Songs in playlist changing by themselves

[sandpatch]

Plan

Premium

Country

Norway

Device

All

Operating System

All

My Question or Issue

I have had spotify since the invite beta so I am not new. In rare occasions the last years I have experienced that some songs in my playlist change by themselves. The latest one I noticed is this song: https://open.spotify.com/track/4mFQNiKZBkxsDosJk1tyqJ?si=qMDIVWALQxuzmjWM0sA3Wg&utm_source=copy-link

When I play this song, the cover is different from the song that is shown before I click it. I also don't like this version and would never add it to my playlist, yet it is in there. Is there a way to stop this from happening? 

[sandpatch]

It has happened with anothe song. This one: https://open.spotify.com/track/3itAdIDLIwKskzx3bRIKrx?si=1VRpdiZQSR6pmECcoA2PEA&utm_source=copy-link

[Kiril]

Hey @sandpatch,

Thanks for posting about this in the Community.

We understand you experience some sort of a issue with having discrepancies in versions of your liked songs. We've also noticed that the first link leads to an album/playlist that contains several versions of the song. Is it possible that you have liked (marked with a heart) the whole album/playlist (thus adding all of the songs in your Liked songs), as that would explain why you hear different versions of the song you mention.

If the above doesn't make sense, could we ask you for a short screen recording of the situation with both songs, so we can take a closer look and provide you with a better advice.

Keep us posted, we'll be on the lookout for your reply.

[sandpatch]

Hello @Kiril ,

no, I don't use the heart system at all. What happens is simply that I add a song to a playlist. And sometimes over time some songs change to a remixed (a.k.a. different) version all by themselves. This is of course over having this specific playlist for around 10 years. So in this case, the song "In and out of love" was added by me many years ago.  It was a version that sounded like this: https://open.spotify.com/track/57nKL06bKwjaM5Y0aMtY9v?si=d494dbd670c84a30

But as you hear now, what I have sounds different. This happened by itself and not by me. I don't have 2 songs with the same (or similar name) in the playlist. My friend also has the same experience so I am guessing that I am not alone.

With the bottom song it has also changed by itself since this is an annoying remix, but I am not completely sure how it sounded originally but I am pretty sure it is this: https://open.spotify.com/track/13ntBCGKIJDMallQDWEpWY?si=e4148abeb1be432c

My guess is that Spotify uploads "new" versions and they might accidentally get exchanged for "wrong" versions but that they kept the same track ID. 

Also I tried playing the St. Tropez song from my playlist and as you can see again, the covers are different. So there seems to be something buggy going on where song doesn't match ID or something similar.

If you need more tests, ask away.

NINJA EDIT: This is my "main playlist" https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3JJ6cP6GOky9mU2pk3Zlba?si=61b036dd21b245a7 
Be warned, the music taste is very mixed and weird.

[CarlosE]

Hey @sandpatch,

Thanks for your reply and the extra info.

To confirm, is this happening only in that specific playlist or have you also noticed it in any other playlists you have?

Also, can you try removing the songs you don't like and adding the correct versions again to see if by any chance they're replaced again?

We're trying to figure out why this happened as it's quite odd.

Keep us posted.

[sandpatch]

I am back from work now.

To confirm, is this happening only in that specific playlist or have you also noticed it in any other playlists you have?

I only have one large playlist, so I don't know. It is "rare" so it doesn't happen to many songs, but very annoying when it happens.

Also, can you try removing the songs you don't like and adding the correct versions again to see if by any chance they're replaced again?

Yes, this is essentially what I am doing. Somehow the song that I had just disappears and I have to replace it. Once replaced they are usually behaving. I haven't tracked what songs I had to replace multiple times.

When I have replaced the song that I originally had added the titles look the same. 

[sandpatch]

So I quickly continues testing. Still have the different album covers on the old (wrong song) title, but correct on the newly replaced one. See the comparison, you see the age of the "new" and "old" one. It seems as if the database of the songs is doing some sneaky bug.

