MusicTrends.net FAQs

I just signed up, but I can’t view my data yet. Why?

MusicTrends does quite a bit of analysis behind the scenes, so it can take some time to gather and process your listening history—especially if you have a lot of it.

We collect and process data while respecting rate limits and other guidelines from the services we integrate with, and some of the initial setup may involve processing fairly large amounts of data. Because of that, it can sometimes take up to 24 hours for your data to start appearing.

Once that initial work is done, updates should happen much more quickly.

Why isn’t the song I just listened to showing up yet?

MusicTrends isn’t intended to be a real-time listening tracker. It’s more interested in the bigger picture: how your listening habits change over time, what you’re discovering, what you keep coming back to, and the occasional interesting outlier.

Your listening data is updated at least once a day, with some updates happening more frequently. So if you just listened to something and don’t see it yet, give it a little time—it should make its way in.

Why do I see so many “Unknown” genres?

Genre information usually isn’t included directly with your listening history, so MusicTrends has to do some extra work to figure it out.

That analysis happens separately from importing your listening data and is processed in batches. If you’re seeing a lot of “Unknown” genres—especially after first signing up—it usually just means that process hasn’t caught up yet.

And, of course, some artists and tracks stubbornly refuse to fit neatly into a genre. We respect their independence.

Can I use MusicTrends if I listen to music with Spotify?

Yes. Spotify is supported in two complementary ways:

• Import your past listening by uploading your Spotify Extended Streaming History export from your profile page. This can bring in years of listening, including plays from before you used Last.fm or ListenBrainz.
• Track new listening automatically by connecting Spotify to Last.fm or ListenBrainz. MusicTrends then picks up those plays as part of your regular history updates.

MusicTrends does not connect directly to your Spotify account or use the Spotify API. The Extended Streaming History export is far more complete than what Spotify exposes live—it can cover your entire listening history—which makes importing it the best way to analyze the years before you started tracking your listening elsewhere.

Importing your past listening

1. Go to Spotify's Privacy Settings and request your Extended Streaming History
2. Spotify will email you when your data is ready (this can take a few days)
3. Download the ZIP file (it will be named my_spotify_data.zip)
4. Create an account or log in, then go to your MusicTrends profile page and upload the ZIP file in the Spotify section
5. MusicTrends queues the import and processes it in the background, so you can close the page while it runs

Tracking new listening with Last.fm

Last.fm can automatically track, or "scrobble," what you listen to through Spotify, including listening from Spotify's desktop and mobile apps, web player, and Spotify Connect devices.

You can set that up through your Last.fm account: Connect Spotify to Last.fm

Tracking new listening with ListenBrainz

ListenBrainz can also automatically submit your Spotify listens to your ListenBrainz account.

You can connect Spotify from ListenBrainz's data settings: Add listening data to ListenBrainz

Once your Spotify listening is being recorded in Last.fm or ListenBrainz, MusicTrends can use that history just like any other listening data from those services. Importing an export and connecting one of those services work well together: the import covers the past, and the connection keeps your history current.

How does the Spotify import work?

Your upload is stored and queued as a background job, and the import runs on a schedule instead of inside your browser session. You can leave MusicTrends after uploading and come back later.

• Processing runs hourly. Large exports can take a while to work through, so the import will not appear instantly. Your profile page shows when an import is in progress or has finished, and the Spotify dashboard becomes available once data has been imported.
• Only music tracks are imported. Podcast episodes, audiobooks, and videos are ignored, as are plays shorter than 30 seconds.
• Duplicate listens are skipped. Re-uploading an export is safe because MusicTrends only adds listens it does not already have.
• You can import updated exports. If you request a fresh export later, uploading it adds your newer listening without duplicating the older history.

After the import, your Spotify history is analyzed like any other listening source, including MusicBrainz metadata and genre enrichment. That enrichment happens separately and in batches, so some albums or genres may show as unknown until it catches up.