Explicit tracks still play on Pandora Premium

[ericcoffey23]

Literally dozens of songs and stations. It's too many to keep up with.

And I am not talking about a song that is labeled "clean" but has explicit language. I am talking songs that are clearly labeled "explicit" playing despite me setting them not to play.

If this can't be fixed I am likely going to cancel my premium & go back to another platform...

Moderator Edit: Edited title for clarity

[AdamPandora · Accepted solution]

@ericcoffey23 Our curation team is interested in diving into this deeper, however they will need specific examples from you in order to do so.

The next time this happens, can you please write me back with the following?

• The name of the station where the explicit track(s) play.
  
• The name(s) of the artist(s).
  
• The title(s) of the explicit track(s).
  
• Were you able to give the track(s) a Thumbs down?
  
• Were you listening using a Pandora Mode like Crowd Faves, Discovery or Deep Cuts?
  

Thanks again for all your help with this.

[ericcoffey23]

Attached is a list of songs on "Meek Mill" radio. All were able to thumb up. And usually I am just on the standard radio setting although some times I go "artist only" and that is about it... I think I just tried "discovery" for 1st time yesterday so this issue well pre-dates that.

Or can you log into my account for even more. This is so rampant sending you onesie twosie will not cut it... and again, these are not marked as clean, they are clearly marked as explicit so not hard to see.

Website would not let me attach so here is link to photo:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dsXToichQi3bcpds5

[AdamPandora]

@ericcoffey23 Thank you for sending that over.

I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the explicit tracks that you've given a thumbs up to on your Meek Mill Radio station.

I recommend removing those explicit thumbs up ratings to see if that resolve the issue.

In the meantime, I have also passed your feedback along to our curation team so they can take a deeper dive into your account.

Thanks for your patience with all of this. 

[ericcoffey23]

Yes which begs the question why is an explicit song even available for me to thumb up if I have always had explicit content turned off?? it's like a chicken-and-egg conversation and I feel like we're stuck in a loop here

Is there a way for me to completely reset everything on my account and delete all of my thumbs up history Etc and start from scratch? Most of my thumbs up is done while I am driving in Android auto and it is not always obvious if I am thumbing up a clean or explicit version which of course would not be an issue if the actual explicit filter was working

[AdamPandora]

@ericcoffey23 That is what our engineers would like to look into.

We appreciate you for providing us with this feedback, and want to thank you for all your patience as our engineers investigate. 

[ericcoffey23]

@AdamPandora  

Thanks. In the meantime I canceled my Premium which is a bummer.

Is there a way for me to completely reset everything on my account and delete all of my thumbs up history Etc and start from scratch? Doing this one song at a time is painfully slow

[ericcoffey23]

@AdamPandora

Update on a very specific scenario I just tested.

Meek Mill Station 

I cleared all thumbs up that showed as explicit 

Then I started listening on 'My Station' mode. 

Pay You Back by Meek Mill clean version began playing. 

I thumbed it up

When I went back to the Station to look at the thumbed up songs, it was showing the explicit version, not the clean version. And when I played it indeed played the explicit version. 

Hoping this very specific thread goes somewhere with your engineers. 

Pandora has a competitive advantage with 'clean' songs that your main rivals do not have: a much bigger library of clean music AND stations that incorporate clean songs (ex Apple Music just skips explicit, does not play the clean track in its place). Spotify has a tiny clean music library. 

If you can get this working, it's a game changer IMO for parents, teachers, offices, gyms, etc. 

[AdamPandora]

@ericcoffey23 I ended up branching off your post into its own thread since the issue you are running into is a little different than what the previous thread was intended for.

I have passed your additional feedback along to our engineers so they can further investigate. 

They are very interested in figuring this one out, so we appreciate all of your patience with this as they work to find a resolution. 

[ericcoffey23]

@AdamPandora Thanks. Some more notes/observations below for your engineers.

Stations: When I play a station, I RARELY hear an explicit version. But as noted previously, when I thumb up a clean song it shows in my thumbs as explicit and will playback as explicit when I click it. This obviously should not be allowed.

"Top Songs" Top songs is almost useless for clean music, it will play the explicit version literally every time so I have stopped using this feature for now all together.

