Hide Song Button/Option Doesn't Work-Give users the option to DISLIKE a song

[user-removed]

Plan

Premium

Country

US

Device

iPhone & MacBook Air

Operating System

iOS 14.4 & macOS Big Sur 11.2.1

My Question or Issue

I find it HIGHLY annoying that I can LIKE a song but I can't DISLIKE IT. This used to be an easy option on Spotify that changed and I'm really not sure why.

What I am left with, is a HIDE SONG option which doesn't work. I click the option to hide the song and yet if the playlist is on repeat or if I start the same playlist in my car or on my laptop or on Sonos.....I'll hear it again. Not only that, but the same song I opted to HIDE also appears on other Daily Mixes the following days, weeks, months.

I am not sure what's going on here!! The algorithm is based on what songs you are listening to and now the song that I attempted to HIDE has been played regardless of my request to HIDE IT...so the algorithm thinks "WOW THEY MUST LOVE THIS..let me play it again tomorrow".

That's not the case at all guys....

Why tell your users the more you listen the more we pump out same/similar songs and playlists if we don't have the option to truly tell you WHAT WE DON'T WANT!

How hard is it to put a Thumbs Down button? or a Dislike button? or here's something...how about getting the already existing Hide Song button to actually work. Its getting really lame that I keep hearing the same **bleep** I don't want to hear and you guys keep creating these playlists based on...well **bleep** I don't want to hear.

Very small thing to ask but based on the UX for the past couple years, I have no hopes in this ever being resolve and may spend my $10 a month elsewhere!

[Alex]

Hi there @user-removed,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community about this.

Currently the Hide song function is not synced across devices. So you may see a song that you've disliked on Mobile while playing music on the Desktop app etc. Other users have also voiced their request that this should be an account wide feature. Add you +Vote to this Idea to show support. The larger number of votes an idea gets, the more likely it is to get implemented.

As a workaround you can go in the Artist profiles of artists/songs you don't like hearing. After that click the 3-dot menu and select Don't play this. This will prevent all content from that artist being played on every device.

Hope you find this info useful.

Cheers.

[Benmilliron]

Can you please ask the development team to bring back the “dislike” button?   Even if the “hide” button has the same functionality (does it?), it’s not the same psychological effect as indicating one’s distaste for a particular track.  

[user-removed]

HI Alex,

sorry...this is not an acceptable solution because its quite obvious you guys don't understand the our issues like you don't use Spotify at all which is really disappointing and it makes me wonder why..is the UX **bleep**? is that why you guys aren't using it yourself?

Your comment " Currently the Hide song function is not synced across devices. So you may see a song that you've disliked on Mobile while playing music on the Desktop app etc." I want you to understand that this Hide Song Function is not working on ANY device. I listen to Spotify mostly from my phone and if the playlist repeats itself on my phone, the songs that I asked it to hide ARE STILL PLAYING!

I'll be happy to vote for the idea that it should be synched across all devices but how about fix it so we aren't dealing with the basic issue of it working and now it won't be working across all devices. 

BOTTOM LINE...the dislike doesn't work!

This also isn't an acceptable solution "As a workaround you can go in the Artist profiles of artists/songs you don't like hearing. After that click the 3-dot menu and select Don't play this. This will prevent all content from that artist being played on every device." The issue is I may like the artist but just have no interest in that particular song. So again..not helpful. How the **bleep** can you expect me to LIKE when you've provided less than adequate solutions!

[Novy]

Hey @user-removed, 

Thanks for getting back to us. We'll do our best to help you sort this out.

Would you mind letting us know if you've already tried performing a clean reinstall of the app? This is often an overlooked step but it can be helpful to get rid of any corrupted files that might be causing the issue. 

If possible, could you ask a friend or a family member to log into their personal account using your device to see if they can replicate it?

Keep us posted.

[user-removed]

Ive uninstalled and reinstalled several times.

I have auto updates but also checked for those too.

I'm not having someone log into their account from my phone to duplicate an issue they also have on their own phone! I literally do not know one person that has had success in using the "Hide this song" button.

This includes users of the same iPhone, older and newer models, Android and Desktop.

I appreciate your efforts to trouble shoot, but this seems silly especially when there are TONS of users on the community with the same issue. 

[Novy]

Hi @user-removed, 

Thanks for this info. We'd just like to add a few more things to cover the basics.

Could you send over the exact Spotify version you're currently running on your devices?

Also, can you confirm if you notice anything new with a different internet connection?

We'll keep an eye out for your reply. 

[user-removed]

Version is 8.6.2.1041

my home wifi is stable when hitting “hide this song”. When out and about my cell provider Verizon has a stable connection.

I can understand if it doesn't work sporadically if wifi or cell service is down..but for it to happen all day, every day no matter where I am..is bogus!

