Stations don't consistently play the correct genre

[cdevon0713]

I am so frustrated, would really love to keep my pandora subscription but the issues make me want to cancel. my stations do not consistently play the genre they are supposed to be playing. i am constantly thumbs'ing down songs which i hate to do. is it a good song? yes but no on this station. even at times i have issues where on that particular station, it's not even playing the artist. any one have any suggestions?! its driving me insane.

Moderator Edit: Edited title for clarity

[AdamPandora · Accepted solution]

@cdevon0713 Thanks for sharing your experience with the community.

Stations don't consistently play the correct genre:

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. 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.

If you need help editing your stations, let me know.

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.

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Not hearing the artist your station was created for:

I understand that it's frustrating not to hear the artist that you've seeded a station with, but at this time, listeners have limited control over when or how often particular artists or songs will play on Pandora stations.

That said, you should be able to use Pandora Modes to customize your station experience when you're listening from a computer, mobile device or the Sonos app. You can pick different modes like 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).

Please keep in mind that Artist Only mode will only exist on relevant stations.

Hope this is helpful. Thanks so much for listening to Pandora!