The Spotify X-Files thread

[Rovim]

4 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

I'd care. The band's legacy got raped a lot by now. Don't fuck that shit up. CD stuff should be exactly that. If they wanna have a third Illusion record than they should sit down together in one room and start writing new material. If they think it's UYI-worthy stuff than label it as UYI. If not then not.

wasn't it called UYI l & ll just because it was two separate cd's? I think the name of the album is Use Your Illusion. Axl said he considers l & ll as a single double album or something like that.

I think Axl also said the next album after Chinese is not going to be called CD ll but I have no source. CD ll and UYI lll sounds kinda silly as album titles anyway imo.

[darkside259]

1 hour ago, Rovim said:

wasn't it called UYI l & ll just because it was two separate cd's? I think the name of the album is Use Your Illusion. Axl said he considers l & ll as a single double album or something like that.

I think Axl also said the next album after Chinese is not going to be called CD ll but I have no source. CD ll and UYI lll sounds kinda silly as album titles anyway imo.

UYI III would be a amazing name if the songs follow the spirit of UYI I And II, but CD II would suck bc the actual formation of the abnd had noyhing to do with CD era.

[betterman]

The only one working in Norway ATM is Atlas shrug, State of Grace and Soul mo. No longer the general or Perhaps

[nico-ferro]

As someone who works in tech and is familiar with this kind of things, i wanted to give my two cents:

You need to consider the possibility that these suggestions are affected by people that had/have their local demo files indexed by Spotify.

i.e: You download the village sessions CD 1. You add that to your Spotify library so you can listen to that music from within the app. You might even correct the file metadata so that shows all pretty and nice (i know i have done that). Those files can actually be indexed by Spotify for a variety of reasons, hence affecting future suggestions while searching.

 

[jamillos]

5 minutes ago, nico-ferro said:

As someone who works in tech and is familiar with this kind of things, i wanted to give my two cents:

You need to consider the possibility that these suggestions are affected by people that had/have their local demo files indexed by Spotify.

i.e: You download the village sessions CD 1. You add that to your Spotify library so you can listen to that music from within the app. You might even correct the file metadata so that shows all pretty and nice (i know i have done that). Those files can actually be indexed by Spotify for a variety of reasons, hence affecting future suggestions while searching.

 

Wow, that sounds valid. But then, what about the General. Is Pele along doing it (having renamed any song data), trolling poor forum dwellers? 

Edited October 13, 2022 by jamillos

[gavgnr]

9 minutes ago, nico-ferro said:

As someone who works in tech and is familiar with this kind of things, i wanted to give my two cents:

You need to consider the possibility that these suggestions are affected by people that had/have their local demo files indexed by Spotify.

i.e: You download the village sessions CD 1. You add that to your Spotify library so you can listen to that music from within the app. You might even correct the file metadata so that shows all pretty and nice (i know i have done that). Those files can actually be indexed by Spotify for a variety of reasons, hence affecting future suggestions while searching.

 

Yeah I must admit, I did initially think that this would have some bearing on the results, but there has been so much information since which leads me to believe a release is definitely being planned. Just a case of when 

[ryanf23]

Everyone has theory’s on why songs are showing up…

what about why songs showed up previously and then disappeared? 

if Spotify algorithm was at play, why would it show songs one day for users and not the next day? I can’t make sense of that

Alternatively, if GNR have a planned album and uploaded songs, why would they have removed songs now?

 

[Lies They Tell]

14 minutes ago, ryanf23 said:

if Spotify algorithm was at play, why would it show songs one day for users and not the next day? I can’t make sense of that

That's easy to answer. When tons of GNR fans start searching for these songs all of a sudden, they start to show GNR results, because the algorithm starts associating these words with GNR, but when people aren't searching for them as much as they used to, the algorithm stops showing GNR results. That's exactly how algorithms are supposed to work. Obviously it's a bit more complicated than that, but that's the simple explanation. And it's not surprising that common words like Perhaps stop showing GNR results first.

It's more difficult to explain why GNR would upload songs and then remove them all of a sudden.

[Sweersa]

1 hour ago, jamillos said:

Wow, that sounds valid. But then, what about the General. Is Pele along doing it (having renamed any song data), trolling poor forum dwellers? 

If that theory is true, it's possible a number of people actually do have Soul Monster and The General synced with Spotify from a local device. (Associates with the band, or those connected to those who worked on the CD sessions, etc.)

[Coma16]

1 hour ago, Lies They Tell said:

It's more difficult to explain why GNR would upload songs and then remove them all of a sudden.

Not difficult, GNR took too long (should have released it ahead of EU leg) and it got in the way of the UYI boxset.

[Blackstar]

1 hour ago, nico-ferro said:

As someone who works in tech and is familiar with this kind of things, i wanted to give my two cents:

You need to consider the possibility that these suggestions are affected by people that had/have their local demo files indexed by Spotify.

i.e: You download the village sessions CD 1. You add that to your Spotify library so you can listen to that music from within the app. You might even correct the file metadata so that shows all pretty and nice (i know i have done that). Those files can actually be indexed by Spotify for a variety of reasons, hence affecting future suggestions while searching.

