The Spotify X-Files thread

[WillBailey]

Still nothing here (France) for any request. I really dont get the algorithm: why BE, DE, NL but no FR or IT?

Im a registered user there and tried several devices/ environments (and I listen to GN'R quite a bit there).

WTF...

Edited September 29, 2022 by WillBailey

[gavgnr]

‘cuban s’ no longer bringing up GnR in UK 😭

[StrangerInThisTown]

10 minutes ago, gavgnr said:

‘cuban s’ no longer bringing up GnR in UK 😭

I thought the songtitle was "100 Cuban Skies" not just Cuban Skies?

Edited September 29, 2022 by StrangerInThisTown

[RonvanOs]

The general and soul monster popping up again in The Netherlands now, yesterday they where gone

Edited September 29, 2022 by RonvanOs

[Blackstar]

I also noticed that if State of Grace doesn't appear, no other song appears.

[metalavenger99]

27 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

I also noticed that if State of Grace doesn't appear, no other song appears.

Wow that’s a good one (IF) songs are in the system maybe they were only uploaded if SOG was uploaded first in each country?

[AxlRoseCDII]

I think the thing about this that pisses me off the most is there's so many unanswered questions.

I'm sure many of us have been searching Circus Maximus/D Tune since the soundcheck since a few people think there's a correlation? Why aren't they showing up?

Why doesn't stuff like Perhaps, one of the biggest leaks, show up for all countries? Why isn't Going Down showing up?

Why can't we make things like "Red Panda" appear?

I've succumbed to admitting that the algorithm theory is likely true but these things that don't add up really irritate me.

[patolea10]

51 minutes ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

I think the thing about this that pisses me off the most is there's so many unanswered questions.

I'm sure many of us have been searching Circus Maximus/D Tune since the soundcheck since a few people think there's a correlation? Why aren't they showing up?

Why doesn't stuff like Perhaps, one of the biggest leaks, show up for all countries? Why isn't Going Down showing up?

Why can't we make things like "Red Panda" appear?

I've succumbed to admitting that the algorithm theory is likely true but these things that don't add up really irritate me.

Agreed, just doesn't make sense. Among other things that also doesn't, like the fact that i'm pretty sure it could not be more than 15 people searching for the titles in brazil, and yet we got a lot of them.
Just can't wrap my head around it


Talked about brazil but many other countries apply to this line of thought

Edited September 29, 2022 by patolea10

[Fanboy]

we are so thirsty of "new material"

[Blackstar]

1 hour ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

I think the thing about this that pisses me off the most is there's so many unanswered questions.

I'm sure many of us have been searching Circus Maximus/D Tune since the soundcheck since a few people think there's a correlation? Why aren't they showing up?

Why doesn't stuff like Perhaps, one of the biggest leaks, show up for all countries? Why isn't Going Down showing up?

Why can't we make things like "Red Panda" appear?

I've succumbed to admitting that the algorithm theory is likely true but these things that don't add up really irritate me.

If the theory that the more unusual titles are the more likely to appear (because they're less likely to be searched by many other Spotify users) is correct, it shouldn't take long for Circus Maximus to show up.

[AxlRoseCDII]

48 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

If the theory that the more unusual titles are the more likely to appear (because they're less likely to be searched by many other Spotify users) is correct, it shouldn't take long for Circus Maximus to show up.

That's the type of things that just irritate me about this whole case. Each theory we present, algorithmic or not, at best, can only be 60% or so accurate. There's too many holes in each story.

[Axl S]

1 hour ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

That's the type of things that just irritate me about this whole case. Each theory we present, algorithmic or not, at best, can only be 60% or so accurate. There's too many holes in each story.

All of the explanations can be true at the same time.

• It can be true that tracks on their system but not yet live influence the search results.
• it can be true that repeat user search sessions + their listening habits, local files, playlists influence the search results.
• It can be true that certain metadata associated with GN'R ends up in their system from web scraping.

The first tracks that appeared could legitimately be on their system, waiting to go live. And then the others could be appearing subsequent to that due to the algorithm being influenced by user activity. The dual reasoning also starts to explain the timing thing of why this all is happening now.


After all, the one thing that doesn't make sense with the solely algorithm theory is "Why now?". Why were these titles not yielding GN'R search results in 2019 and 2021? What caused the first tracks (Atlas and SoG) to start appearing in the first place? The solely algorithm theory doesn't really answer those questions.

[metalavenger99]

Yeah, by that logic, I bet that they are more people right now searching for Circus Maximus or D Tune than In monday they were for Thyme or Oklahoma 🤣 so that logic is totally not working rn.

What really bothers me are the song names, how likely is that Cuban Skies is still called like that or Oklahoma or Zodiac? It's possible but no so likely. I would expect minimum changes at least. (Hard Skool).

