Nothing but repeats

[aviemet]

Regardless of what listening mode I choose, my stations are 99% songs which, thanks to Pandora, I've heard a million times. I've tried Discovery and Deep Cuts and I still need to sit there and choose "I'm Tired Of This Song" over and over again before I hear something that hasn't been played to death. I'm so genuinely sick of hearing the same songs over and over. The entire reason I use Pandora instead of Spotify is to hear NEW music in the genre I'm in the mood for. It happens on every single station I listen to, to the point where I'm now getting sick of background lofi songs from my study/work playlist designed to not even be noticed while you're working!

At this point I think Spotify might even do a better job with their AI DJ, even though I don't like their normal interface of everything being a static playlist. I can't overstate how sick I am of hearing the same exact songs over and over again on repeat. I shouldn't need to sit there and monitor Pandora with my finger on the "I'm Tired Of This Song" button, nor should I need to thumbs down songs I used to like but am now so sick of I never want to hear again for the rest of my life!

[AdamPandora · Accepted solution]

@aviemet I really appreciate you taking the time to share such thoughtful and honest feedback. It means a lot, especially coming from someone who’s been with us for almost 20 years. That kind of loyalty speaks volumes, and it's incredibly frustrating to feel like you're not getting the fresh, new music experience you're looking for.

It sounds like you've already taken many of the right steps: switching up your Modes, using "I'm Tired of This Song," and managing thumbs down – so I completely understand how exhausting it must feel to be stuck in that same loop of songs despite your efforts.

One thing that might not be clear is that this feedback is tied to the individual station you're listening to – so even if you thumbs down or shelf a song on one station, it can still show up on others unless that same feedback is repeated there.

I know that's far from ideal, and understand your hesitation in having to constantly provide feedback to your stations – especially when you're just trying to enjoy the music. But it is the primary way Pandora learns what you do and don’t want to hear. The more you give songs a thumbs up/down, put tracks on the shelf, add variety, and explore Pandora Modes like Discovery and Deep Cuts, the better your stations will evolve over time. It’s not an instant fix, but it does help your stations grow into something more aligned with your taste.

You're absolutely right to expect a better experience, and I’ll make sure this gets passed along to the right team. In the meantime, we’ve compiled a few tips here that might help shake things up a bit more: Tips for better stations

Thanks again for sticking with us. We truly want your listening to feel fresh and inspiring again.

[wizardk10605]

I also am so sick of this as I use pandora to listen to a mixed bag of stations (clean) during work and I spend all day shelving tracks across all my stations as they are on shuffle and BOY, I shelf the same song multiple times a day due to me listening to multiple stations. PLZ make this better some how. there HAS to be more music lol

[30rbabcock]

thanks yous

[dsnits]

Pandora radio is terrible. Every artist, every song repeated ad infinitum on every station. When we shuffle stations it is worse because we can't even use modes to at least try to add some variability into the mix. 

[zippetydodah]

I came across this thread while searching for a solution to the exact same thing. All of my stations seem to have about 50 to 100 songs that play over and over, and I don't want an interactive experience where I have to thumbs up/down all my songs or add new artists to the station. I just want to hear ongoing music that rotates over time, on its own. Turning on Discovery Mode removed about 25 songs and added about 25 songs, which also started playing over and over. C'mon Pandora... was the Music Genome Project a failure? Did you give up? Like others, I'm considering Spotify too, after decades with y'all.

[dsnits]

To further expand on this topic. The failure of Pandora is that when you listen to an artist radio all you will hear are songs in the exact same genre down to the same formula, melody, rhythm, time signature, BPM and according to the mode it holds true for each. There is no discovery by any definition of the word. Brain dulling sameness thanks to machine learning algorithms.

[Rswanson25]

Honestly, the Pandora station algorithm/formula is trash now and feels more and more like the repetitive nature of Spotify. I have emailed support so many times, created so many new threads because they preemptively close them via AI chat bots.. but no one can help.

I have had 4 stations that I have been testing this last year, my original 'Hardcore' station, 'Hardcore 2', 'Hardcore 3', and 'Hardcore Test' - for 2, 3, and Test, I have only set 1 singular song seed, 'Masochist' by Polaris. I will then literally only click Thumbs Down or 'I'm tired of this song' for any song that isn't it.. and the song has yet to play. This has been going on for 9-12 months now at this point, since it started at the end of 2025. I've asked support countless times to tell me when the last time the song played naturally on the station was, not the last time I direct played the song via Pandora Premium.. and they literally cannot give me an answer. My Poppunk playlist also hasn't played 1 of its 5 station seeds for over a year either.

It seems on the backend all of these stations are just getting linked to each other for some reason, it carries over the same songs, even unrelated genres that popped up on station 1.. like clockwork.. will play on the other stations. Why? How? How is it pulling this obscure song of an unrelated genre 4 different times on 4 different stations that have no connections? Clearly, they are all connected on the backend, or tied to "Thumbs Up Playlists" without the ability to see it/remove it.. but it's just so annoying now as it feels more and more like Spotify.

I've been a Premium subscriber for over 15 years, I think I'm done. I'm just gonna go back to pirating music and making my own playlists. Music used to soothe me, especially while driving in traffic.. but now I just hear the same songs repeated nonstop, sometimes 3-4 times in a 4 hour session. Meanwhile, Pandora continues to remove customer support in favor of AI. 

I am thoroughly annoyed.

[dsnits]

Good luck if you try Spotify. I left them for Pandora hoping for a varied more interesting listening experience.

[dsnits]

How much money Pandora or Spotify pay out in royalties has to figure in the songs they repeatedly play. That math has to be figured into the software somehow. For example a genre can have a thousand artists on file with an average of 4 albums each but we will only hear 30 of those artists and only songs from 1 or 2 albums from either of them. The obscure artists not at all unless that is money saving filler. Of those 4 albums 2 are highly critically acclaimed but the algorithms have no 'knowledge' of that whatsoever.