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Why always live version of a song

  • 13 January 2022
  • 25 replies
  • 320 views

When searching for a song on Sonos or Google Auto, Deezer always defaults to a live version if it exists.  How can I disable or discourage this behaviour?

25 replies

Userlevel 2

Or, stated another way, how do I advance through the search results to another version ?

Userlevel 6
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Hello @zebra29 

Thank you for your comments,

Could you please send us a screenshot of the issue, please? To check it out,

Does that happen only with Sonos and Google Auto? Have you tried to search for the song by writing the name of the artist and the name the song on the search bar?

Thanks :)

Userlevel 2

No screenshot to attach as the problem is comes up in Google Auto - I can send you a picture of my truck but I don’t think it will assist this effort.

 

So, try this in Google Auto: say “Deezer play Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads”

You will get the live version instead of the album version - every time.

 

I don’t use the PC version of Deezer.  Google Auto via Android or Sonos only.

In Deezer Android on my phone searching for Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads shows the album version at the top of the list.

So the problem appears to be how Deezer is responding to requests from Google Auto.

I have the same issue with Android Auto.. .you do the voice request for a track ..It seems to always pick a live version rather than the version that was a hit.

Userlevel 1

There is another thread (which is closed) from over a year ago that says they will sort it soon.....it used to work and now it doesn't. It hasn't for a while now. No answers on here, no answers on Google. We need it sorting out. 

 

Is it because live versions, remixes, covers etc have smaller royalties? 

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Same issue here.

Userlevel 7
Badge +7

@Mitch C. you problem is with Google assistant?
thanks

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@Mitch C. you problem is with Google assistant?
thanks

When using Android Auto, if I request a song using Google Assistant, Deezer always plays a live version or remix instead of the album version.

In another thread, an employee suggested adding the word “single" when requesting a song, and locked the thread so nobody else could comment. I renewed my subscription thinking that was the answer, however, that hasn't ever worked for any song I request.

I love the sound quality of Deezer, but being able to request a song hands-free in the car is a matter of safety. I'll probably just begrudgingly going back to Spotify.

Userlevel 7
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Thanks @Mitch C. I’ve ask our devs now in order to check if it is a bug on our side or something else..
As soon as I hear back from them I’ll let you know.

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Thanks @Mitch C. I’ve ask our devs now in order to check if it is a bug on our side or something else..
As soon as I hear back from them I’ll let you know.

I appreciate it!

Userlevel 7
Badge +7

Hey @Mitch C. our devs and catalogue team mentioned that they are aware of the problem and working in a fix, which includes a catalogue clean-up. There’s no ETA yet but we are working with Google on that.
Apologies for the inconvenient and I hope the problem is fixed soon.

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Hey @Mitch C. our devs and catalogue team mentioned that they are aware of the problem and working in a fix, which includes a catalogue clean-up. There’s no ETA yet but we are working with Google on that.
Apologies for the inconvenient and I hope the problem is fixed soon.

Thanks again. I'll keep an eye out for when the fix gets posted.

The issue keep going. It's very annoying.

I don't want to cancel my Deezer account but if you can't fix the problem, maybe i should try Spotify.

 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hello @Aurélien96 sorry to hear that the issue is still ongoing. 

I am checking with the developers if there is any update on this or a workaround with a different voice command to get the album version instead of remixes or live versions.

Thanks for raising again this. Take Care

This is so frustrating to me. Live versions are never better than studio versions, so why have them as the first option? 

Userlevel 7
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Hello @anzar sorry for the experience of getting live version. This pain was already shared with all the stakeholders, including Google.

Content resolution (finding the right content to the user request) is handled by google and we are working on improving both our catalog and their resolution.

I've just started with Deezer and having this issue, very disappointing to see this thread is 2 years old (and references an even older thread).

I'd love to have an option within Deezer to ignore any live albums unless I play them specifically. So when I'm using flow, or requesting a song via google home, I only get studio recordings.

Userlevel 7
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Hi @archer, thank you for reaching out.

I've shared your information with our developer, and I'll be sure to keep you updated as soon as I have any news.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

I have had this problem ever since I first started using deezer years ago, I actually canceled Deezer because of it and went back to YouTube music but then eventually I came back to deezer after about 15 months of paying for YouTube music.

It still happens to me and it upsets me very much.

For instance every time I ask my Google home hub when I'm sitting in the living room to play Josie by Steely Dan it always plays THE LIVE VERSION, then I tell my Google home hub that I don't like this song so it will not play the live version again hopefully, and then 5 minutes later when I tell it again to play Josie by Steely Dan it starts playing live version again, and this scenario will repeat forever, and it will never play the studio version, the only way I can make it play the studio version of the album is I have to tell the Google home hub to play the album Aja by Steely Dan, and then it starts playing the album from the beginning starting from the first track, and then I have to tell the Google home hub to skip 6 different times until it gets down to the very last song on the album which is the song Josie which is what I wanted to hear all along, so it makes me jump through hoops which is pissing me off.

