Do you show your recently played artists? Why or why not?

[AdamDamon]

As the setting for showing recently played artists on your Spotify profile can be toggled on or off (by navigating to Settings -> Social on the Spotify deskop or mobile app), some Spotify users opt to show their recently played artists, while others opt not to show them.

In this thread, anyone can post about your preferred setting for recently played artists. Do you show your recently played artists on your Spotify profile? Why or why not?

In my case, I like to show recently played artists on my profile. I figure if anyone visits my Spotify profile and is curious about my taste in music, the “Recently played artists” section provides a snapshot of my current musical taste–or at least, 50 artists that I like to the extent that I listened to at least one of their songs. That way, even if they’re not interested in browsing the individual songs that I like via my public playlists, they can still see which artists I’ve been enjoying listening to lately. Also, if some of my followers on Spotify only use the mobile app or web player and are curious about what I've been listening to, they can’t check out my listening activity via the “Friend activity” sidebar that the desktop app has; but “Recently played artists” can at least let them see some of the artists I've been listening to.

I’m curious to hear about the preferred setting for recently played artists of others as well, so feel free to share; cheers!

[MattSuda]

I have the setting set to show on my profile page.

Your reasons given are the exact same for me. I'm not ashamed of anything I listen to so I show it off on my profile. Music is better when it's social and shared. 

[sennoa]

i have it off because sometimes i listen to souch new music that the recently played artists list would be to little use for anyone checking my profile. also, having it off allows me to listen to guilty pleasures without consequences lol. 

[AdamDamon]

Thanks for sharing, @MattSuda; I agree that music is better when it’s shared, and showing recently played artists seems to me like a great way to share music with others.

Thanks for sharing as well, @sennoa; it’s also great to hear the reasons for your preferred setting of not showing recently played artists on your Spotify profile.

Cheers!

[Peter]

I don't share my listening activity, but I do like to share my recently played artists on my profile, just to give people a lil something 😉

As a side note, I don't feel like I can learn much about users from their public profile. I'd love to be able to display my fave "Made for You" playlists. The ones I think are most indicative of what I listen to are Release Radar and On Repeat. I think I'd be able to get to know other users' taste at a glance if I could see theirs too 🙂

Great thread, @TreyAnastasio! Keep 'em coming

[hello432]

how do i remove these recently played artists,? like clear them out but others would still see them publicly and there's no one in there.

[AdamDamon]

Hi @hello432,

Thanks for posting in the Spotify Community, and welcome!

Unfortunately, it’s not currently possible to remove the recently played artists that appear on this section of your Spotify profile. 

However, there’s currently a relevant Live Idea for removing items from your recently played listening history. If it’s something you’re interested in, I’d recommend adding your +VOTE to the idea. The more votes an idea gets, the likelier it is that Spotify will implement it, and you can read more about how feedback on ideas reaches Spotify here. Feel free to also Subscribe to the idea by clicking the three dots next to its title; that way, you can be sure to be informed of any relevant updates.

If you’d like, you can also submit a new Idea to the Idea Exchange here, that is specifically for removing the recently played artists. This FAQ article has information regarding what to know before submitting an idea to the Idea Exchange, and this related FAQ article has information about how to submit your idea.

In the meantime, you can always start a Private Session while listening to a specific artist's music if you don't want that particular artist to appear in the “Recently played artists” section of your Spotify profile.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and have a good day!