Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Music

Adele Gets Spotify To Take Shuffle Button Off All Album Pages (bbc.com) 242

Adele has persuaded Spotify to take the shuffle button off all album pages so tracks play in the artist's own order. The BBC reports: The singer tweeted: "We don't create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening." The streaming service replied "anything for you". A statement later hailed their "new premium feature... to make play the default button on all albums." A Spotify spokesperson said they were "excited" to be rolling out the feature which was "long requested by both users and artists." The spokesperson said Spotify users could still choose to shuffle an album, but the system would default to playing tracks in the order chosen by the artist. "As always, we will continue to iterate our products and features to create the best experiences for both artists and their fans," the statement concluded.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Adele Gets Spotify To Take Shuffle Button Off All Album Pages

Comments Filter:
  • Randomly playing songs is madness.

    • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday November 22, 2021 @06:31PM (#62011607)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • by saloomy ( 2817221 ) on Monday November 22, 2021 @06:37PM (#62011629)
        Some albums have a specific story and some have songs that blend into each other. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon is one such famous example. Choice should be the goal here. Maybe have the default function be a user preference?
        • by edis ( 266347 )

          Think again. Does shuffle preference prevent from songs, you are not into, popping up?
          Just skip what you are not willing from the album, if really concerned.

          As a veteran album collector, I respect album entities much more, than inarticulate piles of songs.
          Latter always was concidered lower grade, and makes sense whether one is bored by the same sequences,
          or has been assembling recording set himself, like one from the radio. My classmates had fun to dance to
          such vivid soundtrack of radio chunks. Me too.

        • Some albums have a specific story and some have songs that blend into each other. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon is one such famous example. Choice should be the goal here. Maybe have the default function be a user preference?

          Plus, if you start Dark Side of the Moon just as the opening credits for Ernest Saves Christmas are ending, the album and the movie sync up perfectly.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        Fuck that. I like songs, not albums. Every single band I've ever listened to have plenty of songs that are not to my liking, but I should just stick to it and listen to them, just so as not to offend someone else's artistic sensibilities? Pfft. If I listen to music, I listen to it for my own enjoyment, not anyone else's.

        No.

        There are two types of albums:
        1: Those rarities that are effectively perfect, making shuffle a travesty. Example: Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.
        2: The vast majority that have two or three good track and the rest should never be listened to, making shuffle a travesty.

        Under no circumstances should an album be shuffled. It should either be savored in its intended form or it should be ripped to individual tracks, most of which are disposed of forever. Shuffling those bits that aren't disposed-o

        • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
          I've had a few CDs where I liked all the songs, but liked the change that shuffle offers as well. The next song may be a small surprise, but it's still a surprise.
        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • by lsllll ( 830002 )
          So I guess seeking to the guitar solo in "Money" is out of the question.
          • by bws111 ( 1216812 )

            Who is saying the ability to select individual songs should be eliminated? Nobody.

            • Prince's Lovesexy comes to mind, circa 1988. The CD contained the entire album as a single track, making it impossible to seek to individual songs except by fast-forwarding.

              This is just another example of "artistic" disrespect for the listener, albeit slightly less annoying/stupid.

        • There are two types of albums:

          There are two types of people:
          1: Those rarities who don't seek to impose their idea of art on others.
          2: The vast majority of flatly dumb motherfuckers that think their personal taste is what is best.

          I lied, there's really 3, because 2 has a subgrouping.
          2a: Those who fit into 2, and feel like it's their mission from fucking god to impose it on you.

      • It's a cringe album anyway. She got divorced and is singing "don't blame me."

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • It's a cringe album anyway. She got divorced and is singing "don't blame me."

          Yeah.

          She's also catching shit from the body positive movement. They used to praise her as a role model before she lot weight. https://www.apost.com/en/blog/... [apost.com]

          Bloldy hell, she looks great now. When other women go after you for that sort of thing, you know you're doing it right.

          My SO who is tall and slender has had to put up with that kind of crap from obese women most of her life. She was also successful in business, so her detractors hated her all the more. The old crab potting thing I guess.

          • by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Monday November 22, 2021 @07:35PM (#62011841) Journal

            My SO who is tall and slender has had to put up with that kind of crap from obese women most of her life. She was also successful in business, so her detractors hated her all the more. The old crab potting thing I guess.

            My observation is that in business, women will find other women to be a much bigger obatacle than men.

            • But to be fair, Adele (now) and your SO are smaller obstacles -- relatively speaking.
            • My SO who is tall and slender has had to put up with that kind of crap from obese women most of her life. She was also successful in business, so her detractors hated her all the more. The old crab potting thing I guess.

              My observation is that in business, women will find other women to be a much bigger obatacle than men.

              Very much so. That's been my experience in my own workplace as well as hers.

