Get More Music You Love on Streaming Services

Every time my daughter plays music in our kitchen, I cringe.

Not because I don’t like her choices — well, that’s partly it — but because of what those selections will do to my music streaming account. I just know that in the near future, the service will try to serve me up more Juice WRLD when I’m in the mood for something off the Who’s classic album Who’s Next.

I’m not alone. The algorithms that determine what you hear when you don’t pick a specific artist or song are a regular source of frustration for many users. Listeners — whether they’re on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon Music or another service — wonder why songs or music styles that they have little or no interest in hearing are being suggested to them. The particulars of each streaming service’s algorithms — computations that take info about you and your listening habits to figure out what else you might like — are carefully guarded secrets. And so sanctioned ways to manipulate them to better align to your own tastes are hard to come by. But there are some steps you can take to find more music you'll enjoy. Here’s what I’ve learned from online research and a lot of trial and error.

Be choosy with who uses your account 

Streaming services don’t know whether it’s you or a friend or family member making the choices. That’s what caused my long battle to reclaim my algorithm and rid my account of tunes for younger tastes. Instead, you can sign up for a family account so that each person gets their own separate listening recommendations.

Use the like/dislike button liberally

This is the best way to let the service know what type of music you enjoy. Don’t limit those likes and dislikes to just songs either. If there’s an album or artist you have especially strong feelings about — good or bad — express that. Also, if a song you don’t like starts to play, skip it quickly. The longer you let it run, the more the algorithm thinks you might be enjoying it.

Make exclusions

Some services, like Spotify, allow you to keep a playlist off your main taste profile. If, for example, you have a calming playlist you listen to at bedtime, excluding it will reduce the impact of those songs on the service’s suggestions.