Not hearing Thumbed-up tracks on stations

[ptous]

I realize that this post is similar to several others, but I was not sure it was similar enough to warrant adding a post to an existing thread. Feel free to merge it as appropriate.

I have long been a free listener (somewhere in the 5-10 year range), and have a large collection of tracks given "thumbs up". I have noticed recently that basically none play any longer, and your service is only offering me "similar" tracks that I don't feel are very similar at all. The list of new alternates I have thumbed-up is very short - around 10 tracks keep repeating, compared to 200+ before.

If I use a browser to visit a track's page directly and click "play", I can see errors in the browser console, including the messages below:

• client/CoachmarkManager: Rewards coachmark 'premiumAccess' cancelled
• Unhandled service error for v1/playback/source: 400 - Listener does not have rights to play source XX:YYYYYY

I understand this may be happening due to licensing restrictions, but as far as I can tell, your site does not make clear what is happening with any given track. The error message above makes it sound as though it's something up with my account, rather than an issue with Pandora's access to the track. The tracks are still in my list and do not appear marked as "unavailable" in a way that I have noticed - they simply do not play.

My question is this: is this behavior because Pandora cannot play me these songs, or is it because they are now behind a subscription requirement? If they are behind a subscription requirement, I will be willing to pay to listen to them as I once did. I took the initiative to try a Pandora Plus subscription and this doesn't seem to have made any difference. Comparing the Plus and Premium plans, there is nothing to indicate that there is a difference in what content they make available, but I'd like to confirm that.

Unfortunately, if the songs I have been listening to for so long are simply unavailable on Pandora, then I will have to go elsewhere for my listening. Please know that I don't say this as a passive-aggressive attempt to get what I want - I simply want to listen to the songs I enjoy and will use the service that lets me can do that. Your subscription prices are reasonable, but there's no value to me in paying them if that can't get me the music I am interested in.

To be clear, I am not having any technical problems accessing the Pandora service itself. I can access it and play music, and can do so using a browser, Android app on two different devices, and a Roku player. It just will not play any of my "thumbs-up'd" tracks on the "station" I most often listen to.

Thanks for your time.

Moderator Edit: Edited title for clarity

[AdamPandora]

@ptous What are the names of some of the songs you are unable to play?

Additionally, can you please send us a screenshot of the error message you are seeing when you attempt to play a specific track?

Thanks for working with me on this.

[ptous]

Hi, Adam,

Please find attached a screen grab of my entire "thumbs up" list for my "Electronica" station. Apologies that it's quite so tall. Everything from "9pm [Till I Come]" by ATB and below refuses to play. I have not tried them all exhaustively, but every one I try was giving me the error attached as the second image. (More below the images.)

I noticed the "ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED" messages, which I believe are due to a local DNS black hole for ad sites. Suspecting this might be at fault, I reconfigured my system to bypass the local DNS server, which works, but now Pandora via browser seems much more busted! After I log in, I end up in what appears to be a loop (complete with high Chrome CPU usage) due to the errors shown below. Only logging out of Pandora calms it down.

[ptous]

OK, I was able to get past the looping via a comprehensive cookie / cache purge for the Pandora.com sites.

So my current status is:

• My "thumbed-up" tracks still don't play. (I can validate that much more comprehensively with my Plus account's unlimited skips)
• I don't get errors trying to play tracks from my thumbs-up list, but I am sometimes told they can only be played in radio mode.
• Even songs that I can play directly (Like ATB's "9am") don't play in radio shuffle mode.

Edit: That the DNS ad block wasn't at fault for the tracks not playing in radio mode is consistent with that behavior following me into my car, where my phone is using its cell network and not using my home DNS server.

[AdamPandora · Accepted solution]

Thanks for following up with this information, @ptous.

Thumbed-up tracks not playing on your stations:

I understand that it's frustrating not to hear songs you've given a Thumbs Up to on a station, but there's no way to control when or how often particular songs will play on free Pandora or Pandora Plus, so it's not possible to create a station and hear that track play right away (though it could happen by chance). Because of our licenses, we have to limit the predictability of a certain song or artist from playing on those services.

That said, for complete control of what you hear on Pandora, try Pandora Premium. It combines our industry leading internet radio service with on-demand listening and easy playlist generation.