              It's interesting to me that a person who should be a feminist archetype absolutely loathes modern feminists, and thinks that 3rd wavers are the weakest people on earth, trying to pull everyone down to their level as losers. This based on her professional interactions.

          • The reality is the world is full of toxic arsehats. It doesn't matter if you fat, thin, thicc, have thighgaps, black, white, latino, blond, redhead, freckles, tall, short, some stupid fucktard is going to say you're {insert bad thing here}.

            The best thing to ever be released on the world is the block button on social media accounts.

            From your link Adele is accused of being too thin. I bet you I could go out tonight and find 10 people who think she's still too fat. Fuck that noise. Adele looks the way Adele lo

      • and for those who want it the "shuffle" option is still available.

        And it doesn't sound like you use the shuffle option to begin with since you would still get the songs you don't like playing so you will probably be using a playlist anyway.

        So whats the problem with a feature that other's want being added to Spotify since it doesn't sound like it will impact you in any way to begin with?

      • I see you are unfamiliar with what "shuffle" does.
        It does NOT remove the "bad" songs.

        In fact, it makes it *harder* for you to skip the songs you don't like. You might know that you don't like the second song on the album. Surprise! Shuffle moved your favorite song into the second position, so you just skipped your favorite song on accident if you're driving, working, or otherwise doing something other than starting at Spotify.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • That's not shuffle. With shuffle, each song is played the same number of times. If you shuffle an album with one 5 star track, and ten unrated tracks, you don't expect the 5 star track to just play on repeat.

            Are you familiar with shuffling cards? That' what shuffle is. The frequency distribution of a set is unaltered by a shuffle operation.

      • If you like some songs, how does shuffle help?

      • Nothing prevent you from playing single songs. Or creating playlists. So in your use case, nothing has changed.
    • Randomly playing songs is madness.

      Perhaps if you selected an Album. However if you selected an Artist it may make sense.

    • I listen to songs. I don't have a single album where I like every song. My playlists are random and from multiple artists and even multiple genres. They are organized by theme not artist or genres. Not only do I never like every song on an album but I don't like listening to multiple songs in a row from the same artist. If I happen to randomly get the same artist twice in a row I usually skip the second song.

    • by fermion ( 181285 )
      Here is the thing that young people do not know. The highest quality vinyl was the single. It had an A side with the promoted hit, and a b side with the extra song. While most people bought the album, the true fan also had the single which rotated at 45 times a minute instead of just 33, again for higher quality.

      Adele released a single as well an album. The fact that random play is off is just greed on her fault to make sure she gets paid because her lusers are going have to listen to the album to get to

      • by Xenx ( 2211586 )

        My understanding is that the shuffle function has become a premium paid feature, so she has just inflated the price of music, which she will take a cut.

        At least as far as this is concerned, artists are underpaid for streamed music. I'm not claiming this is the right solution to the problem, or that an increase of profit was even part of her decision, but price gouging isn't a fair comparison either.

        • by fermion ( 181285 )
          There is no one who does not whine they are underpaid. Streaming might not pay as much as other means, but artists get paid for every play. If a song is played on the radio, that is about $5. So even if the market is only a hundred thousand , that is only 0.005 cents a listener. If you sell an album, and have a really good deal, you might get a few dollars.

          In the past everyone was rolling dough because everyone listened to the radio, everyone bought albums, everyone bought greatest hits so they were payin

          • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
            For what it's worth, the free tier ONLY gets shuffle play. You have to pay for anything but shuffle. This change just makes it so non-shuffle is the default if you are premium.
      • It was also often the case that artists would do special mixes for singles; sometimes an extended version of the song or an alternate mix. In other words, they incentivized buying the singles as well as the LPs. The Beatles made it a rule that any song that appeared on a single did not appear on the album, and that every single A side was a Lennon/McCartney song, although Capitol Records would break that rule in the US and Canada by pulling out songs from the US versions and constructing an extra album, als

        • by fermion ( 181285 )
          Not to mention most heavy metal, and all classical. Adele can sell music as she wants. She can put the music all together instead of tracks. The only reason to have tracks is so you can sell and get royalties for portions of your complete work. But the fact remains it is profit driven and may cost people more for stuff they donâ(TM)t want.
      • Here is the thing that young people do not know. The highest quality vinyl was the single. It had an A side with the promoted hit, and a b side with the extra song. While most people bought the album, the true fan also had the single which rotated at 45 times a minute instead of just 33, again for higher quality.

        Because the needle speed is higher? Even when you're on the outer tracks? Admittedly, I haven't done the math.

        • Yes, because the higher speed allows the groove to contain more information than the 33rpm one.
      • the true fan also had the single which rotated at 45 times a minute instead of just 33, again for higher quality.

