Algorithmic Blues

[newgreyarea]

Hi!

So, I’ve upgraded to a family account for the sole purpose of trying to figure out how to get better mixes. I’m having a hard time figuring out what influences the mixes. I’ve put some “hard no’s” for a few artist. Hot Chip being the main offender, hah. 
I’m hoping to use Spotify to discover new stuff or bands that somehow slipped under my radar. I don’t find the Discover playlist to be relevant to me AT ALL!! Like maybe once a month it’ll have a track or two that’s interesting but mostly it just feel like the same garbage Pitchfork is hocking. 

With my newly setup personal account(versus my old account that’s been taken over by a 5yo that loves Ariana Grande and T-Swift😔) I’ve been following artists instead of liking albums or songs. That didn’t really give me any results. In fact I found that it mostly played the same songs of the same albums over and over. I’m like, Bowie/Cohen/Cave/Waits have 50 albums between them! Why do you only pick from 3?!?? 

So, I ❤️‘d a few tracks. Didn’t seem to have any effect. So I like a few more artists and a few more tracks. Nothing. 
i listened to an album by Muzz. Didn’t ❤️ it or even “follow” them. Now they are on every other playlist and all over my morning drive. 
It seems like not liking but listening to an artist has had more of an effect than intentionally liking tracks/bands/albums. 

I just can’t seem to figure this damn thing out. Bands, tracks,”vibes” that I feel are easy to connect don’t seem to make any sense to whatever is controlling the algorithm. 
it doesn’t seem to take the “vibe” or BPM of the music into account at all. It doesn’t seem to be able to find the relationship between a handful of bands that have the same people in them. 
What am I doing wrong? Is there really a computer out there learning anything or is it just randomly (or not very randomly) throwing the same thing you’ve heard a million times at you? It’s very bizarre. It feels like computer people are running the show and not anyone that gives a s**t about music, artistry etc. 

I can’t physically throw Spotify out the window but the banal Daily Mix/Drive/Discover playlists make me wish I could!! It’s actually making me dislike like artists and songs I’ve loved for decades just be overplaying them. 

Plan

Premium

Country USA

Device
iMac, IPhones, Samsung tv, Onkyo receiver

Operating System

All current

[Mihail]

Hey there @newgreyarea,

Thanks for reaching out to us.We'll gladly shed some light on the situation.

Keep in mind that the algorithms keep track of not only of the tracks you play and artists you follow, but also what other users with similar tastes are are listening to. 

As to your new account, note that the system need a bit of time in order to pick up on your listening habits. We recommend that you keep liking the tracks you like and hiding the ones you don't. The more you do this, the easier it is for the algorithms to find and suggest music that you'd like 🙂

If you think that the Made for You section should focus more heavily on tracks with similar BPM, we suggest that you create an idea requesting this feature. This page has detailed instructions on how to do this. 

The Idea Exchange is a great way for us to see how popular a certain idea is with our users and helps us constantly improve the app. You can learn more about it here.

Hope this is helpful but don't hesitate to let us know if you have any further questions!

Have a great day.