Explicit Tracks now Censored

[Philthy]

Every song I had thumbsed up from polo G is now censored.

Screenshot for reference 

Moderator Edit: Merged comments

[AdamPandora]

@Philthy Thank you for reporting this.

I've passed your feedback along to our engineering team for further review.

Thanks for your patience in the meantime!

[JDBarrett]

Hi I noticed this past couple of days, that any song on the Ill Communication album is being censured. I had previously thumbed up the song, and the thumbs up still shows, however the song is censured over swears, slurs (Q-Tip's rap) and words like mental or dust. 

my setting is to allow explicit content and it seems to be just the Ill Communication album right now that is being censured. 

 

[AdamPandora]

@JDBarrett Thanks so much for reporting this.

The explicit version of that track is currently unavailable due to licensing restrictions. This being said, I've escalated this to our curation team for further review.

Additionally, I did notice you've given a Thumbs Up to the clean version of Do It (feat. Biz Markie). That may also be attributing to clean versions of tracks playing on your station.

I recommend reviewing your Thumbs Up list on that station, and removing any clean tracks.

Thanks for your patience in the meantime.

[Nakhtix]

I would like to follow these steps, but this is happening with every. Single. Song. In my Playlist. I will not be filling out a report for each one. This is apparently an issue that has been going on for years. What else can I do?

[AdamPandora]

@Nakhtix Unfortunately, these are looked at on a case by case basis.

To clarify, are explicit tracks that you have previously given a Thumbs Up to now playing again but censored (with the Thumbs Up still highlighted)?

If so, the next time the censored version of that track plays with the Thumbs Up icon highlighted, can you please grab a screenshot and send that in a reply to this message?

Also let me know the name of the station you were listening to when the censored versions of those tracks play.

Thanks for the help.

[Nakhtix]

Yes, it's censoring every single song that I have had previously thumbed up across the years. This just started about a month ago. I have my own station that I've added a myriad of song and artists to over the years. I am unable to link a screenshot, but I assure you, even the album cover for each of these songs/artists have the black and white "parental advisory" box in the corner. So, there should be no issue with censoring the music.

[AdamPandora]

Thanks for following up, @Nakhtix.

You should be able to add a screenshot - make sure to open this community thread in a web browser, and then when replying, click on the camera icon:

Thanks again for working with me on this.

[Kcfitz]

I’m having the same problem. I mostly listen to Eminem radio & sometimes it’ll play a clean version of a song that previously played on explicit. I usually click fast forward, but I’m hesitant to do that if it’s a song I really like cuz I’m worried it won’t play either version again.

[TannerPandora]

Hi @Kcfitz 

Welcome to community!

If the explicit track is no longer available, Pandora may play the clean version instead. I'm happy to take a closer look though. Can you give me a couple examples of tracks that use to be explicit?

[Missojai]

I'll screenshot it the next time it comes up, but the song that comes to mind immediately that only plays the censored version for me is Clint Eastwood from The Gorillaz. I don't thumbs up censored versions of songs, and thumbs up the original/uncensored versions, and at some point my thumbed up Clint Eastwood was only playing the censored version. Weird thing though, is the song is only half censored? It still says "sh*t", but censors out the f words in the song. I still get the uncensored versions of other Gorillaz songs and other bands no problem on the same stations.

[Sciames87]

Why are some of my songs that are thumbs up censored now? They never used to be. The song today is “Sorty Wanna Be a Thug” by 2Pac. The censorship makes the song terrible and honestly they didn’t even get all of the words. I’m paying for ad free service, I can’t stand censors on any music. I checked to make sure my account didn’t have the censor explicit content setting on, hopefully it’s just a one off. The other song I know of that is no longer on pandora which I am disappointed by is a David Allen Coe song “If That Ain’t Country - Part 1” 

[AdamPandora]

@Sciames87 Thank you for reporting this.

I've passed your feedback along regarding the track by 2Pac to our curation team.

We appreciate your patience in the meantime. 

