Spotify has therefore removed the ability for one or more of your playlists to be available publicly

[adminutzurio]

Hello everybody,

I have tried customer service three times. The first time I was assured that the problem will be resolved soon (and is being escalated), but sadly nothing happened.

The second and third times I was told they don't know and to try support email. I tried a few times but I always got back the same email in broken English and they never reply to any follow-up so I don't really know what else to do.

Last time writing to customer support I was told to try to reply to the no-reply Spotify email which to no surprise didn't work. So I am (helpfully understandably) frustrated and I don't really know where to turn now.

My issue:

I have now gotten three emails saying "It has come to Spotify’s attention that your account has engaged in unauthorized use of the Spotify service in violation of the Terms. Spotify has therefore removed the ability for one or more of your playlists to be available publicly."

Me and my friends have been doing these playlists for over three years and I am certain there is nothing "unauthorized" about them at all. Two of these were really small with only a few listeners, only the last one was somewhat bigger with maybe 100 listeners per month.

Is there anyone else I could write to who can actually help me?

Thank you in advance! 

[adminutzurio]

Hey @Mattia444,

Thanks for your reply and for the info shared.

In this case, we'd suggest checking your email so you can verify if perhaps you received a message regarding the behavior described.

Meanwhile, we'd recommend you create a copy of said playlist by going to the three-dot menu> Add to other playlist> Create new playlist.

If you need anything else, the Community is here for you.

[richikitsch]

Same problem here,**bleep** don't care if my list can be public or not, I am just a "private" user, but I really want to know what "unauthorized use" I have been involved in...

/Richi

[MAZIv]

I've had same email I contacted support whom told me to refer to email which doesn't go into detail.

After each time I raised issue other than today I explain what happened the agent reads message then closes the conversation 🤔 

The last agent said email no reply which is of no assistance

If we have violated the terms the least they can do is explain how so we are aware of not doing so again inadvertently 

[drewy88]

So I made a new version of the playlist that originally got blocked and it’s just been blocked again saying I’ve engaged in unauthorised use of my Spotify account. If anyone has any thoughts on why a playlist would get consistently blocked when there is nothing controversial about the title or the photo for the playlist then I’d love to hear any thoughts.

[Alex1158]

I've experienced the same issue, too.

[bev-kb]

I have this issue twice now. I have checked over my playlists and there is NOTHING in there that is not of terms. Unless me listening to the playlist day and night is against terms? I am not a bot nor use a bot. I just really like the playlists that I have made so I will listen to it at home and then turn it off from my PC and go straight to my phone as I drive. I don't get why the email won't state what we have done that's "against the terms of Spotify". Or why no agent will help!

[Benny_Wallin]

I have had the same problem. But it does not explain what I have violated or what has been reported. How can I change my mistakes then, when I don't know what I'm doing wrong, or even worse, someone just "gets upset" about something I do.

It would be fairly simple to include information on which playlist was reported and the reason. When you send out your punishment.

I think this is downright bad

[MarshmallowTheCorgi]

I have to agree. This randomly happened to me and I tried to communicate with two representatives of Spotify- neither were very helpful. I literally have no idea what my playlist violates, at all.

[ricardoemfwpereira]

I got a notification just now - a playlist I was curating also got deleted. The claim is very generalist - Violation of Terms of Use, nothing else. It was just a bunch of electronic musics that I liked, good for focusing, and decided to share publicly with others to maybe enjoy as well. I noticed, more and more people were following the list, with new subscribers every one or two days. It got removed completely, and it was not even made private, neither had forewarning. I’d create a new list but I’m afraid I might make the same mistake. Anyone has any idea why are public playlists being deleted? Or maybe a better suggestion than continuing with Spotify…

[Apower]

Same thing happened to me. Chat agents said they had "no visual" on it and could not assist and told me to refer back to my email which does not specify anything. I tried to ask questions about what types of violations may lead to an email like this but the agent immediately disconnected from the chat. This happened multiple times and was very rude. How can a company tell me I violated terms, enforce a punishment but not tell me how I violated the agreement or how my account will be impacted. Also, shouldn't we have a right to appeal? Just very frustrating. The agents disconnecting from the chat when you ask something they don't like is like being hung up on. 

