Release Radar should not have anything I am not following!

[ktuli44]

Recently Release Radar has started adding tracks by artists I do not follow.  This should not be what the Release Radar is for.  It should be for new releases only by artists I follow.  Giving me "new singles picked for you" should go in my Discover Weekly.  I use both of these playlists for these specific purposes.  Do not clutter my Release Radar with things I am not following.  When I want to seek out new tracks by new artists, I'll seek them out.... but leave my Release Radar alone!

[MANISCHEWITZ]

Plan:
Premium

Country:
United States

Device:
Samsung Galaxy S24+, Dell XPS 15 2023 laptop, Google Home smart speakers, various streaming devices

Operating System:
Android 13, Windows 11

My Question or Issue:
I've noticed that my Release Radar playlist is increasingly filled with collaborations between artists I love and lesser-known or new artists whose music I don't enjoy. For instance, tracks like "Came Out A Beast" by Flau'jae featuring Lil Wayne, "Hurt" by DJ TUT featuring Lil Wayne, and "The Code (Outro)" by 1504 Mutebaby and Metro Boomin are examples of songs that I find far from my taste. While I enjoy Lil Wayne’s solo work, these collaborations don’t align with my music preferences and significantly impact my listening experience.

I have been regularly using the 'Don't Like' button and skipping tracks, but this hasn't seemed to improve the quality of my recommendations. This issue has been occurring for the past several weeks, almost every time a new Release Radar is generated.

If this trend is part of a tactic to boost sales figures for legendary artists while promoting new, less appealing artists on subpar beats, I believe these tracks should not be prioritized in playlists like Release Radar. These strategies are diluting the quality of the listening experience for long-time fans. I'm hoping to find a way to fine-tune my Release Radar so that it better reflects my music preferences, focusing on artists I follow or similar genres, without the frequent appearance of unwanted collaborations. Any guidance or assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[Vasil]

Hey @ktuli44 & @MANISCHEWITZ,

Thanks for reaching out and thank you for your feedback!

By design, Release Radar will show you music by artists you follow, artists you listen to and other artists we think you'd like.
If you wish to see only the new releases from the artists you follow, you can instead click on the 'What's New' bell in the top right corner of the app:

Tip: It can also be filtered for music only!

If instead you'd rather see a change in how Release Radar functions, you can also submit an idea on the Community's Idea Exchange! Likeminded folks have already posted ideas with a similar thought in mind to what you've shared with us, so feel free to browse the Ideas section before posting! E.g. for your current inquiry you may want to leave a vote for this idea here.

Hope this helps! We're here for you in case you need anything else 🙂

[ktuli44]

Is this a recent change to the Release Radar?  Until recently I feel it only included things by artists I follow.  I know the "What's New" section exists, but it is not an easy format to quickly listen to things - that is exactly why the RR worked well for me.  I could quickly go sample new releases by the artists I follow, now it is suggesting things I do not want.  As I said - this is the function of the Discover Weekly playlist to introduce me to new songs/artists.  I feel this only recently changed, and I'm not a fan.

[Layzworm]

What's new is not the same as release radar, please just make release radar like it used to be. ONLY ARTISTS I FOLLOW.

[mrsmagnuson]

Thank you @Vasil, but this is exactly the problem: Release Radar recently stopped working in the way you describe, i.e. it started showing music by artists I am not following and have no intention to follow. The content seems to be solely based on what I was listening to recently. In my opinion it was a sudden and unexpected change which led me to visit this forum.  

[TORHusky]

I'm not entirely sure when it happened, but recently the release radar is filled with artists I have never listened to, and many I would not listen to. Over 3/4 of the songs are being hidden as not relevant to any artist I actually listen to, before hiding songs I just don't like.

Release radar was the only thing keeping me on spotify vs youtube music, please fix this

[Justinf760]

Sounds exactly like my issue too, it really is just so awful now.

It doesn't matter which artists I'm following or what I've been listening to, every week my release radar is being filled with artists I've never listened to before (and the songs they're suggesting are months old, so it's old music from artists I have zero interest in), and I'm constantly hiding tons of songs. Or even better, it's full of songs from 1 album (that is a month+ old; worse if it's anything EDM).

It's pretty much just another 'Discover Weekly' for me, but worse I guess because the artists they use to 'fill in the space' are not interesting to me at all..