Spotify adds random songs to my ”Liked Songs” playlist

[AmaliaK]

Plan

Premium

Country

Romania

Device

Samsung phone & personal computer

Operating System

Android & Windows 10

My Issue:

Spotify keeps adding random songs to my ”Liked Songs” playlist.

What does this mean? My ”Liked Songs” playlist contains all kind of songs I don't know anything about. These aren't songs I accidentally liked. These aren't songs I recognize. Furthermore, I hate most of these songs.

Nobody else has access to my Spotify account or to the devices I use Spotify on. Two apps have access to it though - one is Spotify's Web Player, the other is Shazam.

The songs I search using Shazam go to a special playlist. Also, the app doesn't automatically like them for me.

This has been an ongoing issue for me. At first, I thought maybe I wasn't paying attention and accidentally liked these songs. I unliked everything I didn't like.

Then it happened again. I thought that maybe, just maybe, I don't understand how the ”Liked Songs” playlists works.

Now it happened again. It's very annoying. I was trying to enjoy some time off listening to music I like, and instead I woke up having to remove awful songs from my playlist.

I hate this. It is annoying and time-consuming. I also don't know how to stop it or prevent it from happening. It also affects my Release Radar and Discover Daily - two playlists containing almost nothing I enjoy listening.

[Yordan]

Hi @AmaliaK!

Were these tracks recently added to your Liked Songs? Have you tried removing the Shazam app from your account page for a while to see if it would make a difference?

Feel free to send over the song links of some of the tracks you don't recognize in your Liked Songs so we can investigate further.

Let us know how it goes. Cheers!

[AmaliaK]

Hello!

These tracks have been added over time. Which is weird, because I have removed all the unknown tracks in the past.

These are NOT tracks I have ”shazammed”. I have only recently connected my two accounts (Spotify & Shazam), this issue dates before. I am 100% certain this has nothing to do with Shazam. Anyway, I have disconnected the two, just in case.

https://open.spotify.com/track/6L96xE3y1ZZsvFINn0XZ5L?si=jkRSFKtDTEamatGAih-HrQ&utm_source=copy-link
https://open.spotify.com/track/4luXYlyKDLOmIufwy6EeCR?si=PPhi396ZRUSPsLdmJNPp3g&utm_source=copy-link
https://open.spotify.com/track/6gGBL1uMBcNUOzSYfKreID?si=vVCEKJ-JTW6--nRyRWDCdA&utm_source=copy-link
https://open.spotify.com/track/6HptVLMwjkTcwjDi4Tq6if?si=e87180QrT7-i8JojWaJAxw&utm_source=copy-link
https://open.spotify.com/track/45cHZBBewg16f5ljvIto2x?si=2Y3m2T4zTV6q70-1FfOq8Q&utm_source=copy-link
https://open.spotify.com/track/4kw8clMuYfBDLrVMeofbmx?si=SA6VCoRQSja15-jfSd0J-Q&utm_source=copy-link
https://open.spotify.com/track/3YFmw5aBWNAYVkDGt8X6Xd?si=poiGtfblSAavbxMO_JfWxQ&utm_source=copy-link
https://open.spotify.com/track/5VEMXtJScOykiUlMYgOlBm?si=p34Wi-5JRzua4iZQ-04U2A&utm_source=copy-link

"uri": "spotify:track:4OnDo8bRa78Qe54oDjbd44",

"uri": "spotify:track:5elNY8kplY5TDhww8mFL1O",

"uri": "spotify:track:0ZnGdv09FPAxFzLVaMs3OE",

"uri": "spotify:track:1LeJvkuawbp424pRLlOVUz",

[Alex]

Hi there @AmaliaK,

Thanks for the reply and the links. 

Can you make sure that the Enhance button on top of your Liked Songs is grayed out. This can be done on the mobile app. If Enhance is grayed out, the app shouldn't add songs to your Liked Songs automatically. 

Something else that could be doing this is is another app which is linked to Spotify. It's worth checking the list of apps on your account for any other app you don't know or has anything to do with music and disable access, like you did with Shazam.

A third possibility is that you've logged your account in on a device like a TV/ Speaker to which more people have access to and can like songs sometimes. You can log out from those by logging out Everywhere. 

Hope this helps. 

[AmaliaK]

Thank you, Alex. I appreciate your answer.

But let's get this straight.

The ”Enhance” button (aka ”Extinde” in my language) is grayed out and has never been otherwise.

There's no other app linked to my Spotify account.

I am not logged in anywhere else aside from my personal computer and my personal phone.

