Spotify Radio is a function of Spotify that lets you create your own semi-custom radio stations. Basically, you start by picking a song, artist, album, genre, or playlist that you like. Then, Spotify will play that song (or a song from the artist, album, genre, or playlist that you chose), and then play a random sequence of songs that are from. There is some randomization and matching, but it heavily leans towards Spotify-lead curation. You can use the Spotify Stations app, but I think it just is the same poor radio features on a different app, though you can feed different artists if you create your own station. That said Spotify Stations. Create stations based on the music and songs you love, and enjoy streaming radio all for free with Spotify Stations. Play music when and where you want with personalized stations based on your taste and feedback. Select an artist, genre or even decade and Spotify Stations does the hard work for you. Plus, the more Spotify Stations learn about what you love to listen to, you’ll get even more. Of course, most radio stations will understandably be reluctant to promote this type of playlist, because if people are listening to Spotify, they're not listening to the radio station. I get it, and that's why I don't know what the practical use is for this feature. But it exists, and I thought you would want to see it.
From time to time, I discover a way to do something that I don't immediately understand the practical use for. In that spirit, here's a tutorial for something that no radio station may actually want to do…
Spotify has recently introduced the ability for users to add specific podcast episodes to playlists. This means that in addition to letting users create a collection of their favorite songs, they can now also do the same with podcast episodes. They could even mix the two.
This raises an interesting possibility: Anybody can now create their own radio show by combining episodes of their own podcast with songs on a Spotify playlist if that podcast is broken into “DJ breaks” that are designed to be used in between tunes.
Until now, this has been a challenge. There are nearly insurmountable hurdles to using popular music in podcasts (though PodcastMusic.com hopes to change that next year). But now, it's possible for the average joe to play DJ with actual songs. Here's how you can do it: Spotify premium free account november 2018.
1. Create a podcast with a single destination: Spotify.
Normally, when you create a podcast, you take the RSS feed from your hosting company and submit it to as many directories as possible: Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, TuneIn, etc. In this case, however, we're going to create a podcast with only one destination: Spotify.
2. Upload each “DJ break” as an episode.
Record a series of short “breaks” — introductions to each song on the playlist — as separate audio files. Upload them to your hosting service.
3. Create a playlist in Spotify and add your songs.
In Spotify, go to “Your Library” and click “Create Playlist.” Name your playlist. You can even add artwork and a description to your playlist. (I found this easier to do using Spotify's desktop app.)
4. Add your podcast episodes to the playlist.
Click on the “Search” button and search for your podcast. Click on the three dots next to each episode, then add each of the episodes to your playlist.
5. Sort your playlist.
Download Spotify Stations
Click on “Your Library” and then click on your playlist again. Click the three dots at the top of the screen and select “Edit Playlist.” (Oddly, you don't want to sort your playlist by clicking “Sort Playlist.”) You can change the order of the songs by grabbing them by the three lines and dragging them into the order you want. Hulu commercial free with spotify.
6. Make your playlist public.
Return to your playlist, click the three dots in the top right corner, and click “Make Public.” Now, anybody with Spotify can access your playlist.
7. Redirect with a vanity URL.
Find and copy the link to your playlist. In the Spotify mobile app, you click the three dots in the top corner of the screen, click “Share Playlist,” then click “Copy Link.”
Register a memorable domain name (I used “detroitplaylist.com”) or use a sub-directory of your existing website (such as “wkrp.com/localmusicshow”). Redirect this URL to the Spotify playlist link that you copied.
Now, you've got a convenient link that can be shared and promoted. For example, I have created a Spotify playlist at http://detroitplaylist.com.
You can imagine updating this playlist on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis to create new “radio” shows.
Complications
The ability to create playlists this way relies on some newly unveiled Spotify features, and is not using them in the exact way that they were intended, so it doesn't work perfectly. Here are some of the challenges I ran into:
- The process is slightly different depending on whether you're using the desktop version of Spotify or the mobile app. In some cases, I had difficulty figuring out how to do every step of this on one device or the other, and had to rely on a combination of the two. That may change over time.
- The playlist doesn't sync instantaneously between the desktop and the mobile app. Sometimes, I would make a change in one and not see it reflected in the other, which is problematic when you're relying on both to get the job done.
- While the desktop version of the app shows a big green “Play” button, the mobile app version's primary call to action is a “Shuffle Play” button. Of course, if people shuffle the songs, the DJ breaks will lead into the wrong songs, defeating the purpose of the playlist.
