Duplicates of the same albums

[Magic_13ananas]

Plan

Family

Country

UK

Device

iPhone 5S & Windows PC

Operating System

iOS 10 & Windows 7 & 10

My Question or Issue

Why are albums seemingly re-uploaded to the Spotify database with what looks like no changes what so ever?

The result is an unorganised collection of music that is saved across multiple locations i.e. Library and Playlists (and in some cases downloaded) but is not the same as what is available on Spotify's side so users run the risk of saving or even downloading the same track or album twice if they don't pay enough attention.

Below is an example of what I'm describing and what the effects can be if not checked/noticed.

It's worth noting that this is not a case of artists releasing an "updated" or "extended" version; it's exactly the same album.

What is going on?

Album saved in my library

The same album as found on the artist's page (not saved)

The result of saving the not-saved album

[Magic_13ananas]

Thanks for getting back to us @Magic_13ananas and sorry for the delay we've been checking this out with the guys backstage. 

It looks like the duplicate albums are appearing when an artist has reuploaded their music to Spotify. When an old version is removed, the original URI starts redirecting to the newer version but it looks like in some cases this is duplicating the album instead. 

We'll pass this onto the right team to take a look at. Just as a heads up, they'll be unable to go back and correct the current duplicates in your library, but hopefully they can look into it to stop it happening in the future. In the meantime, to correct your current library you'll need to go through an unsave any repeats. It shouldn't matter which one, as they'll be linking through to the same place. 

Hope this clears things up! Any questions, just ask 😊

[Magic_13ananas]

Just checked and it's surprisingly difficult to fix a double-saved album.

If you're unfortunate and manage to save an album twice (2 different versions) and try to un-save one of them (after trying to figure out which is the (in)correct one), it un-saves both albums, leaving you with an empty shell of the album art that has the "you have not saved any of this album yet" message inside.

This then means you have to go back to the artist's page and save the album manually; re-download it (if you're on wifi or aren't precious about mobile data) if you had it previously; and deselect any songs you didn't save in the first place.

[Magic_13ananas]

Not a single word, even to say "acknowledged"?

[Magic_13ananas]

I'm noticing it more and more often; I have 16 albums in my library that according to Spotify, don't exist anymore and have been silently replaced.

[Magic_13ananas]

Plan

Family Premium

Country

UK

Device

ALL

Operating System

ALL

My Question or Issue

More and more albums are being reuploaded into Spotify's database (replaced) but are not being replaced in users' saved libraries.

Saved (and/or downloaded) albums can be duplicated when a silent reupload happens which can result in extra space being used, a reduction listening experience due to repeat tracks being heard and the loss of saved music if not managed properly among such other issues.

As it states above, this is across all platforms and operating systems (I urge any user reading this to check for themselves) and is not fixed by a restart, log out/in or a clean install.

Info/evidence is here: https://community.spotify.com/t5/iOS-iPhone-iPad/BUG-Duplicates-of-the-same-albums/td-p/4542505

[Peter]

Hey @Magic_13ananas,

Thanks for coming to the Community, and sorry we haven't got back to you sooner!

As our catalog is continuously updated, some older versions of tracks may get replaced with newer ones.

For the saved ones you're seeing duplicated, you mentioned unsaving sometimes removes both versions. Does a reinstall fix this?

In addition, could you copy the URIs of some of the duplicate albums here (e.g. Dark Matter), if they are different to each other?

Keep us posted,

P

[Magic_13ananas]

Hi Peter, thanks for the reply.

I’m not sure which part you’re referring to with regards to a reinstall presenting a fix; fixing the fact that unsaving removes both or fixing the issue of 2 albums being saved in the first place.

Nevertheless, I can’t comment on whether it fixes any issue while it’s present—while duplicates are saved or when both have been removed—but I can say that it doesn’t stop it happening again in the future.

I understand that sometimes music is updated but why when there are no changes to any track in the album what so ever?

[Peter]

Hey @Magic_13ananas,

Thanks for getting back to us 🙂

I was referring to the former issue with regard to the reinstall. Any luck?

We're not too sure why this is happening (re: the duplicate albums), but in order to find out whether they are true duplicates, would you mind sharing the URIs of the duplicates?

To get the URI, you just need to right-click on the album in the desktop app, go to Share > Copy Spotify URI.

Take care,

P

[Magic_13ananas]

Yeah sure I’ll get a few links to you when I’m back at a desktop

[Magic_13ananas]

There are many others, but here are some examples:

