Removal of songs vs. removal of reference

[eule_7834]

Plan Premium

Country Germany

Devices: iPhone, Mac

I have discovered hundreds of new songs through Spotify and I saved them by liking them (heart symbol).

I understand that Spotify sometimes removes tracks for various reasons, for example for legal reasons. This is understandable.

However much worse than just not being able to play a song anymore, is to completely lose sight of it. I would like to know if the removal of liked (heart-symbol) songs ALWAYS leads to the songs REMAINING in the Liked Songs list, but grayed out (unplayable).

Thank you.

[Kiril]

Hey @eule_7834,

Thanks for reaching out. If you enable the option "Show unavailable tracks" in the settings on whatever device you are using, unavailable songs will remain in your liked songs, albeit greyed out. Only if you tap the heart symbol again will they be also removed from the list. The same applies to unavailable songs in playlists too.

Hope this clears things up.

[Meshasef]

I don't see this option on Windows anymore. Please don't tell me they've removed it.

[eule_7834]

Indeed, it doesn't appear in the Mac App anymore, either. It is still present in the iPhone App.

@Kiril , thanks for your answer above, but would you be as kind as to explain why this is no longer present in settings, if you know the answer?

What does it entail, now that the option is gone? Will removed / unavailable songs no longer show up in the Desktop App? If anything it would make sense to have them show up in the Desktop App as an option, where there is a lof of space to show them (rather than on mobile device).

It really makes me nervous, what if they remove it from the iOS App as well -> it would indeed entail all liked songs will be lost. In fact they are kind of "lost" for people who only use the desktop app, they are now forced to get a mobile device.

I am 99% sure the option used to be there in the Desktop app not too long ago.

EDIT: the removed songs still show up in my liked songs playlist, grayed out. So that's good. But what does this entail for the future? What happened to people who had the option disabled and now cannot turn it (back) on? What happens when I move to a new computer and install the App afresh? I showing those removed songs as grayed out now the (unchangeable) default? (I would be fine with that, but it could cause a few people to complain and Spotify removing the feature subsequently, which would be a disaster.)

[Lyubka]

Hi there,

Thanks for getting back to us! 

Unlike the mobile app, the desktop version of the app will show all unplayable tracks by default, which is why you there isn't an option to toggle it on/off in the Settings menu. 

Note that tracks which you have saved in your Liked Songs will remain there, even if they become unavailable (they'll be greyed out, like you mentioned), so when you log in to your account on another device, you'll have all your Liked Songs saved in Your Library. The tracks will disappear only in case they are completely removed from Spotify.

We hope this shines some light on the situation,

Cheers!

[eule_7834]

Thank you @Lyubka , this clears things up a bit. But you raised a new question: You differentiate between "become unavailable" and "completely removed". I don't quite understand the difference.

What strategy do you recommend to users that do not want to lose track of songs thata "disappear" from Spotify? Is the grayed-out some kind of "early warning" that the song will sooner or later completely disappear? Why would Spotify also remove the mere reference to a song (by leaving the song title/album/artist data untouched as a reference? Or is this a very rare situation that even that will be removed? I'd like to know because I would otherwise keep track of grayed out songs and note them down in order to not lose sight of them.

Thank you.

[Eni]

Hey @eule_7834, 

Thanks for your reply. 

We're afraid Spotify doesn't have control over the availability of music on the platform as it's determined by the artists and their music label or distributors. This might also vary between markets.

If you'd like to know more about the possible reasons for any songs or albums to be unavailable on Spotify, it'd be great to take a look at this support site article. 

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