[SynthPrincipal]

Plan

Free

Country

UK

Operating System

(Windows 10)

So recently my playlist got set to private and the only explanation I got was an accusation of me breaking the terms of service but they didn't tell me what I did... "Spotify has removed the ability for one or more of your playlists to be available publicly."

I've spoken about this to about 20 different people from support now and none of them have been able to help me. One said, "I've checked backstage and can confirm that there's no other information stated about this incident." If that's the case then I can have it set to public again right? Why are they keeping my playlist private if there's no info available?

Then I was told by support "The best next step will be to answer that email you've got with the information that the playlist was marked as secret" I did and got this response: "Unfortunately we're unable to read queries sent to this inbox". This is the same conversation I have had with plenty of people from support now, why are they telling me to respond to something that will always be an automated response? Also, the second automated email directs me to support... the very place that said they couldn't possibly help me and to refer back to my email.

Then I was told by Eduardo R at 19:08 on Jan 5th: "I think the best and quickest way to get this issue handled is to have one of our specialist advisors speak with you now. Is that okay? I’ll pass on everything we’ve got so far so you don’t have to repeat yourself." I said yes then Eduardo closed the chat... I never did get to speak to this specialist...

Later I was told by Lady Jean C at 20:28 on the 5th of Jan "Thank you. I've checked on our end and can see that the previous advisor was able to create a case and forwarded it to our specialty team." I did ask when I would hear from them and Lady Jean closed the chat... not giving me any more info...

I was just wondering when I will hear back from one of these advisors as I was told I would get to speak to one, at the very least I should get an email?

==============================================================

Here's another thing I have noticed: Support keeps telling me different things. Here are a couple of conversations that I have logged:

"Hi there! We don't have any more information to share, but we'll be here if you need help with anything else.
Anna L at 20:26, Jan 11

All I want to know is what's going on. I was told there's no problem with the playlist which should mean I get it back. Who can I speak to to get it back?
SynthPrinciple at 20:29, Jan 11

I'm afraid this isn't something customer service can help with. Unless you have a technical or payment issue, I'll be ending this chat.
Anna L at 20:29, Jan 11"

==============================================================

Hi there, this is Chris C from Spotify CS. Don't worry, I'll be glad to look into this for you.
Chris C at 19:42, Jan 11

Looks like you've been disconnected from the previous advisor- but don't worry, we can pick up where you left off.
Chris C at 19:43, Jan 11

Give me a minute to catch up and review the previous conversation, so you won't need to repeat certain steps and details.
Chris C at 19:43, Jan 11

Conversation closed by the agent at 19:46, Jan 11

==============================================================

Why is support so cryptic? I have messaged them on: Facebook, Twitter, and email.

[DoomNation]

Somebody just sabotaged my playlist twice. After it accumulated over 100 followers over a period of months. Same issue. The playlist is 100% organic and does not violate any copyright or otherwise.  Also, the email is written in a very accusatory and condescending tone.  I take offense by it personally.  That idea link you posted was from last year. Do these "complaints" even go under human review before the playlists become disabled? I was having a similar problem when I was running Facebook ads when the algorithms were temperamental and were mistakenly disabling ad accounts. At least you had a way to dispute it and have it go under human review to make the final decision. They don't seem to have that here. Anybody can just sabotage someone's hard work by submitting a false report giving them control of the playlist space. Very bad.