Yes, we have considered this as a possibility and it has been discussed at length as well. However, even if it could explain the General (because of Evader's version) it doesn't explain the appearance of titles like Cuban Skies and Se7en that are not on the Village discs (and Soul Monster, because how many users who have the leaks in local Spotify playlists would have renamed "Me and My Elvis"?)

It's more likely that Spotify has gotten this metadata from the band/label (even if it's not due to an upcoming release) than from playlists stored locally.

[Rodzilla72]

22 minutes ago, Coma16 said:

Not difficult, GNR took too long (should have released it ahead of EU leg) and it got in the way of the UYI boxset.

So they were finally ready to release something after years and years of nothing (except dribbling out 2 20 year old reworked demos), and they were that close to actually doing it, but then had to cancel because of the 31st anniversary of UYI?
If that turns out to be true I'll buy you a copy of the "new album." 

[Lies They Tell]

22 minutes ago, Coma16 said:

Not difficult, GNR took too long (should have released it ahead of EU leg) and it got in the way of the UYI boxset.

Anything is possible of course. I'm just saying that this is exactly what was expected to happen according to the algorithm theory.

It's more complicated to explain it with the other theory and it doesn't really explain why they would delete the songs slowly one by one. If they've decided to delete the songs from Spotify, it would make more sense to delete them all at once.

On the other hand it fits perfectly with the algorithm theory that Spotify would slowly stop associating these words with GNR one by one when GNR fans aren't searching for these songs as much as they used to.

[StrangerInThisTown]

3 hours ago, nico-ferro said:

As someone who works in tech and is familiar with this kind of things, i wanted to give my two cents:

You need to consider the possibility that these suggestions are affected by people that had/have their local demo files indexed by Spotify.

i.e: You download the village sessions CD 1. You add that to your Spotify library so you can listen to that music from within the app. You might even correct the file metadata so that shows all pretty and nice (i know i have done that). Those files can actually be indexed by Spotify for a variety of reasons, hence affecting future suggestions while searching.

 

Nice theory and was also discussed, but doesn't explain songs that haven't leaked and no one has also showing up.

Edited October 13, 2022 by StrangerInThisTown

[Blackstar]

9 minutes ago, Lies They Tell said:

Anything is possible of course. I'm just saying that this is exactly what was expected to happen according to the algorithm theory.

It's more complicated to explain it with the other theory and it doesn't really explain why they would delete the songs slowly one by one. If they've decided to delete the songs from Spotify, it would make more sense to delete them all at once.

On the other hand it fits perfectly with the algorithm theory that Spotify would slowly stop associating these words with GNR one by one when GNR fans aren't searching for these songs as much as they used to.

The metadata theory doesn't rule out the role of the algorithm on how and whether these titles appear in the results. But it gives a much more plausible explanation, in my opinion, about how the connection between these titles and GN'R occurred originally.

[gavgnr]

This is new…Atlas Shrugged playlist. Is this just something that someone’s uploaded?

[Coma16]

27 minutes ago, Rodzilla72 said:

So they were finally ready to release something after years and years of nothing (except dribbling out 2 20 year old reworked demos), and they were that close to actually doing it, but then had to cancel because of the 31st anniversary of UYI?
If that turns out to be true I'll buy you a copy of the "new album." 

I'm not privy to exactly what happened. But it seems like Axl got lazy (again) and the lable wasn't willing to push their release window. All speculation of course.

[Blackstar]

1 minute ago, gavgnr said:

This is new…Atlas Shrugged playlist. Is this just something that someone’s uploaded?

Yes, it's apparently a Spotify user that created a playlist titled "Atlas Shrugged".

[Lies They Tell]

12 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

The metadata theory doesn't rule out the role of the algorithm on how and whether these titles appear in the results. But it gives a much more plausible explanation, in my opinion, about how the connection between these titles and GN'R occurred originally.

You're suggesting some kind of a mixture of the algorithm theory and the metadata theory? I guess that's possible. Only time will tell. If Seven will be called Se7en, then that would obviously prove that there's more to this than just the algorithm doing it's thing.

But as of now, I'm not convinced that there's anything more to this.

[Rodzilla72]

10 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Yes, it's apparently a Spotify user that created a playlist titled "Atlas Shrugged".

That's interesting- so if one single user affects Spotify search results, I wonder if Spotify search terms (for example if I search "Se7en + Guns n Roses") automatically updates search results/suggestions as well.

[Gnrcane]

I wonder if there is a fan forum for any other band that studies whether the illuminati are involved in having potential new music indexed by Spotify...

I want to believe! Where's Agent Mulder when we need him?

Edited October 13, 2022 by Gnrcane

[Blackstar]

1 minute ago, Lies They Tell said:

You're suggesting some kind of a mixture of the algorithm theory and the metadata theory? I guess that's possible. Only time will tell. If Seven will be called Se7en, then that would obviously prove that there's more to this than just the algorithm doing it's thing.

