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More relevant radio

133 people liked this

More relevant radio


Update from Spotify staff:


"Hey everyone! As this idea is quite vague and it's difficult to say when it has been officially implemented, we're moving it to the Help boards. From there we will continue to pass this feedback to the Radio teams--who are continually working to improve the Radio experience. 


Please keep leaving your feedback here, including the following details:

  • Device / Platform you're using
  • Approximately what time (& time zone) the problem occurred
  • How did you start the radio session (i.e. started radio based on artist X, or based on song Y, or using genre Z, etc)
  • Any actions you took during the sessio (i.e. hit Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, or Skip through a lot of songs)"


Original message:


Dear Spotify,


First of all, awesome program. With that being said, the relevance of music that the radio plays is really poor. The Music Genome project has a significantly better way of picking songs to play when forming a radio station in terms of relevance that the station was set to. Currently, when picking a 'Skrillex' radio station, the thing plays one skrillex song, then is giving me Beyonce, Chris Brown, and music that ultimately has nothing to do with dubstep and dirtier electronica. 


If you can integrate a stronger, more relevant radio I wouldn't have to use Pandora or Last FM as much. Even Window's Zune has the DJ feature where you can pick a song, and it then plays songs of similar nature. Unfortunately your radio is like listening to MTV or something that plays one song the user enjoys, then songs that fill the space between the next more relevant song. 


Just as I write this, Kelly Clarkson comes on the Skrillex radio station. This is not pleasurable, although makes me laugh a little when a completely irrelevant song comes on (sense of humor helps).  Maybe this is a product of what kind of licenses that you have with music lables, but it would be a good idea to integrate a better radio service into Spotify if possible, so that people dont have to switch between programs for radio and music streaming.

62 Replies
3 people liked this

Re: More relevant radio


I agree - it would be awesome if spotify could offer a pandora app..


1 person liked this

Re: More relevant radio

Spotify Legend

Guessing here, but I think the problem is that Skrillex is currently very popular with a wide audience. Consequently, you will also get Beyoncé. People who listen to Skrillex also listen to Beyoncé. The system doesn't know that, in fact, Skrillex is in reality associated exclusively with Dubstep. Catch my drift ?


You would get better results by choosing to seed with a track by a Dubstep artist with less mainstream appeal.


In fact, you can now go one better. The latest update now supports seeding the radio by a playlist (if you haven't been updated yet, get it here). Choose a playlist dubstepped to the brim, then start the radio..



2 people liked this

Re: More relevant radio


Okay, good observation. Different underground artists produce more relevant radio, but that raises another issue. If the mainstream artists will produce radio that plays music from different genres, how does the radio choose a song to play? Is it based on musical relevance or popularity?


Pandora is based on fundamental characteristics of the music, which produces song choices that are relevant to the station. It shouldn't matter which genre the artist is classified in, the system ideally should be choosing songs with similar musical characteristics. Beyonce and Skrillex make really different kinds of music and it doesn't seem like they should be in the same station, unless it was based on a modern day mix kind of thing.


Here's what happens when you pick a new station on Pandora; they give you what kind of music the station is going to play.

For 'The Beatles' radio: "To start things off, we'll play a song that exemplifies the musical style of The Beatles which features mellow rock instrumentation, folk influences, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, acoustic rhythm piano and major key tonality."


This is the kind of thing Spotify radio should guarantee!

Re: More relevant radio


You should make a playlist where you paste in your favourite dubstep songs, then start the radio from that playlist.


If you hear something you like, add it to your list. With that method spotify will get more and more your taste of music and playing music more similiar to your playlist which gets bigger and bigger.

That method works perfectly for me

1 person liked this

Re: More relevant radio

Casual Listener

I started a Club/Dance radio and had to downvote 12 times in a very short period to get to a dance related song, which I believe was Guetta. And someplace consider him pop. I started a Trance radio and got House. I didn't mind it, but I WAS looking to listen to Trance. Just be glad there is no downvote limit like on the mobile apps ;).

Status changed to: Duplicate Idea

Spotify Legend
Hello! This is a duplicate idea: Follow the updates in that main thread, Ive also added your kudos to the other idea, so keep adding votes and comments! Thanks for your feedback :)


Community Manager

Use the "Accept as solution" button if your problem has been solved :)

♬Music is life♬
1 person liked this

Status changed to: New Idea

Rock Star 28
Rock Star 28

Re-opening this idea to have a place to discuss the radio track-finding method.

Please keep in mind that the Spotify radio team is always working to make the radio experience better. Since this is a continuous process, this idea here might never get an "implemented" status. However your comments and kudos will show how important this matter is - so keep adding comments and kudos here please! ;)

MarcoRock Star 28
If you appreciate my answer, maybe give me a Like.
Note: I'm not a Spotify employee.
1 person liked this

Re: More relevant radio

Music Fan

good approach

spotify radio is boring. always playing the same artists and songs even though millions of songs are just waiting to be discovered. 


for me this is very sad. why waste such a potential?



First define which artists and most importantly styles belong into which main genre.

For example "electronic music" find all styles that might be tagged in electronic music. drum'n bass, ambient, psy trance, goa, house, trance, techno, dub step, chill out, etc etc etc. 

then make a radio station that plays songs from those genres. votes should bias it little. or only every 3 or 4 track should be influenced by votes...

1 person liked this

Riders in the Sky


Yes, Riders in the Sky do some children's music. But they primarily do a western / cowboy type of music.


A radio station based on Riders in the Sky should have Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and Tex Ritter, not Pinnochio and Little Mermaid and Snow White.