Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
I received my invite to join Spotify back in November of 2008 — yes, back then, you couldn’t sign up by yourself; another user had to invite you with a personalized link first. I created an account, used my free trial, and finally had access to the world’s largest music streaming platform. For the first few years, though, I kept switching between Spotify and my personal music collection, canceling and restarting my subscription, until Spotify won, and it was game over for my local music library.
Since then, I’ve tried to make the most of my subscription. If I’m paying 17 Euros or so for Spotify Duo (despite having access to YouTube Music with my YouTube Premium subscription), I have to ensure I’m getting my money’s worth. So I’ve accumulated a list of tricks and tips that improve my Spotify experience. I’ll share the first big five with you here, but there are more obscure tricks coming in another article.
Avoid what you don’t want to hear on Spotify The best part about Spotify is its recommendation algorithm. The worst part is also its recommendation algorithm. There are songs I don’t want to hear, artists I don’t like, and random music I don’t enjoy. Luckily, Spotify has settings to avoid most of these. Here’s what you can do.
Hide a song in a playlist
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
When playing songs from a playlist you didn’t make yourself (either one by another user or an automated playlist like Discover Weekly or Release Radar), you can hide songs in that playlist that you don’t want to listen to. Just tap on the three dots ⋮ next to a song and choose Hide in this playlist. If I really don’t want to hear that song again, I can also select Don’t suggest this song anywhere for 30 days, which will hide it in other playlists, too.
Completely block an artist
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
If there’s a particular artist that Spotify likes suggesting to you because you heard one song from them a million years ago and the algorithm somehow thinks you love them, or because they’re similar to many artists you enjoy on paper but they don’t really hit your sweet spot, you can also completely block them. Go to the artist page, tap the three dots ⋮ next to the Follow button, and choose Don’t play this artist. This will stop any of their music from appearing in recommendations and radio stations, and will force Spotify to skip them in any pre-existing playlists.
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