But as of now, I'm not convinced that there's anything more to this.

To elaborate more:

On one hand, we've had titles of tracks that have not leaked appearing in search results (Se7en, Cuban Skies, Soul Monster). On the other hand, titles of leaked tracks that would have been very easy for the algorithm to make a GN'R connection for, if it was all "algorithmic", haven't appeared; e.g. "rare" titles like Devious Bastard (there are hardly any other artists or songs associated with this title), Circus Maximus, etc. So the tracks - or at least most of them* - that have appeared in search results must be in the system in some way, even if only as metadata.

Then, of course, the algorithm plays a part in how and whether data that are in the database appear in search results. And if that applies to released and active songs (I have brought up the example of Bumblefoot's released solo songs that he has also performed with GN'R, which, in some countries at least, don't bring up either GN'R or even Bumblefoot), it more so applies to tracks that are not even active. And the algorithm is affected by searches, listening habits, etc.  That is a much more logical explanation on why some titles come and go than conspiracy theories that GN'R uploaded and then removed the tracks.

* It's not completely unlikely that in the case of a couple of tracks it's only algorithmic; e.g. The General contains the letters "gnr". However, again, that wouldn't work for the rest of the titles.

 

[Blackstar]

17 minutes ago, Rodzilla72 said:

That's interesting- so if one single user affects Spotify search results, I wonder if Spotify search terms (for example if I search "Se7en + Guns n Roses") automatically updates search results/suggestions as well.

Spotify has a "playlists" results category (in a addition to the "songs", "artists", "albums" and "podcasts" categories). So it shows results from all these categories in the "general"/"all" results tab.

[Legendador]

On 10/4/2022 at 9:05 PM, Powerage5 said:

Just to follow up on this post - @HollyWoodRose84 invited the mod team to reach out for verification concerning their Spotify contact. I did so last night, and his contact is indeed a high-up at Spotify. He verified their identity, as well as their role at Spotify with me, which I was able to crosscheck with a web search. I'd presume such a person is in a position to know what they're talking about. HR84 was happy to let me post in here that I've verified this info with him, but he wishes to keep his contact's identity anonymous otherwise, therefore that's all I will say on the matter. 

 

Carry on.

You know what, people on this forum need a reallity check, this means nothing!

The songs can be buried with the record company and Ax & Co for decades if they choose to.

Just because they show on a search doesn't mean they are for iminent release, these is just a known and tired probability among to many.

It just shows that Axl and the record company are at a never ending tug of war. As always.

People in this forum keep on creating expectation over nothing and year after year, at least since 2014 is the same talk: they are abou to release the new record! NOW THIS IS IT! How many tuesdays do we get?

WAKE UP, PEOPLE! THERE'S NO NEW RECORD, JUST A COUPLE SONGS RERECORDED THAT JUST GOT PUSHED AWAY EVEN FURTHER BY THE BAD RECEPTION HARSKOOL AND ABSURD GOT.

We, in this forum, act as people stuck on an old love waiting them to come back, guess what, they are already married and with a bunch of kids, they may stop to say hi somethings, they may even give you a birthday present out of respect, but that's it! THEY. WILL. NOT. COME. BACK!

 

[jamillos]

16 minutes ago, Legendador said:

You know what, people on this forum need a reallity check, this means nothing!

The songs can be buried with the record company and Ax & Co for decades if they choose to.

Just because they show on a search doesn't mean they are for iminent release, these is just a known and tired probability among to many.

It just shows that Axl and the record company are at a never ending tug of war. As always.

People in this forum keep on creating expectation over nothing and year after year, at least since 2014 is the same talk: they are abou to release the new record! NOW THIS IS IT! How many tuesdays do we get?

WAKE UP, PEOPLE! THERE'S NO NEW RECORD, JUST A COUPLE SONGS RERECORDED THAT JUST GOT PUSHED AWAY EVEN FURTHER BY THE BAD RECEPTION HARSKOOL AND ABSURD GOT.

We, in this forum, act as people stuck on an old love waiting them to come back, guess what, they are already married and with a bunch of kids, they may stop to say hi somethings, they may even give you a birthday present out of respect, but that's it! THEY. WILL. NOT. COME. BACK!

 

I understand the scepticism, but how can you assert that there’s no new record like this when multiple indicators strongly suggest otherwise? One of them being the actual factual musicians from the band themselves – and I mean the three main guys, not Richard "hopefully we’ll see it soon" Fortus or anything like that – saying there’s material being worked on. Plus Slash’s words about the box set turning out to be true. Plus the logical fact that Axl has material from the past and even if he’s lazy enough to just do with it what he did with HS and Silkworms, i.e. not set his foot in the studio, he'll still have a result produced nonetheless. 
Yeah, we could end up with some inconsistent patchwork, but there’s definitely enough material for at least one record, whether this Spotify stuff means something or not. Let’s be real. Yeah, I know, this is GN’R, but still, let’s be real.