Getting more out of it
Going Deeper Without the Slop
Recommendations that are too obvious usually mean the system is playing it safe rather than that it is broken. Four settings control how far it reaches, and this page is the order to change them in.
Start with Deep Dive
With Deep Dive off, every artist contributes their top ten tracks. Those are the songs with the most plays, which means a popular artist fills your Flow with the tracks you already know.
Turning it on moves the window to tracks ten through twenty-five. For artists with long catalogues this is a large change in character, and for artists with short catalogues it falls back to the top ten automatically.
This is the first thing to change because it improves mix quality without changing how far the system searches.
Then use the discovery mode
An admin sets one global dial and every user is affected at the next rebuild.
| Mode | Behaviour | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Safer | Stays close to what you know | Your library is narrow and you want it coherent |
| Balanced | Mix of familiar and new | The sensible default |
| Deeper | Reaches further outside your library | Your library already covers the mainstream |
Then give Focus something specific
Focus is the one Flow source you configure by hand, and it is where precision comes from. It looks only outside your library, so it adds rather than re-serves what you own.
Three inputs: tags, related artists and a year range. A decade range is the most precise instrument here, because almost nothing else narrows that precisely.
- Tags: genres, decades or moods, separated by commas.
- Related artists: artists whose neighbours you want.
- Year range: 1980 to 1989, or 2020 to blank for onwards.
- At least one tag or artist is required before Focus can be enabled.
How Focus widens, and why that matters
With several tags and several related artists, Focus starts strict and relaxes only when it needs more tracks. Two tags find artists matching both first, then one or the other. Related artists behave the same way across all and any.
The practical consequence: adding more tags narrows the result, and removing them widens it in a controlled progression rather than dumping you in an unfiltered pool.
Adjust the source mix
If your Flow leans too heavily on what you already know, lower the Library share and raise Discover or Focus. If it feels random, raise Library.
The slider shows how many tracks each source actually contributes at the current Flow size, so the effect of a change is visible before you wait for the run.
An honest limit
Similarity data is what it is. ListenBrainz similarity leans towards well-known names, so a large library with keyless setup will keep producing recognisable artists no matter how the dial is set. Adding a Last.fm key changes the underlying data, which is a bigger lever than any setting.
Frequently asked questions
Do Deep Dive and Deeper mode conflict?
No. Deep Dive changes which tracks come from each artist. Deeper mode changes how far outside your library the system looks. They operate on different things and combine freely.
Why do I get famous artists I already know?
Almost always ListenBrainz similarity skewing mainstream. Adding a Last.fm key changes the underlying similarity data, which fixes it more effectively than any dial.
How many tags should a Focus source have?
Two or three is the useful range. One tag is broad, and more than four tends to return too few candidates and fall through to the relaxed queries.
Does a year range affect the whole Flow?
No, only the Focus source. Discover, Library and Trending ignore it entirely, which surprises people the first time their 1980s Flow contains a recent track.
Ready to set it up
One container and one media path is genuinely all it takes. Everything else in this page is something you add when the need appears.