Yet they appear to be intact. That's the reason that the very second The General showed up, my hopes rocketed but to the fkn ground... however I'm still leaning at least against the baseless algorithm theory

[Blackstar]

3 minutes ago, Axl S said:

After all, the one thing that doesn't make sense with the solely algorithm theory is "Why now?". Why were these titles not yielding GN'R search results in 2019 and 2021? What caused the first tracks (Atlas and SoG) to start appearing in the first place? The solely algorithm theory doesn't really answer those questions.

It also doesn't make sense that State of Grace is the "strongest" and most "persistent" title: if only one song appears in a given country, it's S.O.G; and if S.O.G doesn't appear, no other song appears.

[AxlRoseCDII]

3 minutes ago, metalavenger99 said:

Yeah, by that logic, I bet that they are more people right now searching for Circus Maximus or D Tune than In monday they were for Thyme or Oklahoma 🤣 so that logic is totally not working rn.

What really bothers me are the song names, how likely is that Cuban Skies is still called like that or Oklahoma or Zodiac? It's possible but no so likely. I would expect minimum changes at least. (Hard Skool).

Yet they appear to be intact. That's the reason that the very second The General showed up, my hopes rocketed but to the fkn ground... however I'm still leaning at least against the baseless algorithm theory

Tbh I wonder if the reason people search Cuban Sk and then have nothing else appear is maybe they did what they did with Absurd and HS where they tried to make it cool. Something like Cuban Sk13s (stupid but so were ABSURD and Hard Skool). Didn't Oklahoma have the same issue? But yeah all around I doubt Oklahoma and The General kept their name.

 

11 minutes ago, Axl S said:

All of the explanations can be true at the same time.

• It can be true that tracks on their system but not yet live influence the search results.
• it can be true that repeat user search sessions + their listening habits, local files, playlists influence the search results.
• It can be true that certain metadata associated with GN'R ends up in their system from web scraping.

The first tracks that appeared could legitimately be on their system, waiting to go live. And then the others could be appearing subsequent to that due to the algorithm being influenced by user activity. The dual reasoning also starts to explain the timing thing of why this all is happening now.


After all, the one thing that doesn't make sense with the solely algorithm theory is "Why now?". Why were these titles not yielding GN'R search results in 2019 and 2021? What caused the first tracks (Atlas and SoG) to start appearing in the first place? The solely algorithm theory doesn't really answer those questions.

Yeah this is a sensible theory. Slash did say another song or two and the material would be more complex, so I think Atlas and SoG could fit that bill. And maybe when a new release is going to happen Spotify works their algorithms in overdrive so it's picking up everything now instead of 2019?

Overall, way too many gaps to fill, and there's a chance we'll never know what the true story is, or how these algorithims work. 

[Blackstar]

4 minutes ago, metalavenger99 said:

Yeah, by that logic, I bet that they are more people right now searching for Circus Maximus or D Tune than In monday they were for Thyme or Oklahoma 🤣 so that logic is totally not working rn.

What really bothers me are the song names, how likely is that Cuban Skies is still called like that or Oklahoma or Zodiac? It's possible but no so likely. I would expect minimum changes at least. (Hard Skool).

Yet they appear to be intact. That's the reason that the very second The General showed up, my hopes rocketed but to the fkn ground... however I'm still leaning at least against the baseless algorithm theory

Yes, the fact that these tracks appear as they're named in the Village discs is problematic. And, although the band account etc. have referred to the General by that title, it's hard for me to believe that this would be the official title, because it seems completely irrelevant (although this assumption is just based on what we've heard about the theme of the song, which may not be accurate). I find the case of Oklahoma more plausible than those of the other titles though, despite of what Axl said about "Berlin" - I think he could very well have gone back to original title and content.

[axlslash]

11 hours ago, sofine11 said:

Tomorrow’s self inflicted disappointment is going to be off the charts…

1) They’re either dropping a surprise album…or not.

2) They were sound checking a top secret song from said album for the Argentina show…or not.

I’m already preemptively ashamed of myself for being disappointed. 😆

SOON IS THE WORD, NOW WE BELIEVE EVEN MORE!

Or, you know……not. It’s one or the other. 

[Blackstar]

10 minutes ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

Tbh I wonder if the reason people search Cuban Sk and then have nothing else appear is maybe they did what they did with Absurd and HS where they tried to make it cool. Something like Cuban Sk13s (stupid but so were ABSURD and Hard Skool).

I think the algorithm is "trained" for stuff like that. For example, it returns Hard Skool whether you type it with this spelling or as "hard school" and it's the same with "absurd".  I have also tried searching for "nuthing" and it returns hip hop artists who spell it like that, but also results with "Nothing".

[metalavenger99]

13 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Yes, the fact that these tracks appear as they're named in the Village discs is problematic. And, although the band account etc. have referred to the General by that title, it's hard for me to believe that this would be the official title, because it seems completely irrelevant (although this assumption is just based on what we've heard about the theme of the song, which may not be accurate). I find the case of Oklahoma more plausible than those of the other titles though, despite of what Axl said about "Berlin" - I think he could very well have gone back to original title and content.