All of this happens even though I have went into Deezer long ago and checked the box which specifies for deezer to not recommend the live version of this song to me, as well as I have put the studio version of this song into my favorites tracks, with the heart symbol.

 

So it keeps happening and apparently there's noting i can do about it, I think google does this just to piss me off actually, because it doesn't happen when I use YouTube music to play my songs.

I think they program google to do this on purpose.

Userlevel 7
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Hi @archer @JLMDBM66, I'm really sorry to hear about the ongoing frustration you're experiencing with this issue.

I understand how upsetting it can be, especially when it seems like you're jumping through hoops just to listen to the studio version of a song you love.

We are aware of this issue, but unfortunately, there isn't much we can do immediately. Content resolution, which involves finding the right content for the user request, is handled by Google.

This is an area we're continuously working on improving, both by enhancing our catalog and collaborating closely with Google to refine their resolution process.

In the meantime, I recommend trying to use specific commands like "Play the studio version of Josie by Steely Dan on Deezer" to see if it helps.

Thank you for your patience and for sticking with Deezer.

I have already done that many times and it never works, countless times I have told the Google Home hub to play the studio version of a song, and it plays the live version.

Many times I have tried this with many different songs, I dare you to go try your own self and you will see what I'm talking about, I'm pretty certain that this is all Google's fault that Google is programmed to do this because I have used many Google products in my time and I have found out when you move over to someone else's product Google doesn't try to please you anymore It tries to mess with you and give you wrong information or give you the opposite of what you wanted.

 

For instance I have a Google nest which costed me $400 sitting on my front porch and when I paid Google The subscription fee every month for the camera to record 24/7 and upload everything to the cloud then whenever I checked on my phone no matter where in the world I was I would immediately be able to look at the view through the camera on my front porch, now that I have canceled the subscription every time I click the Google nest app on my phone to look through the camera lens on my front porch it takes at least a minute to connect and a lot of times it says the camera is offline and I have to try it over and over for at least about 4 or 5 minutes until it will finally connect but as soon as I go back to paying the subscription monthly then it reverts back to immediately giving me the view when I click the app and there are other instances with other Google products as well, but the main reason I like Deezer better then YouTube music is because when Google plays a song on YouTube music I can tell it I don't like that song and Google will play it anyway and I can repeat I don't like that song and I can change to a different song but then it doesn't matter to Google because Google will play that song again no matter how many times I tell Google I don't like it but with Deezer if I tell the Google Home hub I don't like that song anymore Google will not play that song anymore, unless of course it's when I tell Google to play a studio version of a song and it plays the live version and then I tell it I don't like that live version or I tell it I don't like this song and it says okay and it plays it anyway and then I can specify play the studio version of a song and it will not do that it will go back to the live version no matter how many times I have tried I have gave up on that so I do believe that Google is programmed to do things like this to make people upset it might sound crazy but that's what I believe I've heard it from many people many different scenarios I'm going to stay with Deezer but the only thing I like about YouTube music is when I tell the Google Home hub to play a song it plays the video.

But then when you tell the Google Home hub to play a song on Deezer it don't play the video it just plays the song so it's really more enjoyable for it to play a video but I'm not going to go back to YouTube music just so it will play a video instead of a song because it's more frustrating when Google won't do what I say when I tell it I don't like a song it plays it anyway so that's the reason I'm not going back to YouTube music is because Google don't care how many times I tell it I don't like a song it will play it again the next time anyway.

So I'm not blaming Deezer for this at all it's just what happens and I don't think there's a way around it other than specify to Google that you want that particular album to play and then you have to skip down either with your finger manually touching the Google Home hub or either you have to speak the word next as many times as it takes to get to the song that you want.

There is one thing I would suggest that might solve the problem, Deezer could implement a solution whereby they put a checkbox somewhere on their website in the settings where you can specify that you don't want live versions of songs to play at all, ever, and then perhaps that might be a solution.

Hello Ya’ll. Just to put it out there IT IS DEEZERS FAILT that the song you request is always coming up as a live version. It is happening to me with Amazon Alexa, With google home and with Siri so you can’t tell me that its all these ai’s to blame separately when the same issue exist on all of them. I am so frustrated that I will stop using deezer forever!

Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hello @JLMDBM66 @SrkiMiaLea thanks for your messages and apologies for the experience.

As explained above, according to information shared with me, when you request a command to Alexa, Google or Siri, the outcome, which involves finding the right content for the user request, is handled by Google, Amazon or Apple.

Nevertheless, we keep in constant contact with all stakeholders to get a better experience for our users when they use voice commands.

Well Deezer could give users the option to never play live versions of songs, surely with all the artificial intelligence now that could be done, And I tell you one thing when I talk to my Google Home hub and I tell it to play Josie by steely Dan on YouTube music, It always plays the studio version, but when I tell my Google Home hub to play Josie by steely Dan on Deezer it plays the live version every time.

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Came back to this thread to see if there was any update over a year later, but unfortunately it looks like there has been no progress. Amazon music it is then. I'd much rather give someone other than Bezos money, but it is what it is I guess.

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