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.

[#2]

Je constate que j'utilise Spotify depuis un certain temps, et il semble que les recommandations ne soient plus aussi actualisées qu'auparavant. Je me demande donc si l'algorithme est bloqué, car je ne reçois plus de nouvelles suggestions de musique 🎵.

[Ursinha]

You described perfectly my increasing frustration with Spotify over the last six months, I used to love the recommendation system and the playlists were worth listening to, but lately it got so bad that even the dynamic playlists don’t change anymore ;e.g I’m listening to a song and Spotify plays a suggestion after that, it’s been the very same song every time. I’ve found myself avoiding listening to music because I know I’ll be frustrated. It’s sad because a couple years ago it used to be really great, with suggested artists that I often liked and that I seldom listened to voluntarily. To me particularly that is the value Spotify used to provide, but this social media tendency of giving the user only what’s guaranteed they would like to increase time on app doesn’t work with music apps. I’m annoyed and willing to not use the service instead.  

[mliliter]

i used to love my discover weekly a year and a half ago but noticed recently it goes back to playing same stuff i already have in a playlist... how am i discovering that ??
it also came to my knowledge that spotify is now using mainly ai for curating music...idk if thats the cause for the quality decline or not... im considering switching platforms 

[Johoftheland]

Hi everyone,

For months, Spotify has been recommending almost nothing but sleep and meditation music—even though I’ve never listened to it. I’ve marked tracks as "don’t play this" and unlike, but it still dominates my Discover Weekly, Releases Radar, and the music feed.

It also seems like low-quality, AI-generated music is being pushed heavily. Has anyone else dealt with this and found a fix?

This is starting to be a real dealbreaker 😞

Thanks!

[onlytocomplain]

Recommendations are terrible. Used to be so good a few years ago