Spotifys play button stops shuffling, apparently because Adele said so
You can still turn on shuffle mode from the Now Playing view
- By
- on November 21, 2021 1:55 pm
Spotify has stopped shuffling albums by default following a request from Adele, according to a report by BBC. Previously, when viewing an album on Spotify, youd see a small shuffle icon within the larger Play button. This indicated that Spotify would begin playing the albums songs in a random order, which isnt always what users would expect [or want] it to do.
Now, when you hit Play in Album View, songs will play in order that is, as long as you have a Premium subscription. You can still enable shuffle mode by toggling on the Shuffle icon when viewing an individual track.
Adele appears to have asked Spotify to change this feature, citing that albums should be listened to in a specific order. The singer sent out a tweet to thank Spotify for making the change, noting that Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening. Spotify later replied to Adeles tweet, saying Anything for you, suggesting the move was done as a favor.
Chris Macowski, the head of music communications at Spotify, confirmed the presence of the new feature to The Verge. As Adele mentioned, we are excited to share that we have begun rolling out a new Premium feature that has been long requested by both users and artists to make play the default button on all albums, the spokesperson said. For those users still wishing to shuffle an album, they can go to the Now Playing View and select the shuffle toggle.
Its no coincidence that the change comes just days after the release of Adeles new album, 30, which has already exploded in popularity. One song, Easy on Me, holds the Spotify record for the most global listens in a single day, kicking k-pop group BTS off of their throne.
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Comments
What purpose does defaulting album plays to shuffle serve?
By rjbwdc on 11.21.21 2:00pm
People listen an album multiple times and most albums dont have a "story"
By Laurent1u on 11.21.21 2:06pm
I doubt most artists place their songs in a randomizer and let fate determine the order of their track listing. Whether its called a "story" or not, there is pretty much always a reason one track follows the other.
By SonLight on 11.21.21 2:16pm
No. Im sorry this is wrong. Even if an album doesnt tell a story, the assumption shouldnt be that the order of the songs on the album doesnt matter. This was always a ridiculous "feature" and Im glad it is no longer the default.
By codiusthegreat on 11.21.21 2:18pm
There may or may not be a story, but there are definite considerations to pacing and flow on an album. I may be getting old, but I hate that the full length album is dying. So many people consume music in singles and playlists these days.
By joshrocker on 11.21.21 3:40pm
They may not have a "story" per se, but the mix/master is designed to go from track a-z
By Jerod on 11.21.21 7:22pm
I believe Spotify mandated random playback, so that the first song on the album doesnt trend as all-out popular on the Spotify charts.
Todays world is all about detail analysis.
Thank you Adele!
By DGDMN on 11.21.21 2:13pm
That makes sense. Glad they changed it though.
By br14n on 11.21.21 3:34pm
idk. I guess I can kinda see how that makes sense in theory but in reality the most popular/trending tracks will probably be singles, etc. regardless of which track comes first on an album.
By _ModernUI on 11.21.21 11:16pm
I guess the UX folks at Spotify got too clever with the UI. IIRC at some point Play and Play shuffle were to separate buttons, and what happened then, I guess, is that someone came with an idea: "lets keep it simple, lets reduce the number of buttons throughout the app". And so they figured out that the Play button is redundant, because user can just click on the first song to play the album in a default order. In a way it is clever, but it also goes against the pattern that users got used to. Maybe if theyd make the Shuffle play button less pronounced it would be less confusing.
By BartG on 11.21.21 4:57pm
In my experience, it serves the purpose of convincing users to cancel their Spotify subscriptions in frustration. Quite possibly the worst button ever.
By Chefgon on 11.21.21 10:47pm
Shuffle one of the worst original features of Spotify. If you want the album out of the play order, create your own playlist and be done with it as a user.
By DGDMN on 11.21.21 2:10pm
I dont mind the toggle button being there to shuffle an album if a user wants to. Sometimes I like it on albums Ive listened to a ton. I definitely prefer it to be off by default however.
By joshrocker on 11.21.21 3:36pm
I am fine with having a Play Shuffled button for greatest hits or compilation albums it makes sense. It should not be the only Play button on the page or even the biggest one there should be a big Play button for playing in order and a smaller Shuffle button to shuffle it.
By BeeksElectric on 11.22.21 8:49am
Dont know how it is for pop music, but the albums I regularly listen to have music that flows together. Each individual track could be listened to separately but the listener would miss specific elements that are only present if they hear the entire work in order.
By M.Night Myers on 11.21.21 2:11pm
Dont really use Spotify that often, so the fact that they were shuffling albums by default was news to me.
[On Apple Music, they just have both a "Play" and a "Shuffle" button on album pages.]
By MysteryMii on 11.21.21 2:14pm
They shuffle albums by default?! Who wants that?
By andrewh989 on 11.21.21 2:14pm
Im guessing younger generations that have never really bought albums.
By br14n on 11.21.21 3:39pm
I found it a bit dumb too, but to be fair, Spotify only did that if youd press the play button [which had a small shuffle logo overlay] on the album cover. If youd instead press on any song inside that album, theyd play in order from that point onward.
By Enema Stone on 11.21.21 6:36pm
Me. Ill do the first album playthrough in order, then unless the tracks blend into each other, Ill forever listen on shuffled. I did this with the first CD I bought, checks notes, 21 years ago and continue with streaming/Bandcamp.
I find it interesting how many people are vehemently against shuffling music.
By baRRy boRRis on 11.22.21 4:55am
Thank you Adele! This was one of those things that was ever so slightly annoying. Sure you could just click the first song, but the big green button should have always just started the album from track one
By frederick on 11.21.21 2:16pm
I almost never use that button anyways. If people want to shuffle they can pick a random song from the album and press "shuffle" toggle anyways.
By Mariah Carey on 11.21.21 3:45pm
I hope that move grants Adele sainthood in the faith system of her choice.
By Nefrarya on 11.21.21 3:55pm
Adele is officially now my new hero. Ive always hated that feature of Spotify because it is so counterintuitive. Glad to see it gone.
By SilverSee on 11.21.21 5:03pm
Add it in with her refusing to cater to "the Tik Tok" and declaring shes making music for her generation and shes officially my hero as well.
By Sarcane on 11.21.21 8:20pm