Spotify is the world’s biggest music streaming platform by number of subscribers. Users of the service simply need to register to have access to one of the biggest-ever collections of music in history, plus podcasts, and other audio content. It operates on a freemium model. Free Spotify access comes with lower sound quality, and advertisements, and requires an internet connection. Spotify signals it’s using a non-play-order sort with a green arrow in a category heading. For instance, let’s say you sorted the Harry Potter soundtracks playlist by album, figuring this. Other columns available for sorting include Artist, Time (track length), and Album. When viewing individual playlists, you can additionally sort tracks by user and the date a track was added to the playlist, which is handy if you subscribe to a playlist that’s frequently updated by its creator and you want to see the new stuff she’s just added. Spotify is a digital music service that gives you access to millions of songs. Spotify is all the music you’ll ever need. Listening is everything - Spotify.
Rapper Tory Lanez performs onstage during the final night of the 2019 IndiGOAT tour at Honda Center on October 19, 2019 in Anaheim, California.
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.
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.
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
Spotify Mobile App Sort By Artist
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.
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.
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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EDIT POSTSort and filter Spotify to control how the music is listed and played. Pick an option and your device below for more information.
Sort
Reorganize how music is listed in the app.
Sort Playlists, Artists, and Albums in Your Library
- Go to the list you’d like to sort.
- Pull down and release to display Filters in the top-right corner. Tap it.
- Tap your preferred sorting option.
- Repeat these steps to reverse the order, or pick another sort option.
You can also choose to list only Downloads in Your Library.
Sort songs in playlists
For iPhone/iPad:
- Go to the playlist you’d like to sort.
- Pull down and release to display in the top-right corner. Tap it.
Note: To sort Liked Songs, pull down and tap Filters in the top-right corner. - Tap how you’d like to sort e.g. by Recently added.
For Android:
- Go to the playlist you’d like to sort.
- Tap in the top-right corner.
- Tap Sort playlist.
Note: In Liked Songs, tap Sort Liked Songs. - Tap how you’d like to sort e.g. by Recently added.
Note: Sort options may vary depending on the list you’re sorting.
Sort songs in playlists
Tip: This works for Liked Songs in Your Library too.
- Click the column you want to sort by, for example:
- Alphabetically, by TITLE, ARTIST, or ALBUM.
- By most recently added, with .
- By song duration, with .
Tip: Adjust the app's screen size to reveal more columns.
- Click the column again to reverse the order, click it again to return to the original order.
If you created the playlist, you can also drag and drop songs into your preferred position. Just click and hold a song to move it up or down.
Spotify App Sort By Artist Name
Sort playlists in Your Library
To reorder your list of playlists in the menu on the left, click and hold a playlist title to move it up or down.
You can also organize your playlists into playlist folders.
Sort Albums and Artists in Your Library
Select Albums or Artists in the menu on the left, and choose a Sorted by option from the dropdown menu.
Filter
Choose to show only specific content within lists, or find a specific song in a playlist.
Find Playlists, Albums, and Artists in Your Library
- Go to the list you’d like to filter.
- Pull the screen down to display Find in playlists/albums/artists at the top. Tap it.
- Enter a search term. Only titles containing that term are now listed.
- To return to the original listing, either clear your search or tap X or Cancel to remove the filter.
Find songs in playlists
For iPhone/iPad:
- Go to the playlist.
- Pull down and release to display Filter at the top. Tap it.
Note: In Liked Songs, tap Find in Liked Songs. - Enter a search term. Only titles containing that term are now listed.
- To return to the original listing, either clear your search or tap X or Cancel to remove the filter.
For Android:
- Go to the playlist.
Note: In Liked Songs, pull down and release to display Find in Liked Songs. - Tap in the top-right corner.
- Tap Find in playlist.
- Enter a search term. Only titles containing that term are now listed.
- To return to the original listing, either clear your search or tap X or Cancel to remove the filter.
Note: Filter options may vary depending on the list you’re filtering. To return to the original listing, repeat these steps and tap the selected filter again.
With Filter on the desktop app, you can list specific content based on a search term in any playlist or Liked Songs in Your Library.
- Select Filter at the top of track listings.
- Enter a search term. Only titles containing that term are now listed.
- To return to the original listing, either clear your search or click X to remove the filter.