        7" singles were 45 RPM because they're essentially all inner groove, and inner groove distortion is a thing for a myriad of reasons. Many 45s in the USA were pressed on polystyrene (not vinyl), which wears out quickly but was cheap. It was intended to be an inexpensive way to send mass produced music to radio stations and to fill up jukeboxes.

        The recording industry has always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with singles. They consider them to be an important promotional tool, but they still want yo

      • by teg ( 97890 )

        Adele released a single as well an album. The fact that random play is off is just greed on her fault to make sure she gets paid because her lusers are going have to listen to the album to get to the song they want. Don McLean, look him up, he has one song a few people know, did this with his album, where you canâ(TM)t buy only the song you want.

        My understanding is that the shuffle function has become a premium paid feature, so she has just inflated the price of music, which she will take a cut.

        Your understanding is wrong. The shuffle function is not a premium feature. In fact, it's the opposite - as a free user, you have to use shuffle [techhive.com]. No option. If you're not premium, you're not fully in control of what you're listening to. And if you want to play a specific song, add your favorites to a playlist etc, you can obviously do that. No change, and no enforcement of "listening to the album from the first song to the last".

        The whole thing is overblown. What has changed is that the default button for p

    • I guess for some albums sequencing doesn't mean much, but how would The Who's Tommy or Pink Floyd's The Wall sound shuffled? Why would you even want to listen to an album like that shuffled? And even for non-concept albums, there's actually a lot of work that can go into sequencing tracks. In ye olden days of vinyl it could be even trickier.

      I dunno, I come from an age of AOR, and yeah, I confess, I couldn't imagine listening to Abbey Road all shuffled up. That would make the second side medley completely in

      • by lsllll ( 830002 )
        Sequencing MAY mean much the first time you listen to an album, but once you've done that, unless you want to listen to it for the full effectagain (which I would usually do with The Wall or similar releases), you should be able to do what you please with items you purchased. I like the 3rd movement of Appassionata. I shouldn't have to listen to the first 2 movements if I don't want to.
    • True, but I believe the original thinking of spotify was to be like a radio station with random songs from random artists. Sure, the radios would play albums from start to finish at times, but this was generally either when the album was first released, or some intent DJ at a college station, but was really done as a exception to the normal format.

      But if customers online buy an "album" they want to play it as an album, at least once, and not just have all the songs shuffled in with all the other songs from

    • It depends on the artist and album. Some albums tell a story, some are a series of somewhat related pieces which are sequenced for artistic effect. But many are really just a collection of singles, and if any thought was given to sequence it was simply to improve marketability.

      Although I'm glad they finally gave us the option to listen in "album order," I can barely stomach one of Adele's songs. Trying to endure an entire album of whining about her broken relationships would put most people over the edge.

    • That's not a decision the artist nor anyone other than the user should be making. Fortunately I don't use and never will.

    • by Z80a ( 971949 )

      How about having the option of having both instead of forcing people into only one option?

      • by bws111 ( 1216812 )

        You mean like the summary says?

          "The spokesperson said Spotify users could still choose to shuffle an album, but the system would default to playing tracks in the order chosen by the artist."

    • by antdude ( 79039 )

      I don't get albums so this doesn't matter for me. I do play songs randomly. :)

    • If you manage to get through all the hurdles that spotify throws at you on the way to get to an actual album, you deserve to listen to it in the order it was intended.

      Most of the time spotify prefers to play you stuff that it Thinks you like. I suspect they assume that the average listener does not know what he wants to listen and acts accordingly. I also suspect that they are right. But as they do not care in which order they listen it and I do, why not play it in the correct order?

  • Clown World (Score:5, Funny)

    by labnet ( 457441 ) on Monday November 22, 2021 @06:29PM (#62011595)

    "new premium feature... to make play the default button on all albums."

    Really. That's like Otis saying 'new premium feature', be amazed, our lift now takes you to each sequential floor.
    The marketing spin is making me dizzy.

    • "new premium feature... to make play the default button on all albums."

      Really. That's like Otis saying 'new premium feature', be amazed, our lift now takes you to each sequential floor.
      The marketing spin is making me dizzy.

      It's most definitely about marketing, since Otis absolutely has this feature in elevators. Go to a Jewish hospital on a Saturday if you'd like a demonstration.

  • comrade (Score:5, Funny)

    by bugs2squash ( 1132591 ) on Monday November 22, 2021 @06:29PM (#62011597)
    In soviet Russia, tracks order you
  • ridiculous (Score:2, Funny)

    by crgrace ( 220738 )

    This is crazy that basic functionality should be a "new premium feature". I know young people didn't grow up in an era of albums but many artists took the art form very seriously and carefully sequenced their songs to guide the energy level, emotional response, or even to tell a story.

    Concept albums like "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" make no sense at all when they are shuffled. They are most emphatically meant to be played in order.

