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Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

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Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#221

Post by toofy »

notyourwork wrote: post #5
marginalia_nu wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to keep deleting my Spotify account because my recommendations kept getting contaminated with music genres I didn't like that were impossible to get rid of. Listening to the wrong song two times could irrevocably ruin my recommendations. I would have very much liked a dislike button, or at least a "forget everything you think you know about me"-button. Now it ended up with me getting rid of Spotify, because of…

Without specifics I cannot guess as to your specific case but in general customer's just do not use dislike buttons. So exposing them isn't a value add and usually a UI clutter that most customer's have no use for and won't use. In general, you had to be doing something to be getting recommendations so there is some action that when most customer's do demonstrates a high probability that you will like some genre and…

Each of the comments that mirror yours illustrate a major problem we have in the tech sphere—assuming _we_ know better what the end user needs therefor we don’t listen to the actual user. In our defense, we’re very disconnected from the end users.

I’ve done some work with a couple disaster organizations in the past and we continually get massive praise and thanks from the victims of these disasters. The actual victims have the same praise over and over again: Unlike the red cross, salvation army, and FEMA we actually ask them what they (the victims) need. We don’t assume they need water and and a tarp, we assume they know whether or not they already have those things. Often the victims need diapers, help with flood mold remidiation, a chainsaw to cut limbs from their street so they can get their cars out so they can go help the neighbors a few streets over etc…. They know what is prohibiting them from getting out to help others much better than we.

When people are telling us what they need, we should listen to them and we should actively try to avoid our tendencies towards “I know better what you need.”

I have a couple friends who work on recommendation algorithms full time and in their defense, they’re fully aware how terrible the recommendations are—I still get my music recommendations from friends, from the local music store employees, and friends who work in music venues—their recommendations are infinitely better.

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#222

Post by stevewillows »

rumblerock wrote: post #169
jorgesborges wrote: post #22

So basically they’re developing a product marketed to streaming platforms to identify what’s “more attractive” to consumers. The algorithms are still optimized for increasing sales and engagement, not improving recommendations (for the user). That’s exactly why I’m unhappy with Spotify lately. I feel I’m being sold a bunch of corporate portfolios on what’s currently in vogue, and not just artistically but politically…

On top of that, if you listen to a wide range of genres the attempt to shoehorn your history into 6 Daily Mixes yields some comical results. Like Doobie Brothers followed by Nirvana. Give me a home screen with 12 or more Daily Mixes that segment my listening behavior at a finer resolution, and I'd be a lot happier with the service. I understand why all the other playlists exist, but I generally have an idea of exactl…

I've considered getting a spotify family account, using separate accounts for major genres and one for browsing. I have a browsing profile for Netflix so I can freely explore without messing up the suggestions.

For me, I listen to a lot of 40s, 50 - 60s lounge / exotica, early to mid 90s hip hop, 80s metal, and the standard indie stuff... then I have a bunch of chillwave and synthwave stuff that throws another wrench in the mix. The daily mixes I get are a total mess, much like yours.

The genre-specific mixes they make are pretty decent, but discovery is low.

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#224

Post by cletus »

I wonder if you really need a like or dislike button. I'm increasingly convinced they're both being used wrong. If you're listening to a random stream of songs there are only really two actions by the user that matter:

1. They keep listening. This is about the best "like" signal (IMHO); and

2. They skip to the next song. This is effectively a "dislike".

Both can be situational not absolute too. But what does like/dislike gain you beyond those two signals? Liking something requires the user to do something but users only really do something when they don't like what's happening. Requiring explicit action to keep playing songs like the current one seems somehow backwards.

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#225

Post by underwater »

slig wrote: post #156
klyrs wrote: post #78

An option to hide all podcasts would significantly improve spotify's recommendations. I don't listen to podcasts (though I have accidentally clicked on one, when a podcast interviewed a musician I like... blech). Why is my screen filled with podcasts multiple times per day? I like the music recommendations, "so and so artist radio," etc., but they make me hunt for them. Also, while I like a broad variety of genres, I…

My guess is that they don't have to pay rights for the podcasts, so for them it's a win/win if you spend your attention on their app listening to free content.

It's probably that they can get exclusive podcasts, but not exclusive music. They want podcasts to be something that locks you into Spotify.

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#227

Post by sam_bristow »

greggman3 wrote: post #54

I cancelled spotify recently when I had a guest in my car who proceeded to play all her favorite music on my account. I wanted to remove her music from my history so spotify would hopefully not recommend her music to me but there is no way to delete your history https://community.spotify.com/t5/Your-Library/2021-how-do-we... Account deleted. I know I'm not the norm but Spotify has never done a good job for me recomme…

I'm in a similar situation at the moment. Somehow Spotify has decided that I listened to a bunch of Hindu music a couple of months ago and now over 50% of my recommended playlists and podcasts are in that genre.

Their refusal to let you delete history is just puzzling.

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#228

Post by [deleted] »

klyrs wrote: post #78

An option to hide all podcasts would significantly improve spotify's recommendations. I don't listen to podcasts (though I have accidentally clicked on one, when a podcast interviewed a musician I like... blech). Why is my screen filled with podcasts multiple times per day? I like the music recommendations, "so and so artist radio," etc., but they make me hunt for them. Also, while I like a broad variety of genres, I…

[deleted]

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#229

Post by max68 »

cletus wrote: post #224

I wonder if you really need a like or dislike button. I'm increasingly convinced they're both being used wrong. If you're listening to a random stream of songs there are only really two actions by the user that matter: 1. They keep listening. This is about the best "like" signal (IMHO); and 2. They skip to the next song. This is effectively a "dislike". Both can be situational not absolute too. But what does like/dis…

That’s not true. I like the beginning of some songs, especially when listening to 20 min+ classical pieces, but not the end. A skip in that case doesn’t mean I don’t like it, but that I don’t want to finish it.

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#230

Post by nkozyra »

rumblerock wrote: post #169
jorgesborges wrote: post #22

So basically they’re developing a product marketed to streaming platforms to identify what’s “more attractive” to consumers. The algorithms are still optimized for increasing sales and engagement, not improving recommendations (for the user). That’s exactly why I’m unhappy with Spotify lately. I feel I’m being sold a bunch of corporate portfolios on what’s currently in vogue, and not just artistically but politically…

On top of that, if you listen to a wide range of genres the attempt to shoehorn your history into 6 Daily Mixes yields some comical results. Like Doobie Brothers followed by Nirvana. Give me a home screen with 12 or more Daily Mixes that segment my listening behavior at a finer resolution, and I'd be a lot happier with the service. I understand why all the other playlists exist, but I generally have an idea of exactl…

> Like Doobie Brothers followed by Nirvana.

What's inherently comical about this?

One of my least favorite experiences is having a radio station based on a song and getting nothing but songs that sound just like it.

Unless you have only played 90s grunge or 70s soft rock I'm not sure why this juxtaposition is not considered a feature.

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