Saved: spotify:album:0Zbbj4xLh815b7Ld1PX9xQ

On artist page: spotify:album:3Mysd7Ss3Hg93X6TA4ZBh6

Saved: spotify:album:6EBNlMn22avWfoDHl8f6FR

On artist page: spotify:album:2jqNXlaGROfgQrD9owrwlm

Saved: spotify:album:6EV2sRJ3B7XhGJJxzlBpZd

On artist page: spotify:album:146lsgsoDkI9Dz06nnO2Sw

Saved: spotify:album:2IQJ9PCrk3BQxEAJeHFe21

On artist page: spotify:album:6V6gdGipp0f4dF8nauyFeX

Saved: spotify:album:1Gw4wA7DJAW21RGb47dm33

On artist page: spotify:album:7fT0MPZl2xR6swdf5SW6AD

Saved: spotify:album:1RVOo1b2jdBei0B8Y4qWhi

On artist page: spotify:album:5ImY2Ky7CCEAaoV9WUwk59

Saved: spotify:album:5VNTJutFuF9idmnDDzfyzf

On artist page: spotify:album:0TQfdHyGNJ1zMJG4YdwcSY

Saved: spotify:album:7JXzUgMregnvyAnmRfVOh5

On artist page: spotify:album:65jmbHYm42IEATHEJCbKgC

Saved: spotify:album:4Amz9cql3seWOrnqyJ1Lxq

On artist page: spotify:album:4sz6Fn4BYORRLIc1AvQwQx

Saved: spotify:album:4Gq9LCFkf6FU7TExZzN5rX

On artists page: spotify:album:0h4G4OxUKLVwBhHTGzLNsv

Saved: spotify:album:6yhsK5J3ejY2yvai2a3lsg

On artist page: spotify:album:60YtWtJrXvNXkaypM8zbSK

Saved: spotify:album:7LYEVLZYDN0nIGMunzfjoJ

On artist page: spotify:album:2wrZ0F6Jjnk0Iyavcq5d1v

Saved: spotify:album:6Lq4DjGzV4rgjLEopaoCgK

On artist page: spotify:album:7nsk1bK6fnW1acWEGfkjkI

[Magic_13ananas]

Hey @Peter,

Are you able to comment the content behind the URLs?

[Magic_13ananas]

Hey @Peter,

Sorry to pester but have you had chance to look at this?

[anomaly]

I have this issue with these: 

https://open.spotify.com/album/2Ot1QoNbmHYTzXQDTuWnvO?si=-KZ4fQX7TfSz8oeoF50rXQ

https://open.spotify.com/album/0JwHz5SSvpYWuuCNbtYZoV?si=eAbwXnfZTZu10J8IyVZzCA

two different copies of the same ablum. I have one of them saved and tracks from it included in various playlists, and it has almost no listens, as tracked by the popularity/plays bar. The other one I do not have saved, and has many plays. I've had the same problems specified before other times I ran into this problem: if I save the "right" album, then unsave the "wrong" one, both are unsaved, and I have to re-save the new one again. Similar problems ensue with trying to fix playlists that contain songs from the album.

[Magic_13ananas]

Hey @anomaly,

Great to see my question has brought someone else’s attention to the table.

Hopefully with the right kind of help and the right kind of evidence from us (and possibly others) we can get this issue resolved; stick around and I’m sure we can be a big help to whoever takes this issue on.

Note: I also have seen that the versions I have saved don’t have many listeners.

[TomLegend]

Thanks for getting back to us @Magic_13ananas and sorry for the delay we've been checking this out with the guys backstage. 

It looks like the duplicate albums are appearing when an artist has reuploaded their music to Spotify. When an old version is removed, the original URI starts redirecting to the newer version but it looks like in some cases this is duplicating the album instead. 

We'll pass this onto the right team to take a look at. Just as a heads up, they'll be unable to go back and correct the current duplicates in your library, but hopefully they can look into it to stop it happening in the future. In the meantime, to correct your current library you'll need to go through an unsave any repeats. It shouldn't matter which one, as they'll be linking through to the same place. 

Hope this clears things up! Any questions, just ask 😊

[Magic_13ananas]

Hi @TomLegend,

It probably sounds like I'm being awkward for the sake of it--I promise I'm not lol--but I'm a little confused.

You say "the original URI starts redirecting to the newer version" and "It shouldn't matter which one, as they'll be linking through to the same place" but myself and (so far just) @anomaly have noticed that the versions we have saved have significantly fewer listens than the versions available in the artists' pages, implying that they are in fact not the same(?)

It has got me thinking though about how sometimes when I open spotify (phone) and for some reason, it starts re-downloading random songs in my library or playlists; is this linked in anyway?

[TomLegend]

Hey @Magic_13ananas, 

Hmm, on desktop if you hover the play count on desktop it gives the total number of plays. It looks like the visual representation bar is potentially not catching up - I'll flag this with the team too!

I can see on I've got a duplicate copy of The Handome Family album Singing Bones, where this happening:

• The newest update is here - spotify:album:3u4rZDOy1c7N0otfHS0qTj
• The older one is here - spotify:album:5pFyvgrdaeCRXbIDTI74Dr

If you hover over the first track The Forgotten Lake, you'll see the total number of plays is currently around 599,305. Also, worth noting the slight change in artwork between the two albums, one is a lighter blue than the other - this will have been why there was an update to it.

And, your thinking is exactly right - when you notice that Spotify is redownloading songs it's most commonly this, or a playlist that you have downloaded has had songs changed in it. For example, if you have Discover Weekly downloaded to your phone this'll update itself every Monday. 

 If there's anything else, let me know! 

/T

[Magic_13ananas]

Hey @TomLegend,

I think I’m starting to see what’s going on now, thanks for the responses; it’s good (in a kind of bad way) that you have a duplicate too so it’s not a completely isolated issue.

What I don’t understand though is why new versions are uploaded along side the old ones instead of simply replacing them. Surely the old versions are not needed for any reason, right?

[TomLegend]

Sorry the confusion, think of it more as there's one version - but two (or more) ways to get there. So, the links for that album above are playing the same version of the track. 

We don't completely remove the old way of reaching the track because otherwise this might break links that people may have shared on websites or social media. If for example The Handsome Family posted a link to their album on Facebook a few years ago and since then had to reupload their album to Spotify, the old link would still direct users to the right place.

/T

[Magic_13ananas]

Hey @TomLegend,

I’m sorry but I have to disagree with them being the same.

Here’s an album I have saved, with 3 tracks marked as explicit

https://open.spotify.com/album/7LYEVLZYDN0nIGMunzfjoJ?si=vGz_qoLqSSOGY-dlt_jkww

But here’s the same album from the artist’s page but with no explicit marks

https://open.spotify.com/album/2wrZ0F6Jjnk0Iyavcq5d1v?si=oYkGBj-2RcCYZ4Zlup8dIQ

Surely they’re not the same?

Sorry for the link types; I’m on my phone