Spotify’s new feature keeps Peppa Pig away from your heavy metal playlist
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Spotify rolls out a new management feature that will reduce the impact of other playlists on your recommendations.
It’s called Excluding Your Flavor Profile, and according to the announcement (opens in new tab)the goal is to make sure your own playlists aren’t overrun with ‘songs and artists that don’t fit with [your] listening habits” or feeling out of place. For example, users can prevent their kids’ music from appearing on their heavy metal/trap Blend playlists if they have a family plan or dominate white noise [their] Discover weekly.” If you do this, Spotify will know which playlist should reduce its influence; ultimately resulting in a more personalized experience for you.
Basic rules
Other reports of the feature (opens in new tab) reveal additional details not present in the original announcement; all of which we were able to confirm thanks to a Spotify rep. Changes to Exclude from your Taste Profile are applied “retroactively” as it prevents “past and future listening” of a playlist from affecting your own music. This means that even if you enjoy listening to music from a playlist you don’t like, your recommendations won’t be affected. But what will affect your flavor profile are beloved songs.
Spotify will “consider liked songs from excluded playlists for future recommendations” for someone’s Discover Weekly or Blend collection. So be mindful of what you or other people in your family are up to on the platform or else those tracks will bleed over. In addition, Banning from your taste profile only applies to playlists – you cannot block individual albums or songs.
Availability
Exclude Your Taste Profile is out today on Spotify on Android, iOS, the desktop app, and the web browser version. Make sure to keep an eye out for the update when it arrives on your device. To enable the feature, select the three dots at the top of any playlist and that menu will show Exclude from your flavor profile. And if you ever change your mind, do the same steps again to disable the feature.
2023 will be an interesting year for Spotify as the update comes in the middle of a particularly quiet time for the platform. Some weeks ago the company announced the resignation about 600 employees comparable to other large technology companies. And around that time rumors began to circulate that the monthly membership fee goes from $9.99 to $10.99. Nothing has been confirmed, of course, but given similar price increases elsewhere, this worst-case scenario is unfortunately likely.
Speaking of which, make sure you check out TechRadar’s list of the best music streaming services if you’re considering ditching Spotify.