Ok, but who would do this?
This is a neat trick, but in reality, who's actually going to do this? I can see cases where an out-of-work DJ does it to stay on top of their game, or somebody looking to break into the industry does it as a resumé showpiece. A DJ with a specialty show, such as a new music show or a local music show, might want to do it. An air personality who is known for their in-depth musical knowledge may also want to do it. Or, you could create “pop-up playlists” for special occasions, such as Lollapalooza or the Grammys or the death of a big artist.
Of course, most radio stations will understandably be reluctant to promote this type of playlist, because if people are listening to Spotify, they're not listening to the radio station. I get it, and that's why I don't know what the practical use is for this feature. But it exists, and I thought you would want to see it.
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If you’re a fan of streaming music, personalized playlists, and mixes made “just for you,” you’ve no doubt run into some boring, bad and even downright offensive songs you’d rather not hear again. And if you’re familiar with the news surrounding today’s most popular artists, you probably have a running list of artists who you’d rather never hear again—no matter how good their newest single may be—because of their misogyny, or racism, or other problematic behavior.
While you can’t hit fast-forward on your car radio, you can alter how your streaming service recommends songs to you and force it to never again play the tracks or artists you want out of your life—the extent of that control depends, though, on which streaming service you choose. Here’s how each major streaming service handles blocking and filtering artists from reaching your ears.
Amazon Music
Amazon Music, the default music service on its Echo devices, offers you both customized playlists and radio stations based on an artist or song you pick. It doesn’t let you filter or block artists from said playlists or stations, but you can upvote or downvote songs in radio stations to better personalize your listening experience.
You can, however, block songs with explicit language in them by hitting the three-dot menu icon in the “My Music” tab and enabling the “Block Explicit Songs” option. Amazon did not respond to TIME’s inquiry about blocking or filtering artists any further.
Tidal
Tidal, known for its catalog of high-bitrate music (for better audio quality) and Beyoncé’s visual albums, makes it relatively easy to block artists or even particular songs, and gives you an easy way to manage your list of expunged musicians once you’ve made one.
While you can’t block an artist directly from their artist page, you can block them (or a particular song) from their Artist or Track radio playlists, or from your “My Mix” playlist. If you know exactly who you want to cull from your listening experience, the quickest way to get it done is to visit the artist’s profile anyway, hit the radio button next to the artist name, tap one of their songs, and hit the block button at the bottom of the Now Playing screen.
Spotify Radio Stations
Should you change your mind, you can hit the Settings icon in your “My Collection” tab, then scroll down to view and unblock all your selected artists and songs.
Tidal lets you block both tracks and artists, though you can only do it from the Now Playing screen in playlists or radio stations.
![Station Station](/uploads/1/3/4/1/134141131/401602624.jpg)
Apple Music
Apple Music, the company’s streaming-service alternative to its iTunes Store, features both Apple-curated playlists and custom radio stations that pick songs based on your listening history. But Apple Music won’t let you block an artist or filter their songs out of playlists; it does, however, enable you to adjust the app’s recommendation system based on how you rate songs.
You can vote to “love” or “dislike” songs in Apple Music, which it takes into account when building playlists based on your listening history. Apple did not respond to TIME’s inquiry about blocking or filtering artists any further.
Spotify
Of all the streaming services we looked at, Spotify has the most straightforward method of blocking artists from appearing on playlists and radio stations. While you can’t block specific songs, you can block an artist’s work by visiting their profile, hitting the three-dot menu icon, and selecting “Don’t play this artist.” After that, you won’t encounter them in any playlists or radio stations.
Spotify App Remove Radio Stations
A Spotify artist page, where you can block an artist from appearing in playlists and radio stations.
Pandora
Pandora’s personalized radio stations are perfect for discovering new artists and songs for your socially distant summer fun. But when it comes to dismissing artists you no longer want to hear, you only have one option: downvote them. That won’t entirely block the artist (or even that specific track), but it will reduce how often the artist appears in your radio stations.
In short, if you’re using Pandora, be sure to give the artist you want to avoid a thumbs down rating whenever possible to decrease the likelihood they pop up again in your stations.
![Spotify App Remove Radio Station Spotify App Remove Radio Station](/uploads/1/3/4/1/134141131/547342187.jpg)
YouTube Music
YouTube Music, parent company Alphabet’s replacement for its Google Play Music service (scheduled to shut down completely this December), doesn’t offer much in terms of artist control. Currently, YouTube Music does not allow users to filter or block artists.
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