[Radio] Radio algorithim still sucks - same songs are still playing.

[swanky-n-spanky]

Hey there!

Since it's nearly 2021, and it's been a hard year, do you think you guys could finally fix the **bleep**ing radio algorithms?

It's been like this forever.

Forget all the features you don't add; Forget all the bugs you don't fix: I just want to be able to get an actual variety of songs!  An end to knowing that every single generated list or radio station will give me the same thirty-odd songs from the same thirty-odd artists. Not even, y'know, different songs by all those artists - the same songs.

It's like Spotify keeps on dipping into my listening history, and then directly dumps the most listened songs back into my playlist; Or, not even that. It's like Spotify hand-picks some great songs it thinks I'll like, after knowing my tastes; and then just throws them at me on repeat, until I start to hate them.

God, I could name about a dozen songs right now that I keep getting, every single time I turn on some kind of generated radio. I'm not even joking; maybe 20-50% of the selections I get. For every single session, on every single device, from nearly every song or artist or otherwise generated radio, forever and ever, and ever and ever. Unto infinity.


Drives me crazy. Anyway, thanks!

[strathound]

Totally agree. wth? I've got an 80's playlist. Radio has same songs. I've got a bluegrass playlist. Radio has the same songs. Do you have any idea how we use this feature?

[njm123niu]

Same! There are a few songs I use to love, now they come up as the second or third song in just about every radio station, even ones where the genre is barely even related.  

Also most radio stations will cycle through the same popular songs by the same 4-5 artists and not offer any new music. 

[njm123niu]

It amazes and saddens me that this is still an issue. I've been a super-heavy user of the platform for over a decade, but now I've had to go back to Pandora radio this past year to have any opportunity of listening to new and diverse music selections. The Spotify radio functionality always includes the same songs and cycles through a very small selection of artists regardless of sub-genre.  For example, This Year by The Mountain Goats always plays as the second or third song in any radio station that is tangentially rock-related.   

The radio experience is horribly frustrating, ruining songs I've loved, and driving me away from the app. In doing so, I'm rediscovering how great Pandora's radio functionality is and just wish I could get it all in one app. 

To add insult to injury, these forced songs show up in my Spotify Wrapped; like of course they're my most played songs...you force me to listen to them any time I use the radio feature. 

[AKS666]

The "radio" feature is a joke. A really bad one. I'm still using the free 3 testing months and cancelled it after 6 weeks, because finding new music is not really working with spotify.

Playlist "radio" only generates a static playlist with the same songs in the same order. And shuffeling is not possible because it is greyed out. So "radio" is the wrong term to use for this. I'm forced to hear the same songs over and over again, discovering new stuff is nearly impossible, I have to search for myself for new music I could like, but I read so much about "spotify is awesome for finding new music". Well, no it is absolutly not.

[xenextx]

Spotify is playing the same songs because they are guaranteeing listens and exposure to artists who are directly paying them to push their d list tracks into Spotify generated lists.  Do what I do, and only play music you deliberately want to hear.

[DougSonguyRobertson]

My problem is I keep getting songs I hate as soon as I hear them. Spotify needs to give us the ability to rate the songs more than just giving them a like. We need to be able to give a thumbs down like on YouTube.

[JK141]

2 years later and it's even worse!! **bleep**ing piece**bleep** just spits my playlist right back at me when using playlist radio. I'm going to find an alternative to this**bleep**. 

[jrutherf]

You're missing the entire point. When requesting a radio station based off of a song, we want music related to that song. We do NOT want other songs we've listened to / liked in the past to influence that. I'd also like to add that the radio only creates a playlist of about 20 songs so I start hearing repeats within an hour. It's awful and we hate it. The minute an alternative service offers a decent radio feature, I'll be dumping Spotify. 

[JK141]

I'm Just switching to Tidal. Screw spotify and their dodgy bs

[Soundchasr]

Does Tidal offer any type of "radio"?  Last time I was with them they did not.  

[JK141]

They do. I'm using it rn. Superb music quality also. You can choose to have
a playlist of nothing but studio master recordings as well, unlike
Spotify's trash.

[Soundchasr]

How does it work? Is it based on a song or can it be based on a playlist? 

[JK141]

Both I believe. I've never used Tidal before now, but I did a playlist
based on Dream Theater's Pull Me Under and it's actually all various bands
within the same general genre. No "Why tf is this song here" **bleep** like
spotify

[weinermaster]

It's still not any better, almost two years after this post. I noticed if you go to a playlist radio, it doesn't matter what the content of the playlist is, Spotify will just start playing what it thinks you want to hear based on your recent history. Usually one genre that's completely unrelated.

[JK141]

Precisely!!!! That's why I switched to Tidal. Not only are the algorithms
much better, but so is the sound quality. Spotify is too busy spending
millions to get podcasts on the platform as opposed to improving it.

I *KNOW* this sounds like some bad advertisement, but i'm really real!!!
lol

[reggaesharkdave]

Same still happening in 2023. It didn't used to be this way when I started on spotify 10+ years ago.  I just had a customer support advisor tell me that spotify only uses songs you have played to make your mixes?!? Which makes sense for what I get but does not make sense for what we all want.  

[JK141]

That's just STUPID! Who would want to hear a mix of songs they already
played generated for them???? The user can just go to their played history
and do that themselves

[Peaceout12344]

I’m probably leaving Spotify because of this. It’s been on a decline since about 2013 (or whenever they removed the down thumb button 💔) and it was never great to begin with. Thee days it’s the**bleep** on every radio station. At least Apple Music will work with Siri 🙄

[dusman49]

If spotify doesnt change the way spotify radio works, I'm switcing to youtube musicic.

Spotify radio **bleep** feature thats made for money making by pushing COMPLETLY NON RELEVANT money making and popular songs on the list.

[hatien]

AGREE. If I pick a song to listen to a radio from, please provide me with songs that are the same freaking genre & vibe. I didn’t pay Spotify to cheaply grab songs from my other likes that have no relation to my radio selection. Doesn’t this completely defeat the function of the radio’s purpose! Hellooooo