Alternatively, you can start a complimentary session simply by searching our library for a song or album, and clicking play. This will trigger a short advertisement, after which you can enjoy content on-demand.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Radio-only tracks:

It sounds like you are already aware of why tracks may be listed as Radio only, as I do see you referenced this thread in your initial message: Large percentage of albums unavailable

We are continuously working on increasing the amount of songs which can be played on stations, on-demand, or offline. Our intention is to provide enough music you enjoy to avoid any inconvenience around this.

Hope this helps!

[Ch0sen0ne7]

I’ve noticed that some songs I’ve thumbed up are not showing under the thumbed up lists on a couple of my playlists. Is there a way to restore them?

I am using the app on an apple device if that helps any. Thanks!

[AdamPandora]

@Ch0sen0ne7 I moved your post over to this existing thread: Thumb ratings are suddenly missing

The next time a track plays with the Thumbs Up rating not highlighted (when you know it was given a Thumbs Up to previously), please take a screenshot of what you are seeing and post that picture in a reply to this thread.

I can then pass that information along to our engineering team so they can take a closer look.

Thanks for working with me on this. 🤝

[Ch0sen0ne7]

Thanks for the quick response? What if the songs aren’t in the rotation? There’s a particular song I thumbed up a few months ago but haven’t heard it recently. It popped in my head one day but I don’t remember the name or artist

Are songs put in and taken out of rotation on certain playlists?

[AdamPandora]

@Ch0sen0ne7 Sorry about that.

I believe you are not running into this issue - this thread is for instances where a track plays (that you thumbed previously), however the thumb icon is no longer highlighted when it plays.

To clarify, are you wondering why a particular track you thumbed up on one of your stations rarely plays anymore?

Let me know.

[Ch0sen0ne7]

@AdamPandora Yes…it’s not played and I do not see it under my list of thumbed up songs

[AdamPandora]

Thanks for following up, @Ch0sen0ne7.

Thumbed-up tracks not playing on your stations:

I understand that it's frustrating not to hear songs you've given a Thumbs Up to on a station, but there's no way to control when or how often particular songs will play on free Pandora or Pandora Plus, so it's not possible to create a station and hear that track play right away (though it could happen by chance). Because of our licenses, we have to limit the predictability of a certain song or artist from playing on those services.

That said, for complete control of what you hear on Pandora, try Pandora Premium. It combines our industry leading internet radio service with on-demand listening and easy playlist generation.

Alternatively, you can start a complimentary session simply by searching our library for a song or album, and clicking play. This will trigger a short advertisement, after which you can enjoy content on-demand.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Full Thumbs Up list doesn't load in profile:

We recently made a change to limit the number of thumbs displayed in your Profile from the web and mobile devices so the Thumbs up count may not match the total number displayed.

If you'd like to review your Thumbs in greater detail, you can find them in each stations backstage page.

In the meantime, I've passed along your feedback.

[Rcjohnson]

I’ve been listing to Alan Jackson let it be Christmas for 17 days now an all last year not one time have that song play by Alan Jackson let it be Christmas any I’m not happy bc of it an it is on my play list of one of the songs I’ve put a thumbs up on it why haven’t not played 

[AdamPandora]

@Rcjohnson I understand that it's frustrating not to hear songs you've given a Thumbs Up to on a station, but there's no way to control when or how often particular songs will play on free Pandora or Pandora Plus, so it's not possible to create a station and hear that track play right away (though it could happen by chance). Because of our licenses, we have to limit the predictability of a certain song or artist from playing on those services.

That said, for complete control of what you hear on Pandora, try Pandora Premium. It combines our industry leading internet radio service with on-demand listening and easy playlist generation.

Alternatively, you can start a complimentary session simply by searching our library for a song or album, and clicking play. This will trigger a short advertisement, after which you can enjoy content on-demand.

Here is a link to the song if you'd like to start the complimentary session of Pandora Premium: Let It Be Christmas by Alan Jackson (Holiday)

Thanks for being a part of the Community!

[JCroop9]

Super boring and didnt address the fact that Pandora doesnt play your thumbs up when bluetoothed to other devices.

[Fondu]

I had the same issue. Make sure where it says the station up top, where the white drop down bar is, select “my station”. For some reason mine got set to “deep cuts” and none of my thumbs up songs played. I happened to select the white bar and hit “my station” and the first song to come on was one of my thumbs up songs and everything is fixed.