Totally agree that’s how it should be! But today it feels like that depends on the DJ’s motivation. If they’re on a platform that rewards views and likes, they’re better served promoting whatever gets them clicks over quality. It just feels like that kind of DJ or influencer is 95% of the landscape while those honestly recommending quality are harder to find - or simply get less visibility due to less clicks.
The influencers or DJ’s most people see come from social media, and those seem little different than the Spotify recommender algorithm because they’re driven by clicks.
Again, I might be jaded, but I think people should learn about music from people like you rather than a radio host or an influencer with different motivation.
Exactly! Have you ever used the Spotify AI DJ? It fills me with a mixture of rage and existential dread. And the recommendations are just shuffling my old playlists over and over
Oy. No, I haven’t. I feel like Spotify is designed by techies who aren’t a) big music fans, and or b) are told to just keep numbers/revenue high. It totally screws indie artists.
I think you're right. I'm going through my personal Spotify awakening at the moment. I'm a slow decision maker, but we'll see if I'm still there in the near future.
Excellent intro. I still get bummed when you’re listening to a great album on Spotify and there’s that one song with 1.5 million listens because it’s been playlisted and the rest are stuck in the thousands because people don’t want to dig a little deeper.
Thanks Jeremy! I agree, it seems so random which tracks get picked sometimes. Spotify isn’t really set up well for learning deeply about artists, and that sadly contributes to the “here today, gone tomorrow” nature of Spotify top tracks. If I were an artist I’m not sure I’d even bother releasing complete albums these days- I’d probably be focused on going viral like everyone else, which is a pretty sad thought.
I forget which comedian said, "It's ok to not like Prince." 😂
Have you ever seen the Sign o' the Times movie?
No, I haven't! I feel like I should though!
Algorithms don’t break new talent-- curators do! That may be “influencers” nowadays. But isn’t that what DJ’s have always been?
Totally agree that’s how it should be! But today it feels like that depends on the DJ’s motivation. If they’re on a platform that rewards views and likes, they’re better served promoting whatever gets them clicks over quality. It just feels like that kind of DJ or influencer is 95% of the landscape while those honestly recommending quality are harder to find - or simply get less visibility due to less clicks.
The influencers or DJ’s most people see come from social media, and those seem little different than the Spotify recommender algorithm because they’re driven by clicks.
Again, I might be jaded, but I think people should learn about music from people like you rather than a radio host or an influencer with different motivation.
Yep. And many radio stations just hand a playlist over to anDJ or don’t event have real DJ’s anymore-- like BobFM.
Exactly! Have you ever used the Spotify AI DJ? It fills me with a mixture of rage and existential dread. And the recommendations are just shuffling my old playlists over and over
Oy. No, I haven’t. I feel like Spotify is designed by techies who aren’t a) big music fans, and or b) are told to just keep numbers/revenue high. It totally screws indie artists.
I think you're right. I'm going through my personal Spotify awakening at the moment. I'm a slow decision maker, but we'll see if I'm still there in the near future.
Excellent intro. I still get bummed when you’re listening to a great album on Spotify and there’s that one song with 1.5 million listens because it’s been playlisted and the rest are stuck in the thousands because people don’t want to dig a little deeper.
Thanks Jeremy! I agree, it seems so random which tracks get picked sometimes. Spotify isn’t really set up well for learning deeply about artists, and that sadly contributes to the “here today, gone tomorrow” nature of Spotify top tracks. If I were an artist I’m not sure I’d even bother releasing complete albums these days- I’d probably be focused on going viral like everyone else, which is a pretty sad thought.