Today in Very Powerful People Proving They’re Very Powerful, Adele got Spotify to change how the app works in a very fundamental way.
More specifically, in honor of the release of her new album, 30, Adele got Spotify to disable the shuffle feature as the default listening option for albums on the platform. Not just for her album, but for all albums on Spotify.
Adele shared how pleased she was with the change on Twitter this weekend, writing, “This was the only request I had in our ever-changing industry! We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our tracklisting for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening.”
This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry! We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening 🍷♥️ https://t.co/XWlykhqxAy
— Adele (@Adele) November 21, 2021
Spotify also confirmed the change, explaining that Adele is not the only artist who has requested it.
“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,” a Spotify spokesperson explained to CNN. “For those users still wishing to shuffle an album, they can go to the Now Playing View and select the shuffle toggle. As always, we will continue to iterate our products and features to create the best experiences for both artists and their fans.”
Premium Spotify subscribers can still opt to play an album on shuffle, according to CNN, but honestly, a lot of users have made it clear they’re grateful for the change, which finally makes it possible for users of the free version of the service to listen to albums in order.
Adele fixing spotify https://t.co/u7YoWSl7Q5 pic.twitter.com/QYacCZ39yK
— witch from home (@StarWarshipper) November 21, 2021
I love this from @Spotify & @Adele. Listening to a quality album from track 1 to end that flows is an amazing experience. Not many albums are made in that manner anymore, instead its random singles thrown into an album for streams. This move will hopefully change that https://t.co/4U2ziExALk
— Sunil Sharma 🇬🇧 (@SunilSharmaUK) November 21, 2021
I absolutely despise control. This is control – seriously. I listen to thousands of artists and appreciate them for their amazing work they do but I pay for my Spotify and would like to listen to what I want to listen to. So I shan’t be listening to this album – so forced!!!!
— Shell (@smilewithshell) November 21, 2021
Oh I see, so when *I* tell Spotify the big green play button should play an album in order it’s all “we don’t have this feature” and “post it on the forums where we can ignore it” but when Adele tells Spotify the exact same thing they’re all “yes ma’am, right away”? https://t.co/WsSen2E01I
— Luna 💙 (@lunasorcery) November 21, 2021
It beats me why Spotify decided to make the “shuffle” button as the default mode of an album, but it irked me every time and, as Adele right explains here, the order of music on an album has a logic to it that should be respected. #ArtistsKnowBestNotAlgorithms https://t.co/icSOLCAfqG
— W. David O. Taylor (@wdavidotaylor) November 21, 2021
Others aren’t as pleased with the change, however, and feel like users should have full control over the order of songs.
I absolutely despise control. This is control – seriously. I listen to thousands of artists and appreciate them for their amazing work they do but I pay for my Spotify and would like to listen to what I want to listen to. So I shan’t be listening to this album – so forced!!!!
— Shell (@smilewithshell) November 21, 2021
Apple Music didn’t cave to this really silly demand. Isn’t an album more like a book? If I want to skip to the end that’s on me. No harm to the artist. I’m still listening after all. This really makes me less of a fan. No loss to you I guess. There’s millions more.
— Carl 🦃 (@CarlT_03) November 21, 2021
Guess even Adele can’t please everyone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.