GoKawiilRita El Khoury / Android Authority
Music is incredibly subjective, and what I consider “bad” might be awesome for you. My husband, for example, loves listening to covers and random indie artists trying to play or sing a known tune. Me? I hate that. Give me the original, e basta. Even an official remix annoys me. We should be able to tailor preferences like these in music streaming services, but for some reason, Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, and others just want us to trust the algorithm. Fine.
I’ve been using Spotify since 2008, and I’ve learned a trick or two, so I know what to do — and, more importantly, what not to do — to steer the algorithm to my liking. By applying these tricks religiously, I avoid a lot of poor recommendations from Spotify and random “bad” songs (to my liking) from playing when I have my guard down. Here’s my secret recipe to do this.
What do you do when you get a poor Spotify recommendation? 21 votes I keep playing. That doesn't bother me. 5 % I skip and hope it won't pop up again. 52 % I skip, exclude, block, and do anything to stop it from showing again. 43 %
Use private sessions to avoid spoiling your taste profile
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Before we get to how you can adjust Spotify to your liking, let’s talk about how you can avoid ruining things. So let’s say your friend just sent you a song or album to check out, you’re throwing a small party and having people play music from your phone, or you’re just in the mood for some questionable music on your own. You shouldn’t mess your Spotify algorithm and recommendations because of that; you’ve spent years building your profile not to have your child’s fart music obsessions on top of your home page.
The mobile app, desktop app, and browser app all have a “Private session” feature that lasts six hours and lets you listen to anything without it registering in your history or taste profile. Go to Settings and privacy > Privacy and social and turn on the Private session mode. Now, feel free to listen to Frozen’s soundtrack with your kid for the 15,780th time.
Exclude playlists or songs from your taste profile
A few years ago, I tried to foster a dog for a bit, as a first step before adopting her. Nala was very anxious, terrified by any man, including my husband, and not a good fit for a newbie dog owner like me. But in the process, I discovered that her favorite thing in the world was listening to calming dog music. After a few days of playing her these playlists, my Spotify was filled with music for dogs, and it took me weeks trying to re-teach the algorithm that I don’t listen to dog music. It also hurt to see those recommendations weeks after I’d made the tough decision to stop the fostering process. (Don’t worry, she immediately went to an adopting couple that had experience with anxious dogs.)
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