These are the codes of the songs:

Song 1 (old): https://open.spotify.com/track/4mFQNiKZBkxsDosJk1tyqJ?si=61409b403e1441d6

Song 2 (new): https://open.spotify.com/track/1FzbOPWCZiNxnLjAhY1jAR?si=0cc6422e95a3404a

[Eni]

Hey there @sandpatch, 

Thanks for getting back in touch. 

We tried to replicate this on our end with the same songs you mentioned, but we couldn't. 

In this case, could you try creating a new playlist with the songs you remember that had this issue before to check in a few days if the same happens? Also, make sure to share its link with us so we can also keep track of it in case there are any changes.

On another note, would you mind making a copy of your large playlist and see if the issue happens there as well?

We'll be waiting for your reply. 

[sandpatch]

We tried to replicate this on our end with the same songs you mentioned, but we couldn't. 

Sorry but what have you tried? Tried playing them from my playlist? Tried adding the songs and wait a year? Tried playing it on your playlist? Tried playing the song that I linked?

In this case, could you try creating a new playlist with the songs you remember that had this issue before to check in a few days if the same happens? Also, make sure to share its link with us so we can also keep track of it in case there are any changes.

The time frame is different. This is a rare occasion that happens around maybe 6 times a year on a playlist with 1800 songs so it's not a that easy to hunt down. I would still guess that Spotify is interested in no database errors.

On another note, would you mind making a copy of your large playlist and see if the issue happens there as well?

Yeah, I tried. So I copied all songs over to a new playlist. Still different album covers on the bugged songs.

What happens if you play from my playlist that I linked above? There are 2 "in and out of love" in there, the top one is the broken one and the bottom is the correct one that I added yesterday. Do you get the different album covers as well when you play from my playlist? Tried copying them as well?

[Eni]

Hi @sandpatch, 

Thanks for your reply. 

Keep in mind that performance issues can occur when handling very large playlists. In this case, we suggest splitting your large playlist into smaller ones to avoid any issues related to this. 

On another note, we created a playlist on our end with the two versions of the song you mentioned along with other versions of the same song and some random ones, we played it for a while, tried skipping the songs, but nothing happened. That's why we'd like you to create a small playlist with the songs that might have this issue, so if it happens again with the small playlist, it's easier for us to track down what might be happening.

If this only occurs with the large playlist, but not with the smaller one, the issue is most likely related to the size of the playlist. 

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

[victoryaac]

A similar thing happened to me. I had "Luv (sic) pt 3 Instrumentals" by Nujabes in a number of my playlists, including my 2020 and 2021 Spotify Wrapped playlists (it was my most played song in 2020). I went to play my Top Songs 2020 playlist, and instead there was a different song I hadn't heard by the same artist there instead ("Luv (sic) pt4 LASTorder Remix Instrumentals"). I checked my other playlists and pt3 was replaced by the pt4 LASTorder Remix everywhere. I don't think I ever heard the pt4 Remix and it definitely wasn't my top song in 2020, so there's no chance I added it by mistake since I cant add things to my Top Songs playlists.

Maybe this is a database error? Like something got rehashed wrong or something.

[AndresM]

Hey @victoryaac,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community and welcome.

Tracks in playlists can only be updated by its owner. However, some songs could be replaced by the "same song" (title/artist) but on a different release due to changes in the permissions from the respective rights holders.

Some releases of songs and albums might get taken down from the Spotify platform in certain countries. When the track is reuploaded again, sometimes it could be re-uploaded with different metadata which leads to a different version. This may explain the “track switch” you might find in your playlist.

In case this happens with different songs, we'd recommend logging out everywhere to prevent the playlist from being edited by another logged in device.

Hope this clarifies things up!

[Endslikecrazy]

Is there no option to have users get to know if songs on their playlists are gonna be changed by their owners.
I've had this problem with sultans of swing by dire straits and now all of a sudden it almost seems some disgusting coverband failing at the song compared to the song i used to have in my playlist.

I completely get owners might change stuff due to licensing issues or things like that but the least you could do is let your users know this is gonna happen right?
Same thing with songs that just get removed all willy nilly.
Im now looking at some of my playlists and noticing quite a few songs are just removed but still present in the playlist.
Im not big in IT yet but it doesnt seem that hard to let people know theyre playlists/songs are gonna be changed outside of their own choice.