[DoomNation]

Most likely there is nothing wrong with your playlist. The exact same thing happened to me. One of my prized playlists got taken offline and a second one as well after I confirm that there was no infringing material. Unfortunately on this platform there is a HUGE problem with copyright and DMCA abuse where a malicious user or competing curator can take down a playlist or even an artist's catalog as Spotify facilities this abuse with an easy reporting system with little or no verification of the complainant  or the violation that was claimed. They obviously have no human review of the complaints so as a result honest people suffer while cheaters and trolls have the upper hand.  There is a big article in Billboard regarding the problem and I don't see them fixing it anytime soon. https://www.billboard.com/pro/spotify-false-infringement-claims/ 

[DoomNation]

ANOTHER PLAYLIST NUKED!!! This is just getting crazy! Can't you just have a person who's only job is to review the complaint and verify that it's real??? When will this stop?

[Punia]

Oh my god... It happened to me today.

The conversations (4) from Customer Service were ridiculous. 

I came here for help but I have to let my playlist go away I guess.

I am sad :c

[Bazibon1]

My playlist got taken down too! I've contacted two customer service agents and they have both responded with the cold "We don't have information refer to email" message. This is my favorite playlist and i want to share it with my friends! When i asked the customer service what can i do about it, they closed the conversation. Spotify customer service is INSUFFERABLE and something needs to be done about it. Fast.

[Allo_Allo]

Yes, indeed somthing needs to be done, for me it was an agent named Katrina, once i mentioned the playlist she just said to refer to the email and rudely ended the chat.

How can we get someone who can help us with this query, could they at least investigate before banning the playlist, some of us have worked hard and for years building these playlists only to be taken down without proper proof and explanation..

[DoomNation]

I have an update on this. After Emailing Spotify Support and CC ing everyone up the chain all the way to the top they sent a reply accusing me of artificial streaming to make ME look like the bad guy when I do nothing of the sort. In fact, they took down another playlist that I haven't listened to in well over a week if not more so don't tell me that it's because of bots. In fact, I knew which one it was before I checked because it was a Gothic playlist which is the only ones they seem to focus on. In the meantime you have these huge curation companies that are PUBLICLY KNOWN to sell streams to artists by way of junk apps for prizes and unauthorized streaming for commercial businesses. (Spotify knows about them, trust me). They add artist tracks there without their consent as a teaser and blew up the FAL for one of my bands. The added a track of mine for another one of my bands yesterday or the day before. They did remove my track on my request and hopefully soon enough so the same thing doesn't happen with this band. Point is that now I am practically walking on eggshells to make sure that I am not doing anything that even RESEMBLES bots like not listening to the same playlist more than once a day so not to set off their so called "sophisticated detection systems" but overall I think that was a flat out lie! If you know about these big stream selling enterprises and you continue to let them operate with impunity and little pissants like myself have to watch every move I make it makes me wonder if Spotify even has their hand in that pot. It's become such a corrupt company, all sense of fairness and justice went right out the window.  All I am looking to do is make music. Why do I even need to be concerned with this **bleep**?

[quebola416]

I finally think what is going on, I was trying to create my own public playlist and grow it organically but one of my competitors noticed and I got intel that he put a bot to stream my playlist and hence Spotify vigilante algorithm spotted it and banned my public playlist, it is really frustrating, why they do not ban the "bot" ip or something else instead of taking out the playlist I am trying to grow?

[quebola416]

I finally think what is going on, I was trying to create my own public playlist and grow it organically but one of my competitors noticed and I got intel that he put a bot to stream my playlist and hence Spotify vigilante algorithm spotted it and banned my public playlist, it is really frustrating, why they do not ban the "bot" IP or something else instead of taking out the playlist I am trying to grow?

[Mattia444]

Plan

Free

Country
Italy

Operating System

Windows 11

My Issue:

I have made some playlist, one of them recenlty had disappeared (not to me) to my friends, they can't see it, but i can see it, play all of its songs, add or remove songs, but for example i can't change the photo of the playlist, it load for infinity, my friends says that when the use the link i gave them it says "Private Playlist, the owner made it private" or something like that, but i know it isn't real, any ideas?

The link of this playlist is there: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/47prLZzfOgqTDzjNUp4MYY?si=983502567f1a45f7

Hope someone can help me!