Song radio only shows me tracks that I regularly listen to

[recyclobat]

Plan Premium

Country Australia

Device Google pixel

Operating System Android

My Issue

There is this playlist I've been working on for about 50 hours how, perfecting the play order and stuff. I can't ever go to the song radio for any song on that playlist without it just giving me pretty much the same playlist, only shuffled. There will be a few songs not in the playlist, but they will only be from albums featuerd in the playlist. It's like Spotify has decided to never show me new music again in this genre. I know there is a LOT out there in this genre, but I'm being limited to just one tiny corner with no way out. 

[Jeremy]

Hey there @recyclobat,

Thank you for your post here in the Community.

We suggest that you have a look at this article on our support page.

If you have any questions we're always happy to help 🙂

Cheers!

[jaaeeger]

@Jeremy, you've completely missed the problem and have offered no solution or insight. The article you linked does literally nothing to help. Did you even read the original post? The issue here is that Spotify's radio algorithm is lacking in new artists, instead just echoing the playlist back to the user.

Per your linked support article, "Spotify Radio creates a collection of songs based on any artist, album, playlist, or song of your choice. It even updates over time to keep fresh. " Obviously, the radio is not updating over time to keep fresh. Please listen to your users' issues instead of tossing them toward an empty support article.

[Jeremy]

Hey @jaaeeger,

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

In this case we suggest that you perform a clean reinstall of the app to make sure there's on old cache files causing this.

It can also be great to try with another internet connection to see if the issue persist.

Also - Does this occur on one specific device or multiple devices?

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

Cheers 🙂

[jaaeeger]

Just did a clean install on desktop and updated the app on mobile. Same problem. Happens regardless of cellular data or what internet I'm on.

[Mihail]

Hey @jaaeeger,

Thanks getting back to us.

The way a user generated radio picks content is that it takes into consideration not only on the artist and genre, but also on your personal library and likes and those of other users who have started such a radio.

Due to this there might be similarities between radios, but you can help the algorithm avoid those by expanding your music collection. So if you keep liking more song and following new artists, you should start seeing an improvement after a while.

Another great way to discover new music is to navigate to Search on a mobile device or Browse on desktop and select the Genre/ Mood you like. You'll be presented with a wide variety of playlists that will help you discover awesome new tunes. 

Hope this was helpful for you. If you have questions, you know where to find us.

[seorix]

Hi Mihail and  recyclobat 

there is a fundamental problem in the Radio algorithm:
If you select "Play Radio of ..:" of course you want to listen to similar songs to the selected song, but you als want to discover new music. 
So my "Radio" plays songs mainly out of my own playlists and I can almost not discover new music.
I have about 10 Playlists with about 500 Songs. I nearly can not discover new songs with "Radio".

I am surprised that this phenomenon is not known by Spotify Moderators and I resume they are using Spotify Radio personally : )

recyclobat, what I do: I use Spotify on my computer and use a second free account in a different browser. If I like a song, I copy the Link in my second browser window and play the "Radio" of this song - and get almost only new songs as I don't use playlists in my second profil.

[Alex]

Hi @seorix,

Thanks for your reply!

The Radio playlist includes a mix of songs which you already have listened to from a certain genre as well as new songs.

However, if you have a very big library with thousands of tracks saved, the algorithm will struggle to suggest new content as it will circle around artists which you're most likely already listening to. This is further influenced from the fact that listening to music via playlists like Daily Mix, Artist Mix etc. won't generate information which will be added to your pool of possible recommendations.

So the best thing to do would be to listen to more diverse music via the Search option.

You can also make a new account and transfer your Library over (Guide here) - this way you'll have your playlists, but your algorithm will be calculated anew.

Hope you find this info helpful.

[seorix]

"So the best thing to do would be to listen to more diverse music via the Search option."

Hi Alex, I think you did not really understood my problem, if you tell me this.

Really understanding a customer is crucial for excellent customer service.
Btw. I have 500 songs, not thousands : ) 

As a person working in the field of improvement of software features and usability I know what I am speaking about.

[Alex]

Hey @seorix,

Thanks for your reply.

