Explicit Tracks now Censored

[AdamPandora]

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.

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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, and see ya around the community!

[AdamPandora]

@FarmerGarza I moved your post into this existing thread: Explicit Tracks now Censored

To clarify, are censored versions of songs playing on your station with the Thumbs Up icon already highlighted?

If so, the next time this happens, please make sure to grab a screenshot(s) of the now playing screen.

Once that is done, can you please follow up with the requested info below?

• 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):
• 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:

Thanks for working with me on this. 🤝

[paulieg922]

I'm having the same issue. Songs which have been thumbs upped since the beginning are now censored. Everything from N.W.A. to Blink. Content is enabled and no changes have been made. Has onyone found a solution to this?

[ToshiMaMa]

Another song issue

Listening on android

Dua Lipa 

We're Good 

This response won't let me add the pic....

 adding the pic

Moderator Edit: Merged posts

[AdamPandora]

@paulieg922 The next time this happens, please make sure to grab a screenshot(s) of the now playing screen.

Once that is done, can you please follow up with the requested info below?

• 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):
• 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:

Thanks for working with me on this. 🤝

[AdamPandora]

Thanks for reporting this, @ToshiMaMa. 🤝

[Maggiemaydie]

I've had Pandora for 10 years and all of a sudden it is censoring all my music. It even played one song as just an instrumental but showed it as thumbs up.  I checked to make sure it is set to allow explicit content and it is.  I don't want to pay to listen to censored music. Can you please fix this?  I have a Samsung galaxy 20+.  

 These songs were not originally edited

[AdamPandora]

@Maggiemaydie I've gone ahead and reported the specific track you screen-shotted above to our curation team so they can further investigate.

If any other censored tracks play in place of the explicit version, please make sure to grab additional screenshots and send those in a reply to this thread as well.

Thanks for working with me on this. 🤝

[AdamPandora]

I took a look at your Melissa's Radio station, and can see the out of place tracks are being pulled from an errant seed that you added: 

1. You're Welcome by Dwayne Johnson (Children's)
   • The censored tracks are being played due to this children's track you added to the station
2. We Don't Talk About Bruno (From "Encanto"/Instrumental) by Lin-Manuel Miranda
   • The instrumentals are being pulled from this instrumental track you added to the station

Here is a screenshot of where I am seeing the additional tracks that you added to your station:

You can delete these bad seeds by editing your station.

To delete that bad seed from a computer:

1. From My Collection, visit your station list.
2. Click on the name of the station you'd like to edit. This will take you directly to the station's "backstage page." 
3. Hover the mouse over the station seed you'd like to remove and select Delete.

To delete that bad seed from a mobile device:

1. From My Collection, visit your station list.
2. Tap on the name of the station you'd like to edit.
3. This will start your station, so tap the the Thumb icon in the upper right corner of your screen to continue to the station's backstage page.
4. From the station's backstage page, tap on the Edit icon (the small pencil to the left of the play icon) to edit your station, and scroll down to Station Created From.
5. Remove this "bad seed" by tapping the small (X) beside that item.

Hope this helps!

[Dekayden]

I have had every song on all my stations playing censored versions. It's rather annoying and I've considered getting rid of Pandora for the first time since you all started this service. I've looked through all the settings and have found no fix.

[AdamPandora]

@Dekayden The next time this happens, please make sure to grab a screenshot(s) of the now playing screen.

Once that is done, can you please follow up with the requested info below?

• 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):
• 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:

Thanks for working with me on this. 🤝

[Kris76]

I have an Earl Dibbles, Jr. Radio where the song Standard American by Gunnar and the Grizzly Boys was thumbed up prior to and following the switch from an explicit version to a clean version. 

[Smith2414]

I'm listening on an Alexa, so no idea what station it's actually playing from.  NWA "**ahem** the Police" is now censored and since the entire song is swearing, it makes for a very unsatisfactory listening experience.  A lot of songs that used to be explicit are now the clean version - mostly of the Gangsta Rap genre.  I'm not at all happy about this.

[AdamPandora]

@Smith2414 To clarify, does the Now Playing screen show the explicit version is playing, however the track is really censored?

If so, can you please send me a screenshot of what you're seeing the next time this happens?

Thanks for working with me on this. 🤝

[AdamPandora]

@Kris76 The next time this happens, please send me the following:

• 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 working with me on this. 🤝

[Smith2414]

I usually listen through my Alexa. So I can't take screen shots, nor can I give it a thumbs down. I was listening to NWA when I posted the issue. "F*** the Police" was the song. I've been hearing it more and more lately, though. I can report other songs and artists if you like, but I won't be able to send screen shots.

Moderator Edit: Removed Personal Info

[AdamPandora]

@Smith2414 This thread is more for instances where you've previously thumbed up an explicit version of a track, however when it plays again next, the censored version plays (with the thumbs up icon still highlighted).

If that does not match up with what you are experiencing, I recommend giving any censored tracks that play a thumbs down. Doing so will not prevent the explicit versions from playing, only the censored versions of those tracks.

Hope this helps explain. 

[BD34Life]

So I have been experiencing this "tracks were once explicit are now censored" for a while now. I saw on a post that we should "down thumb" any tracks that are now playing censored when they should be explicit (in my case they are usually now called "Deluxe versions" - though that really just means CLEAN).

I started down thumbing tracks that were playing clean that were explicit, take a look at my recent "down thumb" list and it shows that I am down thumbing "explicit" content...like seriously?? What's the point. There is no solution here other than to find a provider that doesn't lie about the content it's sharing. Really frustrating since I've been a subscriber for nearly a decade, maybe more..

Attaching a pic, as you can see in the address (highlighted section in red) this is my thumbed down list. And to the right all the explicit songs appeared as 'Deluxe' or 'not explicit' versions so I thumbed them down, yet they are appearing in my downed thumb list as explicit...so now I'm just losing a huge list of songs. I deleted them out of my down thumbed list and started hearing them as "CLEAN" versions immediately, and the circle just goes round again...

[AdamPandora]

@BD34Life I'm happy to help look into this further.

What is the name of the station screen-shotted above?

Let me know.

[BD34Life]

The station is John Legend, though I think I may have figured out the issue. I basically use this station as a massive mix of all music (hip-hop, r&b, rock, pop, classic, country, etc), and I had Two Worlds (Disney song from Tarzan) as one of the songs in the variety list. I saw somewhere that that could be making everything play as if it was a kids channel. So I took that song off and things started playing as explicit again... not sure if this is something that can be changed in the algorithm, or if I'm miss identifying the issue, so let me know if this sounds like it may be true, or not. Thanks!

[Daxtra]

Wobble by V.I.C. was explicit when I first thumbed it up years ago. For the past year or more it has been only playing clean versions no matter where I select the song from. This is NOT just on a station this is from my personal library and the arist's page as well. Every version of the song that I can locate claims it is explicit yet it is decidedly clean considering it's missing entire sections of the lyrics due to the content. I would rather be told a song is completely unavailable than be subjected to a bad clean version of it