Station Repetition

[asdfblah]

I've had Pandora for a long time and the algorithm on my account is totally busted. Stations play the same few songs over and over and even play them on totally different stations that they should not be on. I used to use Pandora to hear new music I havent heard before but that's not happening anymore, it's the same stuff over and over and I can't escape those songs even when going to another station. 

How do I start fresh?

Moderator Edit: Edited title for clarity

[AdamPandora · Accepted solution]

@asdfblah It's true there can be a certain amount of repetition in some stations. Each listener has different tastes when it comes to hearing the familiar versus discovering new songs. Finding the right balance for each individual is something we continue to work on.

In the meantime, here are some things you can do to improve your stations:

1. Listen using Pandora Modes when listening from a computer or mobile device, you can access Pandora Modes to customize your station experience. You can pick different modes like Crowd Faves, Discovery and Deep Cuts.
2. Put tracks on the shelf: If you get sick of a track but don't want to give it a Thumbs Down, you can put it on the shelf for a while. To do this from the web, hover your mouse over the album art and select "I'm tired of this track." Pandora Premium listeners should click the ellipsis (3 dots) next the album art to see that option.
3. Edit your station: In some cases, it might actually help to remove Thumbs Up ratings in the station to mix things up.
4. Add Variety: To add more variety to your artist or song based stations, you can select additional artist and/or song seeds. You can Add Variety when editing stations.

Running through these steps should increase the variety of the station pretty quickly during your listening sessions. 

Thanks for posting on the community!

[3C]

I tend to find that I end up hearing the same songs over and over on my station - sometimes several times per day. When I look at the list of thumbs-up songs for my station, that list is a lot broader than what I am hearing, and some of these songs I have not heard in months. This of course does not include the songs that I have neither thumbs-up'd or thumbs-downed. Why does Pandora stop playing most of the older thumbs-up selections, and why in general does my station seem to always end up stuck in a rut playing the same few songs over and over?

[AdamPandora]

@3C I moved your post over to this existing thread: Station Repetition

Check out the accepted solution if your station is getting too repetitive.

Hope this helps!

[3C]

(1) I do use the modes, but this tends to increase the likelihood of another problem - a high number of ill-fitting songs being sent to my station. Generally entire albums or playlists of bands that have nothing to do with my song selections in my station. I have a separate post for this (as to many others)

(2) I have had 'shelved' songs replay the SAME DAY that I shelved them. I do use this feature, but it has limited effectiveness

I do also use (3) and (4), but none of these address my issue that some of the older thumbs-up'd songs on my station stop playing in entirety, and I want to hear these songs

[vasectomy7]

I have the same problem. ----> I made a station "metal core radio" with a half dozen bands... pandora keeps playing the same 8 songs over-and-over-and-over-and-over. HOW DO I ADD VARIETY TO A STATION I CREATED??? I have searched absolutely everywhere on the phone app, on my tablet app, on the desktop website and there is simply no way to modify it.

[AdamPandora]

@vasectomy7 I moved your post over to this existing thread: Station Repetition

Check out the accepted solution if your station is getting too repetitive.

Also based off of what I am seeing on your station, I see you've added some additional artists as variety to it already. Let me know if you are still running into issues adding additional songs/artists as variety.

Lastly, it doesn't look like you've thumbed up/down very many tracks yet. Make sure to give a thumbs up to songs you like on the station, while giving a thumbs down to tracks you don't want to hear on the station. Giving this type of feedback will help teach your station and guide it into playing more of the music you actually want to listen to.

Hope this helps!

[EinsteinN]

Hello Pandora

I have been listening to my collected radios over the past week and found something weird. After a while, the only songs that keep coming up are the ones you're already given a thumbs up on. It doesn't do a reasonable balance of those you have listened to and those you've never listened to. Is that on purpose? How can I fix that to get exposed to new songs, while still listening to ones I

[AdamPandora]

@EinsteinN I moved your post over to this existing thread: Station Repetition

Check out the accepted solution if your station is getting too repetitive.

Hope this helps!

[herrglue]

I've noticed that Pandora will only play tracks from one of an artist's albums, even though they have plenty of albums. Ex: with Russian Circles, all I get are tracks off of their "Enter" album. They have 7 other albums.

Is there a fix for this? Do some artists only license one of their albums to Pandora or something?

[AdamPandora]

@herrglue I moved your post over to this existing thread: Station Repetition

While I don't see a station for Russian Circles in your collection, you should be able to make some adjustments to your station if it is starting to get repetitive.

Check out the accepted solution for instructions on how to do so.

Hope this helps!

[herrglue]

Thanks @AdamPandora. I'm not trying to add variety necessarily, I just want to hear tracks from an artist's entire discography. Pandora is only playing tracks from one album.

I don't have a dedicated Russian Circles station, they play on my Stoned Meadow of Doom station.

[AdamPandora]

@herrglue I recommend creating a new station for Russian Circles, or a specific song by that artist that you'd like the station to emulate.

Doing so should pull in more tracks by that artist.

You can also shuffle that new station with your Stoned Meadow of Doom station if you'd like to hear tracks from both.

Hope this helps!

[3C]

I learned something today... Most of my stations have a number of unclassified songs that I have neither 'thumbs-up'd or 'thumbs-down'd. These are songs that I am on the fence about or songs that I like, but they don't really fit the station. I 'thumbs-down'd one of these today and have gotten some fairly significant variation in new song selections since. I suspect these unclassified songs impact incoming song selections more than one might think. If your station is stuck in a rut, try booting one of these songs and see what happens