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Is there some way to play music without selecting my favourite artists?

  • 6 February 2022
  • 20 replies
  • 408 views

Y’see the awkward thing is, I kind of wanted to just listen to some music, not feed some stupid algorithm. This is a very offputting welcome experience, with no obvious way to skip it (on web, desktop app, or mobile).

 

 

I’ll be trying out the competition instead, in the hopes that they’ll allow me to try something as revolutionary as “sign up for an account and play a song”.


20 replies

Hey @AssistingJarl 

I think it's enough if you log out once and then log back in.
This artist query should only appear after the very first login.

No such luck. I tried logging out and logging in (as well as logging in on several different devices) without any change.

I had the same problem. My workaround was to just select the first 100 artists offered to me. I was trying to select everyone on the page but as soon as you select one it adds more.

I could remove them all from my favourites after logging in, and it didn’t force me to pick favourites again.

I did feel quite annoyed by the process. We’re paying for a service, it shouldn’t be conditional on answering a question. Imagine if it was a human asking you who your favourite was on the way in to a concert or something - would they refuse you entry after you bought a ticket just because you wouldn’t answer the question? I’d hope not.

I couldn’t even see any ‘log out’ button on the desktop website before going through this process.

Userlevel 7
Badge +7

I am sorry to hear that the process wasn’t as expected @bdsl 
In order to get better recommendations we ask you to add at least 3 favourite artists. Then you can start your listening experience with Deezer.
You can always remove those 3 artists from favourites after.
I understand that would be better for you or other users to be able to skip this initial process. I’ll pass your feedback to the appropriate team.
Apologies for the inconvenience and I hope you are enjoying Deezer now and our improved catalog with more than 90 Million songs.

I’m totally fine with you asking, I don’t think you should *insist* in getting an answer before you’re willing to provide service. Thanks for passing the feedback on.

Yep, almost did not give the service a try because of this. Not fixed yet. Did just add three random artists and removed them right after.

I am sorry to hear that the process wasn’t as expected @bdsl 
In order to get better recommendations we ask you to add at least 3 favourite artists. Then you can start your listening experience with Deezer.
You can always remove those 3 artists from favourites after.
I understand that would be better for you or other users to be able to skip this initial process. I’ll pass your feedback to the appropriate team.
Apologies for the inconvenience and I hope you are enjoying Deezer now and our improved catalog with more than 90 Million songs.

I have to be honest I deleted Deezer for this reason, what a horrible feature.  I have just started to look to see if I could get round the issue.  You guys say It’s for our better experience but I don’t really listen to music like that, just because I like one song doesn’t mean I like that artist or everything else they have done.  For a company that specializes in music you don’t seem to have much understanding of people.  Unless the feature is just for profit making.

@aellis5 

You are complaining about a feature that is likely to be valuable to many users.

As @Jaime. wrote, you can very easily unfavorite the selected artists. Therefore, the complaining is completely exaggerated in my opinion.

@aellis5

You are complaining about a feature that is likely to be valuable to many users.

As @Jaime. wrote, you can very easily unfavorite the selected artists. Therefore, the complaining is completely exaggerated in my opinion.

I just don’t like it, guess the thread wouldn’t exist if I was alone. No value to me, just for profit feature.

@aellis5

You are complaining about a feature that is likely to be valuable to many users.

As @Jaime. wrote, you can very easily unfavorite the selected artists. Therefore, the complaining is completely exaggerated in my opinion.

I just don’t like it, guess the thread wouldn’t exist if I was alone. No value to me, just for profit feature.

If people like it fine but don’t insist on it at the start.  As soon as you log in, if you want to add favorite artists, go for it but give me the option to skip.  Not much point in the aggressive feature if you can just remove the favorites after.

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Hi all !

@AssistingJarl @bdsl @multicoloredflame @aellis5 

  Choosing some artist in start is not big deal . You need few sec for that and I'm sure that everybody have at least 3 fav artists .
This feature is there because Deezer want to know what kind of music you prefer .When you choosing at least three artist in beginning ,then Deezer can make personalised recommendation for you .
If you don't like recommendations you can ignore them and listen what you want .

I am sorry to hear that the process wasn’t as expected @bdsl 
In order to get better recommendations we ask you to add at least 3 favourite artists. Then you can start your listening experience with Deezer.
You can always remove those 3 artists from favourites after.
I understand that would be better for you or other users to be able to skip this initial process. I’ll pass your feedback to the appropriate team.
Apologies for the inconvenience and I hope you are enjoying Deezer now and our improved catalog with more than 90 Million songs.

It seems the feedback was misunderstood, since you have to choose 15 Artists now, instead of just 3. I’ve already tried Youtube music and Apple music this week and now Deezer and it’s already not my favourite because you can’t skip that step.

Userlevel 7
Badge +7

Hi @Vip0X indeed, the number has increased to 15, but the reason behind is the same as before, and it is to provide better recommendations. 
I’ll pass the feedback about having an option to skip this step.
Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause 

Hi @Jaime. 

Any news on this? I’m currently going through my trial month but this step is being a real road block. I feel pretty excluded from the platform as the concept of favourite artists doesn’t really mean anything to me given my music listening habits (sorry to the other user who was condescendingly claiming otherwise earlier on this thread). So this feels to me like a strong signal that I’m not welcome on the platform.

As a result I’m going to cancel my subscription. If the platform cares so much about getting recommendations right from day 1 (way more than the user probably does) that it implicitly actively encourages users to input incorrect data (which defeats the whole purpose) before they can use the service at all; and so little about user feedback that this has been a known issue for several years with no resolution; who’s to say what other frustration I might encounter once I actually start using the service.

I’m still interested however in being informed about a resolution on this issue, which could be a signal that the product design strategy of Deezer is changing to serve its users better, and that I should give it another try.

Just another voice saying that I considered Deezer and even signed up for Premium (free trial).  Now I’m deleting it and will not consider it until the 15 artist thing is gone.  Actually, I’ll probably never look at it again, but there’s always a chance.

I want to play music.  I just want to play music.  I’m not here to tell some idiotic platform my life story.  I don’t want recommendations.  I don’t want auto play.  I don’t want auto anything.  I just want to listen to the music that I choose to play.  It seems like this would be easy for people to understand, but I guess it is.

I am happy for those that do want those things.  It seems like you may have found a home.  But for those of us who don’t, I guess we’ll keep looking.

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Hi @Brendannn @lef2100, thank you for sharing your experience and concerns with us.

We truly value your feedback and understand your frustration with the current setup.

We're sorry to hear that the concept of favorite artists and the 15-artist limit has been a significant roadblock for you.

It's certainly not our intention to make anyone feel excluded from our platform.

We're constantly working to improve our service and make it more inclusive for all users.

Your feedback regarding the importance of being able to simply play music without the need for recommendations or auto features is duly noted.

We understand that everyone has different preferences when it comes to music consumption, and we want to ensure that Deezer caters to a wide range of needs and preferences.

While we can't promise immediate changes, please know that your feedback has been shared with our team for consideration.

We're committed to continuously improving our platform and listening to our users' feedback.

If you ever decide to give Deezer another try in the future, we'd love to welcome you back.

In the meantime, if you have any further questions or feedback, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Please delete the compulsory favourite artist selection step. If it was annoying with three, it’s infuriating with 15.

I should add that I have to set up 4 or 5 accounts. If the rest of Deezer is this good, we will be out in month 1.

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