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The vagaries of the Spotify algorithm

Never mind the algorithm.. what the fuck have Spotify done to their 'home' page on the mobile app.

I underestand that they are 'beta' testing this new screen.. It's fucking awful.. They've turned it into TikTok so you have to scroll through loads of stuff rather than having the obvious stuff you have and might want to listen to..

:mad::mad:
 
Hollis said:
Never mind the algorithm.. what the fuck have Spotify done to their 'home' page on the mobile app.

I underestand that they are 'beta' testing this new screen.. It's fucking awful.. They've turned it into TikTok so you have to scroll through loads of stuff rather than having the obvious stuff you have and might want to listen to..

:mad::mad:
Click to expand...

Yeah it's shite. I've been a user since virtually day 1 and it's never been so terrible to use. They've got too much money and resources and can't stop tinkering with it trying to make it 'better' but it's just irritating to use now.
 
I've not noticed a new, annoying home screen but that might be coz I never update my apps.

I just want the Ed Sheeran and random house/trance/whateverthefuck recommendations to go away.
 
skyscraper101 said:
Yeah it's shite. I've been a user since virtually day 1 and it's never been so terrible to use. They've got too much money and resources and can't stop tinkering with it trying to make it 'better' but it's just irritating to use now.
Click to expand...

On the support site, some UX people commenting have said they're trying to make it like TikTok - so you have to scroll through loads of content.. But as someone else pointed out, you just want somewhere where you can easily go the music you've recently listented to, and some sensible recommendations!

Hopefully they will roll it back. I find it really disorientating.. I'm wondering if it might be a good time to try out some other streaming service for a few months.
 
Hollis said:
On the support site, some UX people commenting have said they're trying to make it like TikTok - so you have to scroll through loads of content.. But as someone else pointed out, you just want somewhere where you can easily go the music you've recently listented to, and some sensible recommendations!

Hopefully they will roll it back. I find it really disorientating.. I'm wondering if it might be a good time to try out some other streaming service for a few months.
Click to expand...

I did wonder this too. I just don’t know if I can be arsed with the hassle of migrating everything over to something else (and all the other people on my family plan). I wish they’d just introduce some sort of ‘classic’ mode without all the tik tok style malarkey.
 
Oh wait is this genres nonsense with the moving pictures the tiktokky thing? I hadn't noticed it before :oops:

Screenshot_20230405-120707.png
 
No - its the home screen. Now if you've been selected for the beta testing.. you get a few small icons, followed by large 'cards' you have to scroll through.

I'm not too bothered about migrating as i've found over time my 'library' has become less important to me... although I would miss the daily playlists which do seem to work well..

I dunno why they can't just reverse it though..
 
Knotted said:
Must admit I'm intrigued by the terror genre
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I clicked on it just for you, expecting a playlist or something, and that unleashed some awful autoplaying scrolly swipey nightmare thing that I assume is what tiktok must be like.

E2a I just clicked on the "made for you" button on the search screen and the "your niche mixes" bit is especially bizarre. Apparently I like sad pop and German rap now :confused::thumbs:
 
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i listen to Spotify just as I'm falling asleep and i really worry about where it goes after i drop off. A couple of tunes that ended up in my most played list last year i neither recognised nor enjoyed on any level when i checked them out.
 
Voley said:
Another One Bites The Dust is ace tbf.

And I only grudgingly conceded this point recently.
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That and Radio Ga Ga is about as far as I'm willing to go with Queen. Unless you include that effort with Bowie which i also enjoy, but think of as a Bowie tune
 
I love Tiktok. It's great for finding amateur musicians doing something unpolished or a bit different. Then bandcamp if you want to listen to go more deeply into what you've found on Tiktok. I only use Spotify because I've managed to download it onto a work computer and I can get past blocks on it. No idea why it's still something that exists tbh.

