Issues with Spotify's recommendation algorithms

[Ludlow]

Plan: Free

Country: Ukraine

Device

(PC, Xiaomi Redmi 11)

Operating System

(Android, Windows 10)

My Question or Issue

I've noticed a recent issue with Spotify's recommendation system that seems to prioritize suggesting songs already present in a playlist. This problem has disrupted the usual logical flow of recommendations. In the past, the system used to introduce new tracks seamlessly, but now it's repeatedly recommending songs that I've already added to a specific playlist. This repetitive pattern is affecting the diversity and novelty of my listening experience.

There's also a minor, though also spoiling, change in playlists like "mix of the day" and other automatically created and suggested playlists. The recommendations used to follow a logical pattern within one or more similar genres, but recently a playlist consisting entirely of metal artists had a few songs by Nirvana (which I don't listen to at all) and Leonard Cohen at the very end. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating.

I've tried a clean reinstall on my phone and created a new account on my computer, but the problem persists on both platforms.

[develdevil]

Plan

• Premium

Country

USA

Device

Pixel 6

Operating System

Android

My Question or Issue

I believe that my penchant for digging through the deep end of newly released and under-listened songs has tainted my recommendations to the point where a (relatively popular) song radio station will be filled with tons of 1-2 minute trash songs made by randos that are absolutely not what I want to be listening to. The avg track length of the music I tend to dig for is 5-6 minutes.

This has really made Spotify pretty bad for music digging. It used to be so good. Please help me solve this.

[helenecrtz]

Plan

Premium

Country

Philippines

Device

Huawei Nova 3

Operating System

Android Pie

My Question or Issue

Spotify keeps recommending a horror podcast under "Picked for you" in the search dashboard. I've been trying to flush it out, clicking "Not interested" every time I see it, which is about 5-6 times at this point. It just won't budge and it is creeping me out. Why have the Not interested option if it doesn't work?

[mariegordon]

This is happening to me too! I miss the old algorithm; and wish there was a way to filter out songs less than 2 or 3 minutes long 

[Paichka]

I've been a premium user for the last few years, and I originally started paying for Spotify over other services because of how evenly they pushed new music compared to popular music. However recently, Spotify recommends the same 30 songs for every single playlist, regardless of what is already there, and occasionally even recommends songs that are already in the playlists. 

I've as well noticed that the 'curated' playlists that are created when you search key terms are entirely off-base(think soft indie music in a horror playlist). The algorithm has become nothing but an echo chamber, enough so that I'm seriously considering jumping ship.

[Ludlow]

It's true.
What I wrote in this post three months ago is just the tip of the iceberg. Algorithms have gotten worse at everything, and the echo chamber example is a very good one.
It applies to everything.
It's worth going to the radio by track - it just recommends to you what you were listening to before.
It's like it used to have a very good feel and understanding, but what happened then is unclear.
I would create an update where I would describe all the oddities and impracticalities of the new algorithm, but I'm too lazy, and I don't think it would have any effect.
I'd really like to find some good alternative, but I haven't succeeded so far. 

[emilyjane1984]

I’ve noticed my new song suggestions change as well over the last few months. My listening habits and genres have NOT changed, but my algorithm has changed and it’s been frustrating. Spotify has been suggesting songs that are not similar to what I’m currently listening to OR Spotify will suggest songs that are already on my created playlists. I used to get a lot of new music within the same genre I’d be listening to suggested by Spotify, and I’m realizing that was one of my favorite features. I hope this will be fixed! 😕

[JCherry]

My Question or Issue

I continue to receive recommended meditation, sleep, and yoga songs. None of the music I listen to falls within that genre. It is very disruptive when I am listening to upbeat music and this ambient sleep sounds start playing. I continue to remove and block music from being recommended but this has little to no effect on what is being recommended. When I am driving, I am unable to remove suggested songs. I can only skip them. This is hugely disruptive when I am listening to my likes and I have recommendations turned on. I know that this music is on my recommendations list because I had this music playing at night in the past. I have not played this music for almost a year now. 

[mnmiluvit]

In playlists if you click the 3 dots you see , exclude playlist from taste profile. After i did this my recommendations got so much better. At least i am not hearing the same songs from my playlist after i listen to a new song

[kacper2k]

Also a premium user, I used to go in spotify radio rabbit holes finding new music, it was so good at showing similar songs. Now any edm song I start a radio for leads to Tiktok phonk**bleep** and no matter how many times i skip the same songs in 0.5 second or hide them in other playlists they still get recommended.