[AdamPandora]

@ericcoffey23 We appreciate you working with us on this.

To begin, the explicit filter will only apply to songs that play on your stations; it doesn't apply to playlists you create, or those created for you by Pandora. Also, It doesn't apply to podcasts.

If you are pressing play on a track that is marked with a red "E" label, then the explicit version will still play even if you have your explicit filter enabled.

To play the clean version of a track on demand, make sure it isn't marked with that red "E" label.

With that being said, I do understand that you are not purposely thumbing up the explicit version of those tracks - it sounds like you give a thumbs up to a clean version of a track, however the explicit version will show in your station details.

This is what our engineers are now looking into, and working on figuring out.

Thanks again for all your patience with this. 

[ericcoffey23]

@AdamPandora 

Hmm... seems weird to even have the option to play explicit after going thru all the steps to turn on the clean settings.

Is the explicit filter designed to work on 'top songs' on an artist page? Because it doesn't. 

Also 'hey Google' play song commands default to explicit even when clean is available (ex Blue Notes by Meek Mill) 

[AdamPandora]

@ericcoffey23 Unfortunately, the filter does not work to prevent explicit content from playing when streaming tracks on-demand.

The filter only applies to your collected radio stations.

So if you request a specific song, or play the "top songs" on an artist page, the filter will not apply.

If for example you stream Meek Mill Radio vs. playing the top songs listed on his artist page, then the explicit filter will work there.

With that being said, if you'd like to have the option to block out all explicit content (whether you are streaming content on demand, or streaming a regular radio station, then I recommend creating a feature request for your suggestion here. I'm sure this is something many other listeners would like to see added to the service as well.

Hope this helps explain. 

[ericcoffey23]

@AdamPandora 

Very limited 'content filter'.

I have taken your suggestion: https://community.pandora.com/t5/Feature-Requests/Option-to-block-out-ALL-explicit-content/idi-p/185...

[AdamPandora]

@ericcoffey23 We appreciate your understanding around this, and want to thank you for all of your feedback.

This information is very helpful as we work to improve our services, so I will make sure your sentiment gets shared with our product team. 

Hope we continue to see you around the community! 🎧

[ericcoffey23]

Any news from all the info I sent over for your team?

[AdamPandora]

@ericcoffey23 It looks like the feature request you created has already gained a few additional ❤️'s.

Our product team is always looking for ways to improve the service, so let's give other around the community a chance to also upvote your suggestion.

The more traction your feature request gets, the more eyes will be put on it by our product team.

In the meantime, when streaming content on demand, just make sure you are selecting tracks to play that aren't marked with that red "E" label.

Hope this helps! 

[ericcoffey23]

@AdamPandora unfortunately that is just outright false. The songs have the correct 'E' label for explicit but still play when they should not. This isn't a label issue, this is a glitch in the software...

Moderator Edit: Edited title for clarity

[AdamPandora]

@ericcoffey23 I created a new thread for you as you may be running into a separate issue.

Could you tell me a bit more about what is happening? (Please make sure to provide an answer to each question, and I will be happy to look into this further)

Requested device information:

Are you listening to Pandora on a computer or on a device when tracks marked explicit (with the E) play on your account?

1. If you are on a computer, are you listening from:
• A Mac or Windows computer?
  
• Our website, or the desktop app? If you're listening from our website, what browser are you using?
  
2. If you are on a device, what is the make and model (and carrier, if applicable)?
   
3. Is there an error message? If so, what does it say?
   

Requested explicit track information:

The next time this happens, can you please write me back with the following?

• The name of the station where this occurred.
  
• The name(s) of the artist(s).
  
• The title(s) of the explicit track(s).
  
• Were you able to give the track(s) a Thumbs down?
  
• Were you listening using a Pandora Mode like Crowd Faves, Discovery or Deep Cuts?
  
• Can you please provide me with a screenshot of the next explicit track that plays on your station?

Thanks for sticking with me on this! 

[ericcoffey23]

I've sent an exhaustive list of details to you & your engineers already. Also created an idea suggestion... But I have yet to hear from anyone to dig further into the issues nor seen any improvement.