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Spotify will soon let you mute and block artists

Spotify will soon let you mute and block artists

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You’ll be able to block R. Kelly soon

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Spotify block feature
Spotify block feature
Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

Spotify is getting ready to enable a block feature in its apps to mute artists you don’t want to hear from. Spotify is currently testing the “don’t play this artist” feature in its latest iOS app, and The Verge has been able to test the new block functionality ahead of its release soon. The feature simply lets you block an entire artist from playing, so that songs from the artist will never play from a library, playlist, chart list, or even radio stations on Spotify.

The block feature works on songs by an individual artist, but it doesn’t currently apply to tracks that an artist is featured on. Thurrott first spotted the feature, and notes that Spotify originally decided not to offer blocking “after serious consideration” back in 2017. Spotify has now reversed that decision.

Recently, Spotify has come under increased pressure to offer a block feature after a documentary surfaced details of 25 years of accusations of sexual violence and abuse by singer R. Kelly. A #MuteRKelly protest has helped bring attention to the accusations, and RCA Records has reportedly dropped R. Kelly from its label. Spotify previously removed R. Kelly from its own curated playlists, but this did very little as the singers music was still available to stream on its service.

Spotify is clearly now leaving it up to users of its service to mute individual artists instead. We’ve reached out to Spotify to see when this block feature will be available more broadly, and we’ll update you accordingly.