[Mackstarr]

Premium user here also. Spotify’s algorithm used to be much better than the competition, I suspect it was because real human staff were behind some of the recommendations helping the ai. Now the service is so bad that it’s clear something has changed. Probably staff were made redundant to make more profit. I also get tons of 1 minute songs populated on my radar and discovery playlists and styles of music I have never liked. Last Friday release radar didn’t even update. On my home page there’s no longer album and artist recommendations, just loads of podcasts with no option to avoid people like Jordan Peterson being recommended. If it doesn’t change it’s time to try others.

[niconiconiconico]

Spotify has become utter trash recently, recommendations always play the same songs over and over again. We're stuck in an echo chamber - I'm paying for a subscription but I'll be quitting soon.

[Xyzman123]

Plan

Free/Premium

Country

USA

Device

Samsung A54

Operating System

Windows 11

My Question or Issue

Is there something wrong with Spotify Playlists' Recommendations? I still use the "Recommended Songs" list under the Playlists I make and continuously hit Refresh to get some obscure songs. But lately, they keep giving me songs I already added to my Playlist. And when I click on those repeat pulls, it glitches out and they disappear in the recommended list. it's hard to explain, but I've got a video I uploaded to Imgur here. it's really frustrating because I used to get in-depth with different obscure songs that would go on for like 100 refreshes sometimes, but now it's stuck on the same dozen songs, and never goes on. Does somebody know why it's doing this? Is it a problem with their servers?

[Xyzman123]

Every time I'm browsing Playlist recommendations and I click on "View Album/Artist" then go back, it resets and takes me back to the initial batch of recommendations, this is annoying after I hit refresh like 100 times to get some really obscure stuff, then I gotta do that over and over but I have to view information on the album like what year it came out or even like the song! It's getting tedious and I'd rather it save your progress of how many refreshes you gave it.

[31a6qte34ac5djmetdxn]

I have also noticed the same issue and it’s truly disheartening since the suggested songs honestly helped me discover so many songs/artists in the pasts but now I’m recommended unrelated songs based on my playlists or listening history (I.e the suggested song for my playlist filled with mainly vkei, j-rock, and ballad songs are 95% upbeat kpop songs- a genre I enjoy but not very similar to that playlist whatsoever). On the other side if this coin, my daily mixes, or some other user specific playlist, will be filled with green circles next to it and I don’t need my liked/saved song regurgitated. 

[New user]

na playlist do spotify que eu criei eu podia adicionar novas músicas pelas recomendações que aparecem no fim da tela mas agora não aparecem novas músicas parecidas com o estilo da playlist e sim músicas relacionadas com o que eu ouço(se repetindo diversas vezes...infinitas vezes)
Ou seja, as recomendações, "com base no que está na playlist", não tem nexo com a playlist, e sim com as músicas que eu ouço no geral (NOTA: o que eu ouço no geral pode não estar vinculado com o conteúdo de uma eventual playlist)

[New user]

When creating a playlist the suggestions are showing previously played tracks and not ones that are related to current selections.

[FanSince2006]

I agree! In fact, I arrived here after searching ” better algorithm for recommendations than Spotify”.

There's a simple solution, but it is not in our hands: Spotify can allow users to tweak the temperature of its recommendation algorithm. This will control the extent to which it recommends familiar versus novel results.

[isabelle0313]

I feel the same way. I used to love getting lost in my playlist radios, but now that they've deleted the playlist radios, it only plays "recommended songs for you" that feel either completely random or tirelessly repetitive). I listen to lots of different genres and really enjoy deep diving into them, but its so much harder to do know because I can't let the playlist play out into the radio. Now I am only presented with billboard top 100s or songs I already have saved. People say try and clear your cache, but it didn't work for me. I miss the spotify from a year ago!

[HeyChefMike]

For 4 months as of yesterday, Spotify has been refusing to play any music that I like or follow, or add to my playlists or share because I once listened to some meditation music while sleeping and followed ONE playlist. Since then, every week has been meditation music and I've been pressing the minus icon to inform Spotify that I don't like it. It doesn't seem to be doing jack because every damn week is another meditation playlist, and I'm sorry but they just raised their prices and tried charging my debit card early for a few months now and it's not getting better. I have reached out to customer support on every social media platform they hide on, but everyone says to "keep listening". I have kept listening and telling the system to stop sending me this sleepy time music!!!

Plan

Premium (since 2016)

Country USA

Device

ANY

Operating System

Windows 11