It's hard for me to believe it too!

I don't know if this happens to anyone else but sometimes i stop doing whatever I'm doing during the day, and it comes to my mind how stupid It is that CUBAN SKIES, is returning GNR results, OK I can get it for Atlas, Silkworms, Ballad of death, or even the General, cause it's like the GNR equivalent of The Beatles' Carnival of Light, and maybe even some casuals have been searching for it during the years, ok that's the algorithm, no problem, but CUBAN SKIES or ZODIAC I say like wtf this has to be something... and then I forget about it and return to whatever I'm doing. 

29 minutes ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

Tbh I wonder if the reason people search Cuban Sk and then have nothing else appear is maybe they did what they did with Absurd and HS where they tried to make it cool. Something like Cuban Sk13s (stupid but so were ABSURD and Hard Skool). Didn't Oklahoma have the same issue? But yeah all around I doubt Oklahoma and The General kept their name.

To be completely honest, I was wondering the exact same thing too, maybe Soul Monster is now "My Soul Moηster" or "The $oul Monster" lol

[Blackstar]

I suppose the people who normally search for "Cuban something" look for Cuban music, and that's what all the other results are. So it's funny to see GN'R suddenly pop up along with results for Cuban music (which is great, btw) when typing "cuban s"

[AxlRoseCDII]

15 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

I suppose the people who normally search for "Cuban something" look for Cuban music, and that's what all the other results are. So it's funny to see GN'R suddenly pop up along with results for Cuban music (which is great, btw) when typing "cuban s"

I wonder how many people are stupidly confused when actually trying to find Atlas Shrugged the book, or Taylor Swift's State of Grace, or listen to Cuban songs

[Arnuld]

51 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Yes, the fact that these tracks appear as they're named in the Village discs is problematic. And, although the band account etc. have referred to the General by that title, it's hard for me to believe that this would be the official title, because it seems completely irrelevant (although this assumption is just based on what we've heard about the theme of the song, which may not be accurate). I find the case of Oklahoma more plausible than those of the other titles though, despite of what Axl said about "Berlin" - I think he could very well have gone back to original title and content.

Some of those track names on the village discs definitely sound like working titles (circus Maximus, D tune, dummy ect…) But keep in mind almost all of the CD songs didn’t go though a name change. Plus the General, Cuban Skies, Soul Monster ect….are all cool as fuck song titles so why change them

[Blackstar]

4 minutes ago, Arnuld said:

Some of those track names on the village discs definitely sound like working titles (circus Maximus, D tune, dummy ect…) But keep in mind almost all of the CD songs didn’t go though a name change. Plus the General, Cuban Skies, Soul Monster ect….are all cool as fuck song titles so why change them

The General is not cool as a title for me. It reminds me of Iron Maiden or something like that

[metalavenger99]

I do have some extra time tonight to add another couple of thoughts to my previous post (specially since this thing now has it's own thread)

Each time you give this a second thought, there is another inconsistency, I'm light years away from knowing how to set up or decipher a very complex million dollar company search algorithm, but if you've done some SEO or social media marketing, you'll begin to think about how everything was supposed to be about keywords, Spotify is still a social platform, suggested searches do rely a lot on users preferences or habits a lot, however I believe a lot of us also listen to Metallica or ACDC too, so then at least State of Grace should return Metallica or ACDC as well. But of course, it doesn't. There has to be metadata placed somewhere. And is not coming from probably 23 users around the whole world that have Thyme in their local Spotify playlists. 

Just think about this: If Spotify worked like that, it would be already a common and very well known thing for troll groups on social media to upload crap metadata to Spotify to mess with the results of any specific artist for the sake of making fun, memes or trends, they could do it against whoever, let's say a disliked rapper or singer. It wouldn't have been us the first group of people to discover this.

And the other thing is.. i don't think that an album is coming within the next 3 months (maybe never) but if all of this is because of the algorithm, then, you know? something here is really broken, if Spotify uses AI to train the search engine to collect internet info for old demos (although it only happens with GNR in this big magnitude) then, in this case it would be a waste of resources.

But then you have some guy in Sweden that searches for Zodiac from both his phone and his girlfriend's. And the next day GNR pops up. LMAO what... Were there more articles like this in Sweden than in the US?:

(2019) "Another Guns N Roses 1999 instrumental demo leaks while the rock legends are on tour" , simple answer is NO, and a last question...

Were there even enough articles or info about Soul Monster in the US, that it finally had to show up out of nowhere in 2022? Not even this circle of gnr nerds knows exactly what the final name of the song is, but Spotify collected enough info about it? Yeah sure man.

[-W.A.R-]

45 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

The General is not cool as a title for me. It reminds me of Iron Maiden or something like that

or car insurance.