Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming services, offering access to millions of songs from artists around the world. However, there may be times when you want to block or restrict certain artists from playing in your Spotify app. Here is a detailed guide on how to do that.
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Blocking Artists in the Spotify Mobile App
The easiest way to block an artist on Spotify is through the mobile app on your iPhone or Android device:
- Open the Spotify app and search for the artist you want to block. Go to their artist profile page.
- Tap on the three dots menu in the upper right corner of the page.
- Select “Don’t play this” to block that artist.
Once you block an artist, their songs will no longer play in any Spotify-curated playlists like Discover Weekly or your Daily Mixes. They also won’t come up in radio stations or other recommendations.
However, blocking an artist does not remove their songs from Spotify entirely. You can still search for and play their songs manually if you want. The block just prevents Spotify from automatically recommending that artist to you.
Blocking Artists in Playlists on Desktop
The Spotify desktop app currently does not have an option to universally block an artist. However, you can block artists from showing up in your “Discover Weekly” playlist:
- Open the Discover Weekly playlist on desktop Spotify.
- Hover over any song from the artist you want to block and click the “ban” icon.
- Select “I don’t like this artist” when prompted.
This will prevent that artist’s songs from appearing in your Discover Weekly playlist in the future. But it does not block them sitewide like you can on mobile.
Blocking Explicit Songs and Content
If you want to restrict explicit songs or content in Spotify due to children or other reasons, you have a few options:
On Mobile:
- Go to Settings > Explicit Content and toggle it off. This will block all songs marked as explicit.
On Desktop:
- Go to Preferences > Explicit Content and set to “no” to block explicit songs.
On Family Plans:
- The family plan manager can block explicit songs for specific members. Just visit your Premium Family page and toggle the “Remove explicit content” setting for each member.
Blocking explicit content prevents songs marked as explicit from playing. However, Spotify does not tag every explicit song, so some may get through.
Unblocking Artists
If you change your mind and want to unblock an artist you previously blocked, just follow these steps:
On Mobile:
- Visit the artist profile page
- Tap the three dots menu
- Select “Allow to play this artist”
On Desktop (Discover Weekly only):
- Open your Discover Weekly playlist
- Click the three dots menu next to the previously blocked artist
- Select “Allow to play this artist”
And that’s it! The artist will now be allowed to play across Spotify again.
Other Ways to Restrict Artists
In addition to outright blocking, there are a couple other ways to restrict or reduce certain artists on Spotify:
- Dislike songs – If you dislike a specific song, Spotify will play it less often. Just hit the thumbs down on any song.
- Don’t play a song – You can also blacklist a specific song from playlists. Visit song radio page, tap three dots, select “Don’t play this”.
- Remove from playlists – Open a playlist, tap the three dots on a song, choose “Remove from playlist” to only remove it from that playlist.
Spotify Content Restrictions
Along with blocking artists and explicit content, Spotify does have some wider content restrictions:
- No hate content – Spotify prohibits hate content like racist, sexist, homophobic or anti-Semitic music. You can report offensive artist pages to bring them to Spotify’s attention.
- No copyright violations – Spotify takes down music that violates copyrights. Artists must have rights to the content they upload.
So in summary, Spotify gives you granular controls to block artists, songs, explicit content, and more on both mobile and desktop. While no system is perfect, you can tailor Spotify to avoid music you don’t want to hear from specific artists or genres.
