Favorite station not playing songs I want

[GreatJuan]

Hello! My station "My Land is Burning" suddenly started playing songs that I do not want on masse without any changes to Thumps Up or Thumps Down songs.  I've had this happen before over the years (I've had the station since 2007), but it has been getting worse in the last couple of years, and the only solution was to completely wipe my Thumbs Down/Thumps Up and start back from the beginning.  It is getting tiresome doing so though.  Every time I get the station where I want it lasts a few months and I have to start over. 

Is there a reason this keeps happening?  Why does it only affect my favorite and most listened to station?  Is there some way to help prevent this from happening more in the future?

Thanks for any help!

I would like to have some sort of official response as to why this issue continues to happen for someone who has used Pandora since its infancy.  These issues have been compounding far too much recently to the point that I have seriously considered leaving the platform for a more generic one.

[AdamPandora · Accepted solution]

@GreatJuan Sorry to hear that your stations aren't playing the way you want them to.

Pandora stations adapt with every song to try to find the right music for you. It does this by using a combination of the detailed information in the Music Genome Project, the station seeds and Thumbs feedback you have given along with feedback given by other listeners under similar conditions.

There are a number of variables that come into play when selecting the next song:

• The complete range of musical attributes for all of the songs we have by the artist you used to create the station. For example, for a station based on Brian Eno, you might hear rock songs and ambient music. You might try creating a station from one of the artist's songs instead (e.g. Lucky Star by Madonna). This should make the station much more specific.

• The type of feedback you've given on the station (all the Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down ratings) and any additional artist or song seeds you've added to the station. Pandora lumps all this together and tries to determine what the best musical match is based on our musical analysis.

To improve your stations, here are a couple of things to try:

1. Continue to Thumb down tracks that do not fit. This will prevent that song from playing again, and Pandora will learn more about what you don't want to hear.
2. Make sure each of the thumbs-up you've given fits in with the type of station you are trying to create. If not, then remove that thumbs-up rating from the station page.
3. When listening from a computer, a mobile device or the Sonos app, you can access Pandora Modes to customize your station experience. You can pick different modes like Crowd Faves, Discovery and Deep Cuts.

Of course, Pandora Premium subscribers can also create custom playlists in order to have complete control of what they hear on Pandora. If you want more information about that, let me know.

Hope this helps!

[GreatJuan]

@AdamPandora Unfortunately the very basic info you provided does not help with the issue that I asked about.  It is NOT about what songs have been thumbed up or down, it's about my playlist being modified without any input after several months. 

This being said I may have found the root cause to the issue, because it is now affecting some of my other stations.  Pandora is/has been losing the rights to play certain songs/artists.  Tracks that were once thumbed up or down are now shown as unavailable.  Which means regardless of where my thumbs are, my list can be modified by Pandora itself without any input from myself.

This is a real shame.

[mbd007]

This is now happening to me on my iPhone and Alexa. My 2 favorite “My Stations” are John Stewart Radio and “Leonard Cohen Radio”. Pandora has suddenly start play a mix from all My Stations except music by the artist selected. 

Luckily their are other services out there, and I thank my lucky stars that I never signed up to pay for the service so I do not now have to figure out how to cancel. 

[adw2612]

Pandora got bought out and now they have crappy algorithms for music selection.

[jamesgray27]

Yeah, for some reason since yesterday Pandora refuses to play any of the songs I've upvoted and continuously plays indie artists that are terrible. I'm about to ditch this website due to it. If you can't play what I want you to, have spent so much time upvoting songs, just for you to play whatever the hell you want, I'll go to your competitor. 

[RedMagePaige]

came here looking for an answer because i created a Sleep Token station a few months back and it was so perfect, and now i hear literally ZERO sleep token songs and one thumbs-upped song from the original station (before the change) every so often, BUT i have to skip a bunch of totally random songs in between just to get to one. it's horrible and i just want my music back because i have youtube premium but i like pandora because it's all there without me having to do the work to make a playlist or leave the music/videos on autoplay, which can play stuff a little more randomly than my pandora station.

i'm with you broski. i just want answers, and i want fixes. otherwise there's no reason to pay for or use pandora.

[TannerPandora]

Hi @RedMagePaige! Welcome to community. Sorry for any trouble with your Sleep Token Radio station.

Taking a closer look at your station playback history, I see that the artist, Sleep Token, has played 49 times since 8/3. Most recently, the albums that have played include, This Place Will Become Your Tomb, Take Me Back To Eden, Sundowning (Deluxe) and Two. Some recent tracks that have played are The Love You Want, Euclid, Nazareth, The Summoning, Rain, The Way That You Were, Alkaline.

While I understand that it's frustrating not to hear a particular track on a station, please note that at this time, listeners have limited control over when or how often particular artists or songs will play on Pandora stations. Stations are designed to introduce you to new music through the artists and songs that you already know. Creating a station with your favorite artist or song plays music that is similar to your selection.

That said, you should be able to use Pandora Modes to customize your station experience when you're listening from a computer or more device. Artist Only, which will play only tracks from the artist headlining your station (unless you've added variety to your station, in which case it will play tracks from those artists as well).

[glayman]

I have had the same playlist for years but recently it is playing a lot of songs from similar, but lessor know artists. Not liking many of them so I am skipping ten songs for every one I listen to. What has changed?
Thanks.

[AdamPandora]

@glayman Check out the accepted solution to this thread for tips on how to improve your station experience.

Hope this helps!

[Roanokebarry]

This is what’s happening with my playlists also. Any advice??

Barry
Sent from my iPhone