Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
TL;DR
- YouTube Music users have long requested an official blocking feature to block songs, artists, and albums.
- A new, unofficial, open-source browser extension called YTM Block finally delivers this blocking capability by auto-skipping over blocked tracks and removing blocked artists from the homepage.
- However, because it is a browser extension, it cannot fix filtering issues in the official YouTube Music Android and iOS apps.
If there is one hill YouTube Music users are collectively prepared to die on, it is the lack of a proper “Block Artist” button. For years, the community has begged, pleaded, and mass-upvoted threads asking for a simple way to permanently mute specific musicians or tracks from their auto-generated feeds. Yet, Google has consistently given them the cold shoulder. If you’re open to taking matters into your own hands, this unofficial YouTube Music extension brings block-like functionality to the streaming service, at least on some platforms.
YTM Block, by Reddit user Kakeroth, is an open-source browser extension for Chrome and Firefox. With YTM Block, users can right-click to block any artist, song, or album.
Whenever blocked content comes up for play next, the extension auto-skips it. It also flags blocked songs in your Up Next queue before they play, so you can see exactly what’s being filtered. Taking it a step further, the extension also filters blocked artists from your home page recommendations.
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The extension claims to handle everything locally on your machine. Nothing is said to be tracked, logged, or sent to an external server, so your personal list of banned artists and tracks stays in your browser’s storage.
YTM Block is a stronger step forward from YouTube Music’s notoriously weak “Thumbs Down” button, which often just politely suggests the algorithm show you slightly less of an artist. Spotify and Apple Music have long offered varying forms of artist muting or hiding, but YouTube Music has lagged behind in this regard. If your auto-play queue keeps getting hijacked by mainstream artists you despise, or repetitive AI-generated cover slop, your options on the official app are essentially non-existent.
Because this is a browser extension, the major limitation here is that it only solves the problem for desktop listeners. The developer has noted that mobile browser support (e.g., playing via Firefox on Android) could be a viable option, but a fix for the official iOS and Android apps isn’t likely. Hopefully, Google acknowledges this pain point for YouTube Music users and rolls out a block option that actually works.
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