To me, it feels like Spotify tries to promote certain artists or songs and adds these fictional likes. If nobody else but Spotify has access to my data and my account, how else can I explain this phenomenon?

Also, what can I do now? Re-delete all the unknown songs and check in a month or two if anything suspicious came up once again?

[Alex]

Hi there @AmaliaK,

Thanks for the reply.

It's very odd that there were these unknown songs added to your Liked Songs in the first place. I've listed all the possible ways this could happen in my previous answer. The Spotify app itself can't add songs to your playlists and Liked Songs. The Enhance feature could do that, but it shows a little green icon next to enhanced songs. 

If you have suspicions that someone else has access to your account, I'd recommend going through the steps here. Since you use the app only on your personal phone and computer this isn't very likely though.

Sometimes it happens to me if I'm listening to music on my phone and my screen gets unlocked in my pocket to Like or Dislike a song like that and I later notice this, but this can happen only with song that you've been listening to.

I'd suggest you delete those songs, and check from time to time if there are new songs that you haven't liked in your Library. If you keep seeing more unknown songs added to your collection, do let us know and we'll investigate this further.

Cheers.

[AmaliaK]

Okay Alex, thank you.

I will go thru my Liked Songs again and delete the unknown tracks. 

I'll see how this goes over time and I will get back in a couple of months if it happens again.

[AnneeBrooks]

I was having this issue too and it was extremely annoying!  If you go into your playlist there is a button at the top called enhanced if you turn this off that will remove the songs you have not added. 

[JimBobBobbins]

Dude. This is happening to me too. I have nothing externally linked, either app or hardware and my liked song playlist is littered with unlike songs...wth. There must have been some sort of policy change or something coz this is ridiculous!

[MihailY]

Hey @JimBobBobbins,

Thanks for reaching out.

Have you noticed a particular pattern in this behavior? Also, have you tried securing your account as suggested by @Alex above? 

If possible, send us a few links to the tracks that were added.

Keep us posted.

[Gmck89]

Hi this is also happening to me. 

[Dian]

Hey @Gmck89,

Thanks for posting in the Community.

Could you elaborate more on your experience with the Liked Songs collection so we can prepare further troubleshooting steps?

Are you using the Enhance feature or is it not visible on your end? Do songs get added to the Liked Songs collection without having nothing to do with the Enhance feature?

What troubleshooting steps have you already tried? This'll help us avoid repeating ourselves.

The more information you provide, the better our answer will be.

Keep us posted,

Cheers!

[amykins13]

Hello - I am experiencing this issue as well and was told by support to add a response here to show the tech team that other people are experiencing the issue as well. I have verified that "Enhance" is not enabled. I can also list the specific songs that I did not add. It does not seem to be a human liking the songs, as some of the songs get added over and over even before I un-like them.

As an example- I have IFTTT connected to my Spotify account as a third party app. The only thing that IFTTT does is "if a song is liked, add it to a monthly playlist", so if I like a song in January, a playlist called January '23 gets added if it doesn't exist, and the song I liked gets added to the playlist. What I have noticed is that some of these "phantom like" songs are the same songs over and over, and they get added multiple times to the same month, indicating that something is attempting to like the same song over and over.

The songs that are currently added to my likes that I did not add:

Sweden - Added Jan 15th, added again Jan 26th, added again Feb 1st, added again Feb 3rd
Cat  - Added Jan 18th, added again Jan 29th, added again Feb 3rd
Base - Added Jan 29th
I'm Done - Added Jan 28th
I Built a Fire - Added Jan 16th

[Alex]

Hi there @amykins13,

Thanks for the detailed info you've submitted.

I'd suggest going to your account page > Apps and make sure there isn't any other app apart from IFTTT, Facebook, Spotify ads etc. that is listed there. Any app you haven't heard of or aren't using. 

It's very likely that your account is linked to another service which is automatically adding these songs. These could be sports or gaming apps, fitness apps, news apps.

If you're logged on a communal device, like a gaming console, smart speaker or TV, to which other people have access, it's a good idea to disconnect your account from those for a few days, to see if the liked songs return.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

[amykins13]

Hi Alex -
Aside from IFTTT, Google, and Alexa, the 3rd party apps I have I'm all familiar with and should only be reading what I have in Spotify, and not be liking or adding anything. And my Google and Alexa devices are only in this house and only one other person lives here and he's not liking these songs either.

[Eni]

Hey @amykins13, 

Thanks for getting back in touch.

In this case, we suggest that you try following these specific steps. 

If the issue persists afterwards, would you mind creating a new account to check if the issue appears on it too?

Let us know how it goes.