually popular in your country, you are probably being recommended really nice songs for you.

Also, about it being hidden behind the paid tier, that's not the case in Brazil, where I live, and some other countries. They switched from the standard "Shuffle" to the Smart "Shuffle" in the free tier. It was extremely clear to me the moment they did that because overnight it started to recommend genres that I don't listen to and kind of hate a little bit to be honest. The songs are so mind bogglingly different from the playlist that I'm forced to use the web version on the phone because the web version still uses the standard "Shuffle". If they force the Smartarse "Shuffle" on web too, that will be the final nail on the coffin and I'll finally buy a YouTube Premium subscription as I use YouTube a lot more than Spotify and move to YouTube Music.

Before you ask, I say "Shuffle" between quote marks because these aren't real shuffles. The standard Shuffle works inside a small bubble of similar songs inside your playlist instead of shuffling the playlist (that's why it "fixes" itself if you manually select another song. All that does is to pop the bubble and create a new one) and Smart "Shuffle" introduces songs that are not even form the playlist, which removes any sliver of right to it being called a shuffle.

[mlb14]

I don't understand how they are not hearing this loud and clear. Users have been complaining about this ever since it was implemented, and it's easy to fix. And going forward, the way to stop annoying your paying customers is simple too -- never, NEVER implement a new feature without asking me if I want it and without providing an easy and obvious way to turn it off globally. 

As a general rule, I (and many others) will never want some algorithm or AI making any choices for me. 

[meerow]

Take Action: Leave Now

It’s simple: Leave. The focus has shifted from you, the end user, to their industry contractors. They’re feeding you bad music you don’t want because they get paid for it. The only power you have is to leave. They believe they’ve locked you in, but you can show them otherwise by refusing to pay for their declining service.

Threatening to leave isn’t enough—actually leave. It takes maybe an hour to transfer your playlists to a competitor that offers a better service, with a real shuffle button that isn’t polluted by paid song-ads.

This thread is currently an echo chamber for frustrated customers. It should gain public attention, but for now, just cancel and leave.

[BrennigJones]

I disable smart shuffle because it fails to understand my musical tastes but - and this is the really annoying thing - even when smart shuffle is turned off, Spotify puts random tracks into the queue. I'm paying you money for this sub-par service? Someone needs to get canned 

[meteorman]

I just had this feature forced upon me, and seeing that users have been complaining about it for two years already, without Spotify listening to them is disheartening. It is rather clear, as others mentioned, that Spotify would rather force music on us from the music catalogue owners, than make a service for their subscribers. Effin end stage capitalism. I'm out.

[j13eo-zwu_b8i]

I’ve had the same issue. I didn’t even know smart shuffle existed. I had to get someone to explain it. And I can’t stand the way it doesn’t give airtime to recently added songs, just plays the same ones again and again. And I don’t believe it’s just about songs I like, I suspect it as about record company deals. 

[DTvonDoom]

It's September of 2024 and still there's no option to turn the feature off entirely. Why?

[MikMik78]

I like the idea behind Smart Shuffle. I think that "show me music similar to what I already like" is a great idea and actually what I would expect from a service like Spotify.

However, I find the execution very lacking. For one, there is no way to tell it to "refresh". Maybe by playing another list and coming back... But right now I'm listening to a list and if I set it off and on again the queue is the same...

Also, my liked songs list has "a bit of everything": classic pop and rock, a bunch of blues, more recent pop and rock, some punk and heavy metal, music in languages other than English... If I use smart shuffle, it decides on one or two "genres", artists, or whatever and it sticks to them. The other day, I pretty much only got blues and Queen. Today, I can only see classic pop and rock In the queue...  But "Smart" shuffle will not show me anything in other languages, more recent music...

Also, the first few songs in the list usually include the latest additions to it. So if I've recently added 5 songs by an artist, I'm going to have to listen to them at the start...

So maybe for lists centered on a single genre, style or artist it works, but with an eclectic list, there is much to improve...

[rednblu]

"Very lacking"-- Yes!-- and incredibly "frustrating" to get it to initialize properly so that "we can hear the music"!

Yes!

[realjesus]

Plan

Free

Device

any mobile device it doesnt matter

Question or Issue

This is the stupidest most corporate bs decision ever. Just horrible. My playlist isn't fresh enough? Backhanded wording, rude. Dont mess with my f***ing playlists. The garbage music inserted into my playlists is the most tiktok zoomer already-popular slop. I don't want to hear any other music but what I have selected.

How much money does your horrible platform need to just play audio files. Putting basic functionality behind a paywall is deplorable. If I actually had the money to pay, it would give it to tidal not you. Pay artists properly and stop trying to milk every penny out of your customers. This is why spotify is so hated.

[HunterShipley]

Yo I absolutely hate smart shuffle, can we please get a setting to turn it off completely? I hate how it's the default option for shuffling now

[HunterShipley]

**bleep** SMART SHUFFLE

[JLynn1333]

From reading the comments, it looks like I'm going to be better off just switching to a better music streaming service. I've been a passing customer for years and have lived and recommended Spotify. With this new smart shuffle feature added it **bleep** everything up. I have literally THOUSANDS of liked songs that are not included in a self created playlist. I listen mainly when I'm driving and used shuffle all the time. It want perfect, but at least it worked, kinda. With the new "feature" shuffle doesn't work at all. If I choose smart shuffle or non smart shuffle, one song plays and that's it. I've spent more time messing with the shuffle button while I'm trying to drive than actually listening to music, which I thought was the point of a music streaming service. So in the last few weeks, I've listened to the same 5 songs over and over. Pretty bummed to leave with all the liked songs that I've created over the years, the thought of staying over sucks, but not as bad as Spotify trying to do to much and rounding what was great. ☹️

[JR21]

Have you yet changed this so I can disable Smart Shuffle? It's just the most annoying thing you've introduced. Why when listening to my carefully curated playlists would I ever want you to randomly play some AC/DC or Britney Spears? I can't imagine that ANYONE actively likes this feature.

[justinjdailey]

TURN IT OFF! SO ANNOYING! WORST FEATURE SINCE YOUR CAR MODE **bleep**!

[Sp00nn]

Horrible feature. Add the option to disable it permanently.

[VroenGuard]

Great idea, poor execution. It should not be connected to the normal shuffle button. It should not be default shuffle. It should be it's own thing that can be activated when I want to find new music. Not anytime I want to shuffle a playlist.

[Darth_GTB]

@realjesus, use the web app on a mobile browser (https://open.spotify.com). They still use the standard shuffle in the web app for the free version. Not ideal, but at least you won't be recommended k-pop for absolutely no reason

[patrixce]

Have the opposite issue, smart shuffle deactivates after a few seconds on Android and does not activate under Windows