FAQ
The questions people actually ask.
If something here disagrees with what the app does, the app is right and this page is a bug. Tell us and it gets fixed.
Do I need Spotify Premium?
For rating, tagging, searching and building playlists, no. A free Spotify account is enough to connect and use almost everything.
Playback control is the exception, and that is Spotify's rule rather than ours: their API only allows an app to start, pause or skip a track for Premium accounts. On a free account those buttons will tell you so instead of failing quietly.
Does notch.fm change my Spotify library?
Only when you ask it to. Rating and tagging happen entirely inside notch.fm and are invisible to Spotify. Saving a playlist writes to Spotify because that is the point of saving it, and removing a song from your notch.fm library un-likes it in Spotify, which is why that action asks you to confirm a list before it does anything.
What do I get without paying?
- Ratings
- 150 songs rated
- Smart search and notchbot
- 50 requests a month, up to 5 an hour
- Playlists
- One playlist, up to 25 songs
- Tags
- Ten of your own categories per kind
- Following
- Five people
- Comments
- Read anyone's, post none
Premium lifts all of those. See pricing.
What happens to my ratings if I cancel?
Nothing is deleted. Everything you rated stays visible, searchable and exportable, however far over the free limit you are. You can still change a rating you already made, because that is your own work.
What stops is adding: while you hold more than 150 rated songs you cannot rate a new one until you resubscribe, or choose to trim your library back under the limit. That choice is offered and never forced, and it uses the same confirm-before-removing screen as everything else that touches your library.
Why does it ask for so many Spotify permissions?
Each one maps to a feature you can point at. Reading your library is what there is to rate. Reading what is playing is the Now Playing screen. Playback control is the transport buttons. Creating playlists is saving one. Reading your top artists is what the charts and the concerts watchlist are built from.
notch.fm cannot see your password, and your Spotify tokens never reach your browser. You can revoke access at any time from your Spotify account page, and doing so stops notch.fm reaching Spotify immediately.
Is my profile public?
You choose one of three modes in settings. Public means anyone can see your profile and follow you. Private means people can see that your account exists but not the data behind it, and following requires your approval. Anonymous means you cannot be searched for or followed at all, and the app becomes a read-only feed: you can follow public accounts but not comment or post.
Can I get my data out?
Yes, all of it, at any time, from settings. Your ratings, tags, comments and play history export in a machine-readable format. There is no export tier and no waiting period.
Is notch.fm made by Spotify?
No. notch.fm is an independent app built on the Spotify Web API, and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Spotify. You need your own Spotify account to use it, and all music playback happens through Spotify.