I don't know what's my personal impact but since I discovered Finamp, I've been listening to my personal collection for a few months now and open spotify once a month instead of daily usage.
But I won't cut it because it's a family plan.
I also guess I'm getting older because I find music less interesting and less in phase with my taste and the Spotify algorithm is either bad in finding new stuff I like or always pushing the same 20 songs that I've listened too much.
> … and the Spotify algorithm is either bad in finding new stuff I like or always pushing the same 20 songs that I've listened too much.
yeah, it’s terrible. just plain none of the streaming services algorithms are any good, at all. apple has been the best i’ve found, but it’s still not very good.
the best methods by far are what i imagine theyve always been:
- talk to music nerds at your local record store if you have one. record stores are coming back in a big way in most mid-sized plus cities. if you’re too shy to talk to the people, most will have a wall with employee recommendations. but keep in mind, just talk to them, they like talking about music the way we like talking about computers. if you’re lucky they’ll sound to you the same way we sound when we talk to normies about tech, like gobblygook. hang in there.
- people. talk to other people. big bonus multiplier if they’re actually music wonks.
- college radio stations. they still have actual djs who play the music they actually like.
- go to concerts at your local venue. obviously, not cover bands lol.
- look up indie labels (i don’t mean indie music genre, i mean non-corporate) and watch their web pages for new releases. (a lot of them don’t have much of a social media presence so watch their web pages for their releases) non-corporate labels are the only ones putting out anything good at the moment.
I think overall there's been a huge amount of regression in discovery for music but also like... most other things. Recommendation algorithms tend to show you more of what you already like, which makes it incredibly hard to discover new things you might also like. Also creates a huge popularity bias where what's popular gets more popular and what isn't doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell.
One of the lost joys of the past is reading a print magazine that has no idea who you are and discovering articles not written for your demographic, but that regardless expose you to new perspectives and ideas, maybe you find a new hobby or band or whatever, and enrich your life forever. That stuff just isn't happening anymore.
as the author points out, its commercial trash music that is collapsing. and as they point out, indie music is thriving, as is live music.
concerts here in my area for non corporate trash bands are regularly selling out shows.
none of this should surprise anyone. these corporate labels entirely gutted their A&R departments and now tilt their heads in confusion that they have no good music.
they thought an industry that literally revolves around humans could be replaced by algorithms and then tilt their heads again wondering why people run fast and far.
what they did would be like if a lifetime wedding planner who had never coded in their life, doesn’t understand technology at all yet convinced themselves they could totally write a secure messenger app because they like talking to friends in whatsapp.
a bunch of VC class who don’t care about (or understand) music are confused why their music corporations are failing.
The supply-side is fine. Even on Spotify. There is more content than I can listen to. I go out of my way to favorite things that are "marginal" so that my recommendation profile stays diverse.
The demand is what is collapsing. 30 seconds of trashy TikTok music here and there is about all the average consumer demands these days.
I don't know what's my personal impact but since I discovered Finamp, I've been listening to my personal collection for a few months now and open spotify once a month instead of daily usage.
But I won't cut it because it's a family plan.
I also guess I'm getting older because I find music less interesting and less in phase with my taste and the Spotify algorithm is either bad in finding new stuff I like or always pushing the same 20 songs that I've listened too much.
> … and the Spotify algorithm is either bad in finding new stuff I like or always pushing the same 20 songs that I've listened too much.
yeah, it’s terrible. just plain none of the streaming services algorithms are any good, at all. apple has been the best i’ve found, but it’s still not very good.
the best methods by far are what i imagine theyve always been:
- talk to music nerds at your local record store if you have one. record stores are coming back in a big way in most mid-sized plus cities. if you’re too shy to talk to the people, most will have a wall with employee recommendations. but keep in mind, just talk to them, they like talking about music the way we like talking about computers. if you’re lucky they’ll sound to you the same way we sound when we talk to normies about tech, like gobblygook. hang in there.
- people. talk to other people. big bonus multiplier if they’re actually music wonks.
- college radio stations. they still have actual djs who play the music they actually like.
- go to concerts at your local venue. obviously, not cover bands lol.
- look up indie labels (i don’t mean indie music genre, i mean non-corporate) and watch their web pages for new releases. (a lot of them don’t have much of a social media presence so watch their web pages for their releases) non-corporate labels are the only ones putting out anything good at the moment.
I think overall there's been a huge amount of regression in discovery for music but also like... most other things. Recommendation algorithms tend to show you more of what you already like, which makes it incredibly hard to discover new things you might also like. Also creates a huge popularity bias where what's popular gets more popular and what isn't doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell.
One of the lost joys of the past is reading a print magazine that has no idea who you are and discovering articles not written for your demographic, but that regardless expose you to new perspectives and ideas, maybe you find a new hobby or band or whatever, and enrich your life forever. That stuff just isn't happening anymore.
[dead]
as the author points out, its commercial trash music that is collapsing. and as they point out, indie music is thriving, as is live music.
concerts here in my area for non corporate trash bands are regularly selling out shows.
none of this should surprise anyone. these corporate labels entirely gutted their A&R departments and now tilt their heads in confusion that they have no good music.
they thought an industry that literally revolves around humans could be replaced by algorithms and then tilt their heads again wondering why people run fast and far.
what they did would be like if a lifetime wedding planner who had never coded in their life, doesn’t understand technology at all yet convinced themselves they could totally write a secure messenger app because they like talking to friends in whatsapp.
a bunch of VC class who don’t care about (or understand) music are confused why their music corporations are failing.
The supply-side is fine. Even on Spotify. There is more content than I can listen to. I go out of my way to favorite things that are "marginal" so that my recommendation profile stays diverse.
The demand is what is collapsing. 30 seconds of trashy TikTok music here and there is about all the average consumer demands these days.