I love Spotify and have for years, but sometimes I have to wonder if the recommendation algorithm just takes a random vacation. I started to hate opening the app to the same stale daily lists or new music that made me think maybe I’d accidentally gotten into someone else’s account. Now, I’ve learned how to always get better Spotify recommendations with a few simple tricks.
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- 1. Exclude Spotify Playlists from My Profile
- 2. Hide Artists and Songs
- 3. Check Out Fans Also Like
- 4. Let DJ Take Over
- 5. Dive Into Made For You Mixes
- 6. Pick a Word and Find Random Music
- 7. Add New Music to My Playlists
1. Exclude Spotify Playlists from My Profile
This is a relatively new feature, but an absolute dream come true. I often listen to classical or lo-fi while I work. But, I don’t want all my daily lists and Release Radar to be inundated with those genres.
Open any playlist that you like, but don’t want to affect the rest of your Spotify listening experience, and tap the three dot menu under the playlist details and select Exclude from your taste profile. This works on the web, mobile, and desktop versions.
Sadly, I can’t do this for individual songs and artists. So, Spotify, if you’re listening, please add this feature!
2. Hide Artists and Songs
Are you getting some truly horrible Spotify recommendations? I listened to two, only two, songs in a foreign language. Within two weeks, over half of my Release Radar was in that language. Three of my daily lists were mainly foreign language music. How do two songs cause that much damage?
The solution – I started hiding what I didn’t like. I’m not saying you shouldn’t give new music and artists a try. But, if you really don’t like what you’re hearing, tell Spotify by hiding it.
Tap the three dots beside any song that’s recommended in a playlist. Select Hide this song. To hide an entire artist, bring up the artist profile, tap the three dots under the artist name and select Don’t play this artist.
3. Check Out Fans Also Like
I know this might sound obvious, but don’t wait for Spotify to add an artist to a playlist for you. The algorithm might never do it. I fell down a rabbit hole when I started exploring the “Fans Also Like” section from another artist’s profile. For example, I made my way to Teddy Swims’ artist page and scrolled down to Fans also like. It’s near the bottom.
Boom! A dozen similar artists for me to explore. I’d only ever listened to four of them. Now, I’m following five more artists I’d never heard before. And, I discovered around 10 more artists by checking out the Fans also like on their pages. Naturally, this also changes my Spotify recommendations.
4. Let DJ Take Over
Ok, I’ll admit the DJ feature is sometimes hit or miss, but it expands my music palette more often than not. This AI DJ takes me back to the days of radio DJs with a friendly, energetic voice. Then, it introduces you a block of music with a set theme. This theme changes every 3-5 songs.
Typically, I get a block of what I’ve listened to most often lately. Then, it switches to something completely different, which is a great way to improve my Spotify recommendations and add new songs to my playlists. Open Search, search for DJ, and select the DJ playlist created by Spotify.
Hate a theme? Tap the DJ button to skip to the next block. It’s that simple.
5. Dive Into Made For You Mixes
You’ve probably seen a variety of Daily Mixes, each with a different theme. These tend to change based on what you’ve listened to most recently. But, these aren’t the only playlists Spotify creates for you. I discovered numerous genre, decade, and niche mixes that have greatly expanded my Spotify recommendations and given me a wider variety on my Daily Mixes.
Go to Search and scroll down to Made for You. You can also just search for Made for You to see a seemingly endless stream of mixes.
Scroll down to explore each row of mixes. The first row offers up DJ, daylist, On Repeat, and Repeat Rewind. For better recommendations, I prefer to skip down to the Your Mood Mixes and Your Niche Mixes sections. For instance, while writing this, I had an Angry Sad Mix, Emo Mix, Wedding Mix, and Moody Mix among others. I’ve even seen things like Angry Whistling Mix (weird, but some cool stuff), Baseball Emo Mix, Battle Royale Mix, and Cat Mix.
My favorite part is you’ll see a list of different mixes every day. So, there is always something new to find. The more variety you listen to, the better your recommendations.
There are a few podcast playlists here too. But, I find it’s easier to get better podcast recommendations by creating a podcast playlist.
6. Pick a Word and Find Random Music
I used to only use Spotify’s search to find a specific song or a set playlist. Now, I get far more creative. Instead of being so specific, think of a word and search for it. For example, I searched for writing. I then filtered by Playlists. And, tada! A bunch of playlists with the word “writing” in the title.
Music ranges from instrumental and new-age to pop and rock and everything in between. You’ll be surprised at what you find. Just be ready for Spotify’s algorithm to start throwing some new music at you as you explore other users’ playlists.
7. Add New Music to My Playlists
The more variety of music to add to playlists, the more your Spotify recommendations adjust to your tastes. If I don’t feel like using any of the methods above, I start scrolling on Reddit, specifically, the Spotify subreddit.
Here, users share favorite songs, playlists, and their own recommendations. Need something new? Just ask. Or, take advantage of users who offer up recommendations based on how you answer certain questions. I’ve found hundreds of new songs this way and even a few new favorite artists. No genre or decade is off limits. You can even share your own playlists.
If you’ve got large Spotify lists, make sure you don’t have duplicates. And, for iPhone users, find out more about the Spotify volume control issues.
Image credit: Unsplash, All screenshots by Crystal Crowder
Crystal Crowder –
Staff Writer
Crystal Crowder has spent over 15 years working in the tech industry, first as an IT technician and then as a writer. She works to help teach others how to get the most from their devices, systems, and apps. She stays on top of the latest trends and is always finding solutions to common tech problems.
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