Multiple artists with same name

[user-removed]

I'm not sure whether I should see this as a bug, feature, or something else. Although I have found great music this way, it kinda annoys me when Spotify lists music from multiple artists with the same name as music from one and the same artist.

Examples:

Julian Angel - For a Ghost: French singer/songwriter

Julian Angel - Choreography sucks: German rock ... thing

Everest - On a Approach: American indie alt-country band

Everest - Velocell: Swiss electronic ambient duo

So, Sportify, is it possible to list these artists as separate artists instead of making it seem they're one and the same?

[alexandertitus]

They should do it like IMDB, use (I), (II), (III), and try to rank them so the most popular band/artist with the name get (I) and so on. Also, they should NOT appear on the same "page".

[user-removed]

Yes, somehow.

At least Finnish teen star Robin has own page in Spotify.

Robin (Finnish teen star)

Robin (Others Robin artists)

[David]

Hello,

We are aware of some artists sharing these same names - We're trying to collect artists with a similar names to see what would be the best course of action. You can also provide some links to people here.

[Auraveda]

I have a couple more examples of multiple artists with the same name appearing together:

Morphine - Most of the page is the 90s rock band from the Boston area, but under the "Appears on" section there are a couple tracks that are definitely a different band (or possibly two) "Something Gotta Change" (R+B) and "Bitch Suck" (Industrial)

Genesis - Most of the page is the British prog/rock group, but there also appears to be a couple albums and a bunch of miscellaneous tracks from a rap artist called Genesis, and an album of ambient new agey music.

[skenealy]

I reported this via the Google docs tool, but am mentioning it here, too, since this is a particularly nasty collision.

On the Public Enemy (the rap group) page, the first album to show up is an album called "England's Glory" from a punk band likewise named Public Enemy. This band appears to be a white-supremicist skinhead band.

[trondkla]

Genesis (spotify:artist:3CkvROUTQ6nRi9yQOcsB50)  is a big blob with multiple artists...

[furry_fish]

Well. I really hope you sort this out soon. It's been making me angry for over four years now.

Latest example today, when checking out Rodriguez:
http://open.spotify.com/artist/5PrHzxc3kFm4hIrGNmelpX
Lot's of listeners may not get that 'Catch the light' is by a different artist.

How did you choose which of the bands to put on the Bio? Will it be possible to sort out which band relates to which after you've fixed the problems?
Example, Airbag:
http://open.spotify.com/artist/0gTqi1zdqD9s6islG2wLKC

Saga:
http://open.spotify.com/artist/09u8U2kk11NOZFLcNJEdJF
Six different artists amongst the albums and probably more in the singles.

Rainbow (like Fish and Genesis) is really messed up:
http://open.spotify.com/artist/6SLAMfhOi7UJI0fMztaK0m

At least there some humour involved when looking at Genesis top list. 'Jesus He Knows Me' Could be by any of the Genesis groups on the list....

Lux seems like a popular name:
http://open.spotify.com/artist/4mqSjqlaPrDmYwKS1E9FTV

Tosca:
http://open.spotify.com/artist/2QezBWDHOoFeVCM3wlzTDu

Seriously, is there an Italian version of every band in the world? And they usually claim the first album spot in Spotify. OK, these guys turned out to be from Estonia but it's often the most obscure artist which is listed first (This is because because the 'newest' album is listed first, old bands don't stand a chance).
Example, Traffic:
http://open.spotify.com/artist/1CD77o9fbdyQFrHnUPUEsF

[Klick3R]

You really have to do something about this...  Example:

Pentagram (Artist)

there are 3 bands called pentagram and they are all under same page and its really messy

it could be solved relatively easy just by adding tabs on the artist page at the header (overview, bio, related)

like: (Pentagram I)(Pentagram II)(Pentagram III)

and when one of them is clicked there would be:

("the clicked band of choice") : (Overview) (Biography) ( Related Artists)

I think this should be solved ASAP, even a temporary fix would be good until you get the best solution coded

[takman]

Hi,

Your original message about the fact you are doing something about ths was on 10th April 2012, So now we are in December and it still is a problem. Are you really working on this at all?

As per one other user...Can you fix the artist Genesis!

thanks

[ivanhoe]

Morphine has some new albums which are sure not from Sandmans band but some french group.

Those are: Neverland (2012) and Endorphine (Maxi Single) ...

please fix

[gregerburman]

Why is this a problem in the first place?

There are multiple people on Facebook with the same name. Not a problem.

There are multiple articles on Wikipedia with the same title. Not a problem.

Use unique ID:s, to make artists contextual instead of textual.

Add a disambiguation mechanism to let users get the artist they want.

By the way here are some more artist name collisions.

I mostly avoid these artists on Spotify for this reason.

+ Erika

+ Indica

+ Kamelot

+ Velvet

Velvet is the worst one. The artist cover image depicts Swedish dance/pop singer Velvet , while the biography text describes Italian rock group Velvet.

[emmeljay]

Same problem with "Sleepless"

Isreali band in the Bio

Sydney band's logo

Adelaide band listed with all the rest

This needs to be fixed soon

[Peter__]

Hey guys 🙂 

Implementing a way to seperate artists with the same name has been suggested over on the Ideas Exchange here.

If you would like to see it implemented as a feature, I would suggest you add your kudos and comments there. 

Peter

[nielsbuus]

This one bugs me too. Spotify needs to revamp their data structure and stop using the artist name as a primary key.

[FortuN]

Please, fix this. Hate to have my music with other artists in same name (Mader)..

[eventheminions]

+1. It's very frustrating because it messes up the artist radio and you wind up hearing music you don't like.

E.g.,

Passenger (awesome Sweden alt-metal) vs. Passenger (bland alternative)

Enemies (awesome instrumental rock) vs. Enemies (bottom-shelf Finnish hardcore)

Sort it out please!

[AbsolutelyNoFB]

@Peter

Implementing a way to seperate artists with the same name has been suggested over on the Ideas Exchange here.

If you would like to see it implemented as a feature, I would suggest you add your kudos and comments there. 

Peter

Okay, kudos for having this as an "idea". It's in the system so it can be fixed.

Going to the "idea", I discovered that this "idea" is almost a year old with many kudos and there's been no action on this by Spotify! This is basic artist catalogue functionality. Why is this not being worked on? It affects all Spotify users and fixing it would increase our enjoyment of Spotify.

[Peter__]

It could be being worked on, since Spotify development is done behind a curtain of mystery I guess we will never know what they actually have in development. With that in mind, it is a little bit of a rhetorical question pointed at me, since obviously I can't give you the answer but pointing people the the Ideas Exchange to show this feature is in demand is something I can do. 

You can also report any instances where you see 2 artists on the same page directly to the content team by following the steps outlined in this post from which I am guessing they pass that information over to the record labels. 

Peter

[BOBemil]

Yeah, fix this ASAP 🙂