[Desktop][Playlists] Allow users other than the owner of a collaborative playlist to remove songs

[cman131]

There seems to have been a recent update that removed the ability for users other than the owner on a collaborative playlist to remove songs they did not add. I'm not sure if this is a bug or a change to the permissioning, but I don't see a way to turn it off either.

A large group of people in our workplace maintain a collaborative playlist with a new theme each week that we add songs to. We clear it at the beginning of each week completely and then add songs for the new theme. This update has killed this process for us, since the owner is no longer available and it isn't feasible for all of us to come and remove each of our songs each week. We need anyone to be able to clear the whole list.

[Yordan]

Hey @cman131,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community! Heads-up: we've moved your post to the Help board as it's more relevant.

We're happy to announce that this was recently implemented in Spotify: owners of collaborative playlists now can invite select collaborators, granting them editing permissions. Here's how:

1. Tap the three dots at the top of the playlist.
2. Select Invite collaborators, then copy the invite link and send it to someone to grant them editing permissions, meaning they'll be able to add and remove tracks.

Note that you can still share the playlist with someone, without giving them permission to edit the playlist's content. This is done by choosing the Share option instead. People you share the playlist can view it, but cannot edit it. The playlist must also be Public in order for it to be accessed by others. If you don't want people, other than those select few whom you've granted editing permissions to view the playlist, you can set it to Private. That way only you and the collaborators can access it.
 

More info about this feature can be found here.

Hope this clears things up. The Community is always here if there's anything else you need assistance with.
 

Cheers!

[WallyOllyO]

Hello Yordan,

The option to "Invite Collaborators" is broken for myself and several other users from what I have seen. The invitees cannot add songs even after accepting the secret link that is shared by the playlist owner.

Would love to revert back and just make the whole playlist collaborative, but that feature seems to have been removed almost entirely.

[OscarDC]

Hey @WallyOllyO,

Thank you for keeping in contact.

Since this is a recently implemented feature, the app needs to be up to date to work properly. First, make sure that the Collaborators are running the most updated version of the app. 

We'd recommend performing a clean reinstall of the app in those devices. This is often an overlooked step, but it’s more thorough than a regular one and can be helpful to get rid of any cache that might be causing trouble on their side.

If the issue persists, could you record a short video where we can take a better look at the issue? You can attach it to your next response by using the Insert Video option in the post editor. You can also upload it to Google Drive and share the link with us (make sure the video has the permissions for anyone to see it).

We’ll be on the lookout.

[chrigi-ch]

I'm also facing this problem. It does not seem to be an app issue (the iOS app of the collaborator is up-to-date). When the collaborator removes a track, it is removed but re-appears a second later. As if the owner would have re-added it right away. So the app allows it, but the "server" rejects the removal.

[Jeremy]

Hi there @chrigi-ch,

Thank you for reaching out in this thread. Let's take a closer look into this.

Can you have the owner of the playlist try to remove it from a different device to see if the issue persists? On another note, does the owner of the playlist also see the removed track re-enter the playlist?

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

Cheers!

[chrigi-ch]

Hi Jeremy

the owner can successfully remove tracks, that‘s not the problem. It‘s only the collaborators that cannot remove tracks which the owner added.

I understand that this behavior was intentional to prevent spamming playlists when the playlists were editable by anyone. But since its now possible to invite collaborators with a private link, I‘d expect editing (incl. removing) to be possible again by any collaborator.

[AndresM]

Hey @chrigi-ch,

Thanks for your reply.

Just to clarify. Some changes have been made to collaborative playlists. Previously, if a user had the URI of a playlist, they could freely add, remove or move songs. This meant that changes could be made by anyone that were hard to reverse.

Now, collaborators (authorized by the user who creates the playlist) can only remove items that they've added by themselves. 

This is done to prevent the risk of unauthorized changes on created playlists.

We hope this clears things up and remember that if you have more questions, we'll be here to shed some light.

Cheers!

[chrigi-ch]

Hi Andres

I understand what you‘re saying and what you describe is what I experience. But I’m reaching out to get Spotify to change the current playlist collaboration functionality.

The collaboration feature is only useful to me if both my wife and I can fully manage the playlist. This is not possible now.

I don’t understand why Spotify changed from „everyone with the URI can edit without restrictions“ to „everyone with an invite valid for 24hr can add tracks and only remove their own“. This seems like an overkill.
Why not going for „everyone with an invite valid for 24hr can edit without restrictions“?

That should prevent spamming and unauthorized access to playlist without breaking the collaboration experience. Am I missing something?

Cheers

[RJ5512]

Sorry to bother you, but I tried giving access to someone recently and they could not edit the songs. I was trying to discover why the "Invite Collaborators" button is not showing up when I click the three dots.

[Yordan]

Hi @RJ5512,

Welcome to the Spotify Community!

You might have used the Web Player (which doesn't support collaborative playlists) and just shared the playlist without giving them editing rights. I recommend using the desktop/mobile app instead.

The Invite collaborators button is pictured below and is located next to the download button, but you should be able to find it in the three dots menu as well:

More info in this article.

Hope this clears things up. Cheers 🤘

[shinynyahoja]

when will the website allow collaborative playlists? 

[Joan]

Hi @shinynyahoja,

Thanks for the reply. It's not possible to provide any specific timeline for such features, but new things get added to the app with every update, so fingers crossed that this is one of them. You can post in the Ideas section to show that you would like to see this implemented and hopefully your submission gains enough traction to be noticed.

Let us know if there's anything else we can do for you.