[Novy]

Hi again @user-removed, 

Thanks for getting back to us. 

Would you mind letting us know all the steps you take when this happens? This will help us see if it's an expected behavior. 

It would also be helpful if you could include a screen recording where we can see it. You can send a link to it or attach it using the Insert Video option in the post editor, just make sure to exclude any personal info from it. 

Keep us posted.

[user-removed]

The steps taken:

A song comes on that I don't like.

I click the "Hide this song" button.

I skip to the next song.

The next time the playlist plays, the song thats clearly marked with the Red Cross through "hide this song" still plays.

Sorry, not recording what I just clearly explained to you!

[Novy]

Hey @user-removed, 

Thanks for this info. 

We're currently trying to reproduce this issue on our end, but we're getting mixed results. We're still investigating what might be causing this issue and will get back to you as soon as we have any info to share. 

In the meantime, it would be very helpful to have a screen recording where we can see exactly how the app behaves and which playlists are affected. 

We'll be right here!

[user-removed]

The recording is on my phone and not on the web so I can't attach it via Upload Video. I also cant attach it in attachments because the file size is too big.

Let me know what other way you'd like to receive it.

[Novy]

Hi @user-removed, 

Thanks for keeping us posted.

Not to worry. In this case, you can send us a link to the video and we'll take a look at it.

Cheers!

[user-removed]

https://share.icloud.com/photos/050nOBcAOwcisvcvT4N-S4xxw 

[user-removed]

As you can see on the recording...

the song "Be there" by UNKLE and Ian Brown comes up. 

I click the "Hide Song" option. Spotify doesn't advance to the next song as I read it should, so I skip to the next song "Red Giant" by Komodo.

You can see on the song list in the playlist Daily Mix 4 that "Be there" is SUPPOSEDLY HIDDEN.

I go to the song before "Be there" which is "In the Grass". by The Flashbulb

I advance to almost the end of the song.

The next song...THAT SHOULD BE HIDDEN is "Be there" and it plays again as though I didn't hide it previously.

I did the same thing in my car via Bluetooth and it still played "Be there"

I did the same thing on my phone while connected to ear buds and it still played "Be there"

Im back home reconnected to Sonos and restarted the playlist and of course "Be there" played AGAIN although its clear that I was marked "HIDE THIS SONG"

So I hope thats enough proof for you guys to get that it DOESN'T WORK!

[CarlosE]

Hey @user-removed,

Thanks for your reply.

We appreciate the time you've taken to share all this info and for bearing with us. We've tried to replicate this on our end but couldn't get the same result as you.

It would greatly help us if you could try logging in to a different Spotify account, like a friend's or relative's, on your devices to check if this behavior persists. That way we could check if this is rather related to your account.

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

[user-removed]

Hi Carlos,

it appears you failed to read previous posts...EVERYONE I KNOW WITH A SPOTIFY ACCOUNT HAS THIS SAME ISSUE! Whether they have the same phone, an earlier or later model, android etc.

Also....HI I’m not the only person on this community board with this problem!

So please stop asking me to do**bleep**!!! Tons of people have this problem and it baffles me that you think maybe its just my account!

So heres your answer..NO!

[Mihail]

Hey @user-removed,

Thanks for your post.

Please keep in mind that the Hide this song feature is playlist and device specific and that each iteration of your Daily Mixes, Release Radar, Radio or Discover Weekly counts as a different version. This means that if you've hidden a song in in a previous version or on another device, the song may come up again the next time one of those playlist gets generated. If you'd like this feature changed, we recommend that you add your support to this idea that @Alex posted above.  

Does this however happen on other playlists on the same device where the song was hidden? If it does we'll happily help out further.

Keep us posted.

[user-removed]

Do any of you guys read!....

YES Its happening on EVERY PLAYLIST that a song is "hidden". 

It's tiring replying to questions or suggestions that I've already answered.

and YES..I've already supported Alex idea which I am sure was previously stated.

So the issue still stands...why does the HIDE feature not work. There is no reason while in the same playlist HIDING a song doesn't work and it replays it again if the playlist is on repeat. It does this for every single playlist!

Im no tech geek...but this sounds like a pretty simple request. You put a button out there that doesn't work..FIX IT!

[Novy]

Hey @user-removed, 

Thanks for getting back to us. 

Keep in mind that when you click "Hide this song", that specific track shouldn't play in that playlist anymore. However, the same track could still play if it's added to a different playlist, if there's a different version of the same track on the original Daily Mix or if you start listening from the desktop app. 

Also, if you click "Hide this song" while the track is playing, it should skip and start playing the next song automatically.

We completely understand that this situation can be frustrating and we appreciate you taking the time to try everything we've suggested. We'd recommend reaching out to our Support team here so they can carry on with the help and remove any cache that might be causing issues on your account. 

We'll be here if anything else comes up. 

Cheers.