[AdamPandora · Accepted solution]

*Please note:  This message has been Accepted as a Solution to flag the current steps and/or status of this thread. This post will be updated with more information as it is provided to the moderation team

---

Hi everyone!

We've noticed reports about explicit tracks now playing as censored versions of your favorite tunes.

We try to buy unedited versions of all music and comedy we acquire, but sometimes a clean version is all that's available. This is particularly common with movie soundtracks and best-of collections.

Sometimes our licensing for certain content may expire. Other times we get the radio edit of a track before we get the original, and the tracks are indistinguishable from one another from a database perspective.

For that reason, Pandora might select a clean track from one of these sources instead of a nearly identical track from another album. This is an unfortunate reality of the record business: sometimes songs that are not identical are labeled as identical.

Finally, the lyrics preview will always display "clean" lyrics. If you'd like to view the full, uncensored text, click Show more or See all lyrics.

++

To report any tracks that were once explicit but are now censored, please provide the following info:

• The device you are using to stream Pandora:
• The name of the station where this occurred:
• The name(s) of the artist(s):
• The title(s) of the censored track(s):
• Confirmation that you were able to give the censored track(s) a Thumbs down:
• Were you listening using a Pandora Mode like Crowd Faves, Discovery or Deep Cuts?:
• A screenshot of the censored track that plays on your station:

Once we have this information, we can report it to our curation team for you.

Thanks for your help!

[drewholliday23]

same issue here. listening on mobile, thumbprint radio. the lyrics are uncensored, but the track is censored. not sure what the (nu-mixx) is.. but is annoying that I had to "thumbs-down" the track which will probably queue the algorithm to not play this song (meaning the original, uncensored version) at all 

[MariaPandora]

Hi @drewholliday23 , glad to see you here!

I searched for the song on my end and found this version: Ambitionz Az A Ridah (Nu-Mixx) .

Can you confirm if this is the version you are hearing and if you are still hearing it censored when you go to the song using this link?

Let me know!

[drewholliday23]

Confirm, that is the track in question

Best,
Andrew

[AdamPandora]

@drewholliday23 I checked your listening history, as well as your Thumbs Down list on your Thumbprint Radio, and do not see that version of the track by 2Pac.

I'm showing the actual CLEAN version played on your station:

Please note that this thread is for tracks that show they are playing the explicit version (songs that are marked with a red "E"), however the audio is actually from the clean version.

If you hear any tracks on your stations that are marked with the red E, however the clean version plays instead, please make sure to reply back to this thread and let us know.

Thanks for working with us on this. 

[drewholliday23]

Ah, I see. How do I prevent all censored versions from being played?

I get that it was listed as “clean” but it had the “record scratch” over
swears, so while it’s listed as “clean” it’s actually censored. Also, as
shown in the in pic, it doesn’t say clean anywhere and the typed lyrics are
not censored while the sung lyrics have been edited.

Best,
Andrew

[AdamPandora]

@drewholliday23 Thank you for clarifying.

How to block all censored versions from playing:

We try to buy unedited versions of all music and comedy we acquire, but sometimes a clean version is all that's available. This is particularly common with movie soundtracks and best-of collections.

Sometimes our licensing for certain content may expire. Other times we get the radio edit of a track before we get the original, and the tracks are indistinguishable from one another from a database perspective.

For that reason, Pandora might select a clean track from one of these sources instead of a nearly identical track from another album. This is an unfortunate reality of the record business: sometimes songs that are not identical are labeled as identical.

Finally, the lyrics preview will always display "clean" lyrics. If you'd like to view the full, uncensored text, click Show more or See all lyrics.

In the meantime, I recommend upvoting this existing Idea with a ❤️ if you'd like to see the option added to our service: Ideas: Option to block all clean or explicit content

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Tracks listed as Explicit, but the clean audio still plays:

I see in your screenshot, the "Nu-Mixx" version of the track was referenced.

If that version of the track plays again on your station, can you please take a picture of the Now Playing screen, rather than the screen showing the lyrics?

Also, please make note of the date and time that track plays if it does, and we'll be happy to further investigate.

Thanks again!