    I'm glad Spotify finally came around now t

    • This is crazy that basic functionality should be a "new premium feature".

      There's a reason why it's a "premium feature". Not because the shuffle or lack of is something they charge extra for, but rather because Spotify's free tier doesn't let you play albums.

  • Sad (Score:5, Funny)

    by PPH ( 736903 ) on Monday November 22, 2021 @06:34PM (#62011621)

    I really liked hitting 'shuffle' when playing Thick as a Brick.

  • by Skiron ( 735617 ) on Monday November 22, 2021 @06:36PM (#62011627)
    ...all her songs sound the same to me, so just play one - I've heard the rest all ready.
  • The shuffle button is not off all albums.
    It's just not the default playing mode.
    It can be manually chosen by the Spotify user. My guess would be, with a button.
  • Default behaviour (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jemmyw ( 624065 ) on Monday November 22, 2021 @06:48PM (#62011667)
    I reckon Spotify were fine to do this because hardly any users shuffle albums. You pick your favourite songs into playlists and shuffle those. Nobody wants to hear more than one Adele song in a row.

    This is really a non story used for marketing. I doubt she really cares, and if she did then that's just sticking a finger up at her own fans who want to listen in a certain way.
  • Oh, an "artist" (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Monday November 22, 2021 @06:57PM (#62011723)

    How DARE you enjoy my stuff wrong?

    Ok. I won't enjoy it. Promised.

    • Re:Oh, an "artist" (Score:4, Insightful)

      by dissy ( 172727 ) on Monday November 22, 2021 @07:25PM (#62011823)

      How DARE you enjoy my stuff wrong?

      Our new found ability to be able to listen to an album in order, in NO way limits your ability to click shuffle.

      • by Duds ( 100634 )

        It's not clear from the story, spotify say you can still shuffle but the headline on this site says the shuffle button is gone.

        I don't know enough about spotify to know who is right.

        • Spotify's default choice whenever you hit play on *any* playlist, be that an album, someone's collection, or a playlist you made yourself was to shuffle it.

          What was removed was the "shuffle by default" function of the play button. The button literally had the play symbol with a small shuffle button in the bottom right, or in wide screens was literally called "Shuffle Play". There's a screenshot of the button here: https://allthings.how/how-to-b... [allthings.how] along with the stupidly convoluted process of how to play an

  • I don't know who that is, but screw that person and screw spotify?
    If people use the random play button, it's because they want to.
    • by kallisti ( 20737 )

      No. Before this change the button in question was HARDCODED to shuffle. And there was no way to change it to simply listen to an album in order.
      People have been asking for the change for years, more like screw Spotify for forcing an unwanted "feature"

  • by chas.williams ( 6256556 ) on Monday November 22, 2021 @07:24PM (#62011813)
    If the songs need to be played in a particular order for proper enjoyment, why isn't the album a single song of 30+ minutes?
    • by bws111 ( 1216812 )

      If a book needs to be read in a particular order for proper enjoyment, why have chapters?

      • So what is your point? This is about someone dictating the listener ( or reader) how to listen (read) it. Forcing it. If i read my book from end to start that is my own choice. This should not be enforced. Spotify just cracked under pressure. "If you not do..bla bls..then I will take down all my music from your service..bla bla"
    • IIRC, there's a legal/contractual definition of an LP (versus an EP) and a minimum number of tracks need to feature for it to be properly treated as an album. The prog rock band The Mars Volta had a song on one of their albums which was 30 minutes in total, but the album would only consist of 3 or 4 distinct songs despite the total length being nearly 70 minutes. In the end they had to split the 30 minute track into half a dozen "movements" with separate names, which all flowed together when played (eg. no

  • Put two buttons next to each other.
    One Is Play the Other Is Shuffle Play.

    I'm off to the patent office to earn my billions...

  • If she wants people to listen to it in order, then she can put them all on the CD as one track.
  • I have never used Spotify, so I guess I need to ask what the normal behavior is. Play a bunch of random stuff? And you can't pick what's going to play next?

    I'm more confused than anything.

  • Even if they disabled the shuffle function for her album (which they didn't) you could still add all the songs from the album to a playlist, called "Adele's New Album" for example, and then shuffle that playlist.

    Me, I like the feeling of listening to some eclectic college FM station, so I put a couple of thousand songs into a giant playlist and just let Spotify throw them at me randomly. Sometimes, if I'm feeling froggy, I'll tell Spotify to play a radio station based on my giant playlist. Then I'll get a

  • we need Shuffle Police.

  • So we not only have to pay for her music but also have to follow the rules of playback? Fuck that.
  • Albums are analogous to books. You wouldn't read the chapters of a book out of order, would you?

"It's like deja vu all over again." -- Yogi Berra

Working...