You won't find something like this on Spotify

 
Knotted said:
I love Tiktok. It's great for finding amateur musicians doing something unpolished or a bit different. Then bandcamp if you want to listen to go more deeply into what you've found on Tiktok. I only use Spotify because I've managed to download it onto a work computer and I can get past blocks on it. No idea why it's still something that exists tbh
Click to expand...
None of the related videos that come up on that tiktok in your post seem to be at all related and I can't play them or click on anything else anyway, maybe coz I don't have the actual app installed? Is there a usable browser version that doesn't come with loads of hoops you have to jump theough to create an account first or an interface you have to spend time learning before you can use it?

Iirc we had a Why Spotify thread quite recently but for me it's a combination of not actually owning any physical or digital music, so I can't just stick an ipod or whatever on shuffle, but I play music all day at work and a lot of the time at home and I really don't want to put that much time into thinking about what to listen to every day. Sure sometimes I'll decide to play a particular album but it's handy to be able to just stick a four or eight hour playlist on and not have to keep coming back to my phone when I'm out in the rain with muddy hands. The release radar thing where you get one playlist with loads of new stuff every week, rather than the individual emails from whoever you follow on bandcamp, is good too.

My bandcamp seems to be all tiny punk/metal bands I've looked up to see if they're worth hearing at local pub gigs and a bit of weird experimental noise stuff that's not on spotify.

(I'm sure everyone will be both fascinated and relieved to read that I've got to the bottom of one of those weird recs btw - reckon a playlist of krautrock and hip-hop and some other stuff that all has flute parts was to blame for the German rap)
 
iona said:
None of the related videos that come up on that tiktok in your post seem to be at all related and I can't play them or click on anything else anyway, maybe coz I don't have the actual app installed? Is there a usable browser version that doesn't come with loads of hoops you have to jump theough to create an account first or an interface you have to spend time learning before you can use it?
Click to expand...

You have to login to use Tiktok properly and I don't think there's a short cut. I use it by searching hashtags and then you can scroll through and find something interesting or not as the case may be. The algorithm favours brevity which is a bit of problem as you get clipped version of things, but that's why it's good to use in combination with bandcamp or youtube as you can often find full versions of tunes there.

To be fair spotify is good for long auto-created playlists, but I find it locks you in. So you listen to something based on your history which creates more of that history which gets recommended to you even more. And there's the odd maybe you'll also like... and maybe you don't but you're now locked into that as well because you've listened to it.
 
Knotted said:
To be fair spotify is good for long auto-created playlists, but I find it locks you in. So you listen to something based on your history which creates more of that history which gets recommended to you even more. And there's the odd maybe you'll also like... and maybe you don't but you're now locked into that as well because you've listened to it.
Click to expand...
I really don't get that with Spotify - it seems to figure out that you might have more than one 'genre' you like so starts producing playlists for different things. So, thankfully, if I decide to listen to Queen for several weeks, it doesn't bugger up my entire algorithm, but limits it to one playlist. In contrast, I occasionally listen to country music when I want something different and there's either existing playlists or if I listen to enough it will start suggesting stuff for me.
 
Hollis said:
I really don't get that with Spotify - it seems to figure out that you might have more than one 'genre' you like so starts producing playlists for different things. So, thankfully, if I decide to listen to Queen for several weeks, it doesn't bugger up my entire algorithm, but limits it to one playlist. In contrast, I occasionally listen to country music when I want something different and there's either existing playlists or if I listen to enough it will start suggesting stuff for me.
Click to expand...

I think it's more a problem that it starts recommending particular songs again and again even if the artist is localised to a particular list. You can actually see this very clearly if you look at plays of particular tracks of albums. There's usually a huge spike for the most popular one.
 
I hadn't noticed the genre bit..
Screenshot_20230405-190535_Spotify.jpg
Upsetting, but not surprising that I'm really into "solitude" as a genre. But it's bleak enough up here, no need to reinforce it!
 
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