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Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

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Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#191

Post by matheusmoreira »

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…

> I feel I’m being sold a bunch of corporate portfolios on what’s currently in vogue, and not just artistically but politically, with playlists like this-gender-race supporting this-cause.

I feel the same way. It's not just music either. I get this feeling every time I try to consume anything. Everything is just so fake. Like it was made just to push some silly agenda.

"Recommendations" are ads in disguise. I already block them on YouTube. Wish I could block them everywhere.

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#192

Post by andreilys »

imajoredinecon wrote: post #176
amelius wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem: you don't want to be DJ-ing at work, where your time is better spent on more important things than what music you will listen to.

Disagree with the premise - you don’t have to sacrifice productivity to put time into finding good music. For one, you don’t have to do your music research during working hours. But even if you do, it doesn’t mean you’re trading off productivity in order to do it.

you don’t have to do your music research during working hours. But even if you do, it doesn’t mean you’re trading off productivity in order to do it.

Trying to find music when you could be focusing is by definition, trading off productivity.

I’d rather have an algorithm dictate what songs I want to listen to (in order to focus) than spend an hour wading through junk to find something i like before I start coding.

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#193

Post by f1refly »

echelon wrote: post #55
loudtieblahblah wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crap like this is why, to this day, my collection is digital files, cds, vinyl and streaming only for radio - like pandora

I want a service where I can upload my own files and easily access them from a player interface in the browser, mobile, etc. I want the ability to rate music across multiple user-configurable dimensions. Add tags. Create smart playlists that interpolate between these. I want to be able to pay a fee to subscribe to music discovery, then be able to mix these with my own library. If I really like a track, I'd like to bu…

funkwhale has the web interface, the subsonic api (dunno how well that works i dont use it), you can create your own "radios" based on genre and artist

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#194

Post by vanilla_nut »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #112
psKama wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the exact reason I switched to YouTube Music. I remember even about 10 years ago, last.fm's algorithm on bringing songs I would enjoy basing on previously listened/liked songs was far more accurate than Spotify's today.

Weird, I switched to Spotify once Google Play Music (or whatever silly name it had when Google ate songza) became YouTube Music because I found it such a poor experience. Perhaps I was missing something but the change def did not improve the recommendations - it made them drastically worse.

In my experience, Spotify's recommendations are good for a few months, and then stick in a rut at some point for reasons I don't understand. So you're probably in that nice honeymoon phase where it's actually allowing you to discover new things instead of surfacing the same 20 artists over and over and over again.

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#195

Post by hooande »

I could swear that spotify had a dislike button, at least on the android mobile app. I remember using it on songs that I found annoying. It would continue integrating them into playlists anyway. The thumbs down dislike was removed from the app years (?) ago. I didn't use it very often, which is why I assumed they got rid of it

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#196

Post by ufo »

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…

And for those that are actually into the sort of thing, I recommend Doobie Brothers + Linkin Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cXjcKTRWcg

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#197

Post by mdoms »

loudtieblahblah wrote: post #48
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…

Crap like this is why, to this day, my collection is digital files, cds, vinyl and streaming only for radio - like pandora

The fact that Spotify doesn't optimise for discovery and recommendations is why you use physical media which has absolutely no mechanism for discovery and recommendation?

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#199

Post by didibus »

dfdz wrote: post #115

I have seen this article before. The author are so close to understanding why Spotify does NOT need a dislike button >To dislike a song is easy – to like one, you have to actually invest time in it. Likewise, to detect if a user dislikes a song is easy since the user will not invest time listening to it: the skip button is the dislike button. In contrast, detecting if a user likes a song is more difficult: there need…

No, I often have fear of skipping because I think it might teach the algos I don't like it, when it's just not what I want to listen to now.

Ideally, they should let me like, dislike, skip, hate, completely block artists, and allow me to like multiple times, to teach them the ones I like over and over from the ones I like a little.

Re: Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

#200

Post by campground »

I'm genuinely confused by people who complain about Spotify's recommendation algorithm. I have eclectic, often obscure tastes, and I've found it to be an incredible way to discover new music. I think you do have to prime the engine a bit. I "like" a lot of albums and songs. Every time I hear something new that I like I press the little heart button. Same when I discover music outside of Spotify (I listen to WFMU a lot). I make a lot of playlists. And I use the radio feature all the time. Click on the ellipses next to any song, artist, or album and you can "Go to radio" and Spotify will spin off a playlist of related music. I'm continually discovering new things that way. My Discover Weekly and Release Radar playlists are always full of great stuff.
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