We understand that this experience is not idea, however we wanted to share some ways it could be improved, following suggestions from other community users and internal teams.

If you know how the functionality of the app could be improved, go ahead and create an idea on the relevant idea board. We always take new ideas and feedback into consideration to improve the app. Here you can read more on how ideas work.

We also suggest checking this help article for useful tips on how to submit an idea. As a heads-up, it's good to know that the higher the number of votes an idea gets, the more likely it is for the idea to be implemented.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any more questions.

[ImAnInsanePerson]

That is a good idea. Thank you sir.

[Aiden359]

It is financially beneficial for Spotify to keep users listening. For this reason, they will always try to play songs that they know you already like. This is a feature, not a bug... 

[secondguess]

I have this problem too. I have a lot of playlists and sometimes I will use Song Radio to try to find *new* music of a certain style, and song radio populates music already in my playlists or music that I already listen to. I tried remedying this by unliking all previously liked songs, but clearly the algo is using my playlists to inform its radio, which is *not* what I want.

[jackdad]

This happens to me every time I listen to a Spotify radio based on a song, playlist or album.

You're still avoiding the topic.

It's consistent through all devices and accounts, I'm going to put it all-caps so you can't miss it this time:

WHY ARE ALL SPOTIFY RADIOS FULL OF SONGS WE ARE ALREADY LISTENING TO, WHY DOESN'T SPOTIFY SHOW US NEW MUSIC??

It's a lazy algorithm, clearly I'll like the music I'm already listening to, but the purpose of a radio is to find similar music not the same music. Otherwise I wouldn't start a radio, I would just listen to my playlist as is...

note: I have 0 liked songs, so it's not that, I have a huge collection of music in playlists but it keeps only showing me what I've been listening to in the last couple months or some of my all time favs. So lame. Pandora has had a good radio algorithm for over a decade, and that's with much less user data/interaction. I feel silly for paying money for this app when I would get better suggestions looking for music on YouTube for free...

[Mlalasi]

Hey did you in the end find a solution? I feel like song radio function changed for me in the same way some months ago. Now it is only shuffling tracks that I ALWAYS play anyway and finding any new music has become nearly impossible using the song radio function. That's a pity and I might have to change into some other app because that's literally the main reason I used Spotify. 

[Licancabur2]

Please Spotify, we need a way to explore new music, without taking history of listenings into the account.

[emvaladez11]

I just created an account to post this response. Wow, customer support has truly changed. Back in 2017 when I took on my first customer support role, if I had provided an answer like the people here who work for Spotify, I would have been immediately terminated. My CEO back then, really cared about customer support, but all the companies now and days that say that they care about their customers don't know what caring actually is. You see my former CEO use to check chat transcripts, emails, randomly and if you responded like the Spotify employees here, he would have terminated them immediately. You never actually answered the question! Just a bunch of useless words. I came here because I had the same problem as well. 😞   The answers provided are incorrect. months ago, I had a big liked playlist and it provided new music suggestions that were not really in my liked playlist--they were related to the particular artist that I was listening to. You don't even know your own product. 

[Bazil2013]

I wish Spotify would fix this song radio problem, it defeats the purpose of looking for new or similar songs. 

[Syl7]

This has been a huge problem for years. Before you could click on a genre en get a radio, when you liked song from those lists it went to the list Likes from Radio. Those were the good times. It was ALWAYS new music, it NEVER recycled songs you already listened to or had in your liked/library. I hate listening to the same songs over and over again. But now, it's like I can't ever FIND new music and new artits THANKS TO spotify. 

[mrredpaul84]

As someone who works in user acceptance testing, it is obvious that this feature is not a bug, but rather a very lazy way that Spotify decided to curate "Radio" playlists for users. I originally switched over to Spotify with the hopes that it would be easier to find new music, but that is definitely not the case. When I click "Go to song radio" I expect to be presented with songs that are similar to the one I selected, but instead I get a playlist with shuffled songs from my playlists that I've already listened to countless times, with a few non-liked songs sprinkled within (enough to count on one hand).

I remember using a similar feature on Pandora back in 2014 that worked far better than this garbage. I hope that Spotify fixes the "Go to song radio" feature in the next update because it is honestly terrible.