Spotify is a music streaming service. It is very well known for its algorithms, which allow users to discover new music in line with their favourite artists and personal taste.
Finding new bands and artists in similar genres to your regularly played is a rewarding and exciting experience.
This is part of the Spotify experience, and many people discover new favourite songs or artists through the algorithm.
Sometimes the algorithm makes a mistake and goes wrong, though, and a particular artist whose sound is not to your liking can slow down a listening session or ruin the vibe of a party.
Perhaps you find them boring or offensive, or perhaps it is an artist who you simply do not want to listen to.
There are a few ways, thankfully, to make sure that these artists do not appear on your procedural playlists ever again.
Follow these simple instructions and they will never take up space in your Discover Weekly, Daily Mixes, or Release Radar playlists ever again!
How Do I Block A Spotify Artist On iOS Or Android?
If you do not want that pop punk band slowing down your Discover Weekly listening session just because you listened to one Green Day song, it’s thankfully extremely quick and easy to make sure they never bother you again.
To start this very simple process, you will need to open up Spotify on your Apple or Android device and follow these instructions.
Head to the artists’ page in the app, and you will be able to find a button with three dots.
Tapping this button will open up a dropdown menu and, among others, you will find an option called “don’t play this artist” next to a small drawing of a stop sign.
Tapping this will give you the message that Spotify “won’t play music from this artist again” (the message may also say “don’t play this”), and this is true!
This artist will never appear in a public playlist, or any playlist generated by the algorithm ever again.
Do not worry, though. In case you change your mind, there is always the option to return to this artist’s Spotify profile and unblock, just by tapping the stop sign which has appeared on their page.
Now that you know how to block artists on Spotify for iOS and Android, your listening experience will be greatly improved and you will be able to listen to any of the playlists created by Spotify without being annoyed by singers or bands that you do not like.
How Do I Block A Spotify Artist On Desktop?
Unfortunately, there is no similar method for blocking a Spotify artist on the desktop versions of the service. It appears that there is only one method for blocking Spotify artists on desktop, and it is this.
Open any playlist the algorithm has created for you, such as Discover Weekly, Release Radar, or your Daily Mixes.
If you find a song by the artist you do not wish to listen to anymore, hover over this song with the cursor. You will see, towards the right of the row, two small symbols.
One of these is a heart, and clicking this will save the song to your library. This sends the message to the algorithm that you like this song.
The Spotify algorithm will then continue to suggest this artist in the playlists it creates for you.
The other symbol, however, is the stop sign also found on the iOS and Android apps. Clicking this will remove the song from this playlist.
You will be told that Spotify will not suggest songs like that to you in the future. If this artist continues to appear in Spotify’s personalised playlists, you can simply continue to click this stop sign.
Eventually, the algorithm will understand what you want and will not suggest this artist to you again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is There A Definitive Way To Block Artists On Desktop?
There is not currently a way to block Spotify artists on the desktop services like there is on iOS or Android devices.
It is currently unknown whether this will be a feature on desktop in the future, and in 2017 Spotify said they will not be implementing this feature any time in the near future.
Will Blocked Artists Carry Over From App To Desktop?
No, the block or “don’t play this artist” feature does not carry over between devices. Blocking an artist on the iOS or Android app does not mean this artist will not play on Windows desktop or the web services.
Do I Need Spotify Premium To Block An Artist Or Band?
You do not need to have purchased a subscription to Spotify Premium in order to block an artist or band. This feature is available to users of the Free service on iOS and Android devices.
Can I Block Users On Spotify?
Yes, you can easily block users who are not artists on Spotify. Simply go to their profile on the app or desktop, select the three dots, and the options of “unfollow” or “block” will appear in the dropdown.
Does Spotify Let You Block Explicit Songs?
You can easily set up parental controls on Spotify, which blocks all songs marked with explicit content by going to your Spotify account, going to settings, and toggling the “explicit content filter”.
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