Ideas: Blocking / Muting Artists & Genres

[bjoyce2]

New Feature Idea: Create Rules about what bands you never want to hear.  If I select a Genre but there are certain bands I never want to hear, there should be a way to create a rule. i.e. I select the 70's Rock Genre but I never want to hear any music from Sting, Rush, Styx, Journey, Kiss, etc.  then allow me to create a rule eliminating them fron the selection algorithm.

Moderator Edit: Edited title for clarity

[Dheadley]

We need the capability to block or turn off certain artists. Thumbing down is difficult when listening at work or through a smart speaker. 

Please community, give this some love so Pandora will take this seriously!

Thanks!

[barnesmjsa]

So this is STILL be asked for and I don't see much movement?

Does Pandora actually listen to its subscribers?

I would love nothing more than to block some artists that pop up all over my feeds.

Hell, anymore, it seems the algo just spews all my music thumbs up across all **ahem** channels. I don't have much distinction between listening to Minor Threat or Mark Knopfler. The channels drift and literally start to sound like one and other. 

I have to say, Spotify does have Pandora beat hands down in this department.

You gotta step it up, guys. Don't be the next iRobot.

[willowmm]

+1 on this feature! I'm getting really tired of hearing misogynistic rap because of a few artists I've chosen in the genre.

[I_A]

Well, you can always block the entire artist. You wouldn't want the
children to be negatively influenced by the basic over all general
opinion. Their innocence is so short lived. Let them keep it for as long
as they just don't know any better. That's why I'm so glad I never had
children and I don't babysit. I only have myself to think about when
considering censuring artists. I can listen undisturbed and I am my only
responsibility.

[mdonken]

Yesterday my Android version wanted me to listen to Linkin Park. I cannot stand Linkin Park. Why do you hate me? Maybe mute stations as well from recommendations?

[I_A]

I've had that same emotional reaction. It seems like everything is going
wrong. Then top it all off with music that is like finger nails down a
chalk board and you can't get the music muted. It feels like the world is
against you and even the random selection on the radio station is out to
get you. My suggestion is some deep breathing exercises combined with
therapeutic relaxation techniques and calmly walk yourself through the
steps of blocking the artist, if you can. Of coarse, my original complaint
was not being able to block an individual artist. Thumbs down on the radio
random selection is as close as it gets. I have noticed if you thumbs down
the song, then skip the song entirely, the random selection will eventually
offer you different songs from the same genre. A thumbs up and the random
selection will offer more music similar to the songs you like. Be patient
and keep making the same thumbs up, thumbs down and skip selections and
eventually, you'll listen to less and less music that grates your last
nerves.

[mdonken]

Thanks for the reply; I've actually been on Pandora for a long time and have assembled several very different personal stations over the years by patiently doing exactly as you said. I guess that's why I was unpleasantly surprised that Pandora would suggest something that I had clearly not shown interest in. For me, Pandora has been far superior to any of the other music services, especially in terms of their recommendation algorithms, which have given me stations that each span multiple genres, eras, and popularity but maintain a musically cohesive sound. I can't get that from Spotify or AppleMusic, and I worry that I won't get that from Pandora, if after a decade, they start recommending **ahem**.

[barnesmjsa]

Man, today has been TERRIBLE. I swear the algo is supplying aritsts I don't want to hear.

Anyone else get the issue when you downvote a song/artist they start popping up more and more??? I think I just downvoted the entire Wallflwoers album with 6th avenue on it. ALL these artists I specifically downvote are now showing up more than ever!!!!
This is really is becoming **ahem** annoying.

How can I BLOCK ARTISTS??? I hate the Eagles. **ahem** are always queued up. Willie Nelson? Impressive career. I hate him, he pollutes my channels.

**ahem** Pandora???? 

[SCOTTTOMEY]

I am moving to prime music on my next phone upgrade. Whats the point of paying a subscription if you cannot control what you hear.

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mod edit: removed personal information

[kelcymm]

Some people may not even have a personal issue with an artist, they may feel conflicted about thumbing a song down because it is very much their musical taste - and think they will be telling Pandora "you suck at figuring out my musical tastes" when the reason you can't listen to maybe only one song, or an artist entirely - has nothing to do with the artist's morals or disliking the sound of their music.

Maybe this is something that only people with PTSD could understand, but sometimes an artist or song you would otherwise like the sound of absolutely - literally causes you pain - like a hit in the gut - to listen to - because of how that song or artist got connected to an extremely traumatic event or a series of traumatic events that just wouldn't stop. The human mind is very powerful with associations, particularly with smells and music.

I feel like the fact that Pandora has not addressed this issue yet, of not having a "Block an artist" feature, is just proof that it is never going to get fixed, and that the people up top, couldn't give less of a "whatever" about Pandora's users.

I pay for premium right now, and have immensely enjoyed so many of the benefits that have come with that, but at this point I am seriously considering not only stopping paying for premium, but stopping using pandora entirely. And letting everyone know who knows someone with severe PTSD, that if they can afford (energy wise) to switch to another music playing app, they should think of doing it to support their loved one with PTSD. I get that you can't avoid a lot of triggers with a past traumatic event, but it would be really nice if the app I am using to soothe myself and exercise to get better - didn't have to be a source of so much more pain in the same session. The benefits are kind of depletive and cancelling out when it's like that. I am going to give Pandora as much more of a chance as I can, but I don't know how much more pain I can take. I am already researching alternatives, because I don't think Pandora is going to "waste" it's time or money to create this feature for even Premium users, like me.

Please don't reach out to me in an email - I am just providing an insight from the perspective of someone with severe PTSD, so maybe Pandora people with any modicum of power, can have that knowledge about other users who are disliking artists over and over for the same reasons as me. I can't be the only user like that. This world is a messed up place, that causes a lot of extreme hurt to enough people, pain that echoes on in your mind long after the traumatic events, and begins to throb even more painfully when you trip on a trauma trigger that is a song or an artist. It would literally cause me so much more pain if a Pandora professional contacted me in any way about this after, so please don't. It was all I could do to write this, and this is the limit on how much I can consciously process it. Thank you in advance for respecting my need to not have to process this further.

Kelcy