I feel global political oppression or global wars usually produce great music but Macklemore might be the peak.
Nothing against him, some of his songs are good, but I expected real rage inducing stuff with everything going on. Or is this just the state of music as a whole?
The algorithm won’t boost anything trying to rage against the machine. Gotta make generic bullshit to get clicks. Only way to make money these days is to get clicks
The “algorithm” is not some conspiranoic mastermind, it just serves whatever retains the most attention and generates clicks for advertisers. It’s users who don’t want to listen to <insert your favorite rebel> because they prefer bland pop or whatever kids listen to these days.
Algorithms are definitely biased to push whatever agenda they want.
That’s what I said. The agenda they want just happens to be “money”, not whatever political conspiracy every political group comes up with.
So you’re saying that no one listens to music that isn’t spoon-fed to them?
My friend, algos won’t show me Swedish power metal, I gotta go find it. No one waited for Rage to come on the radio, you sought it out at the record store or from friends that had copied demo tapes and mix tapes.
Any algorithm that won’t let someone discover Sabaton, is a defective algorithm.
No idea about today, but Pandora used to be cool for this in the “Music Genome Project” days.
Ahhh, yes Pandora. The Good Ol’ Days.
And I’m the only algorithm I need for finding Swedish power metal, because I put in the hours to find what I like. But, admittedly, my taste in music is generously called “eclectic” by some, and “trash” by my loved ones, so there’s no algorithm that’s ever even believed I was a real person and not just 3 raccoons in a trench coat.
Jesus Christ you people will bitch about anything.
Please explain to me how an algorithm is worse than having to bribe execs to get on the radio and wait for the song to be played. And then if lucky it’ll get played 40 times in repeat.
I’m sure this will be a coherent answer 🙄.
You’re exactly right.
WTF algorithm was there to serve us on demand copying mix and demo tapes? We had to touch physical media to get the songs. It took effort, sometimes $5 in gas money, a stack of blank tapes at home, and working two-deck stereo.
Not just for Rage-type alt music and punk, but the entire early hip-hop and rap scenes were almost exclusively bootlegged and home-made.
This isn’t about “kids today have it so easy” - this is about good songs overcoming massive headwinds to get popular and simply heard. Music discovery was word of mouth, rumors, and who had what on hand. The thrill of the hunt got you amazing results.
Right now there’s probably someone making killer music and posting to YT or peertube with like 3 views because everyone just accepts the algo slop and no one looks for the gems.
Nobody tell this guy about mps3 🤣
None of that went away. Music discovery is easier than ever. Sharing music is a link and you’re done. Either you’ve forgotten or are too young to remember the same artists played over and over again.
However you got here, your understanding of the music industry pre internet is rose tinted at best.
Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch! I was there when MP3s were new. If it wasn’t for a HD crash in 2003, I would still have MP3s from the 90s.
Plus, I was agreeing with you. WTF?
I’m not talking about sharing in particular, I’m talking about friction involved in discovery. You have to know someone to share the link, even today. So someone is out there spending 10 hours a day listening to random stuff on YT just to get something to share, not waiting around for the algorithm to give them music.
You just made me sad thinking about the huge music library I used to have. I’ve recently started downloading again, but my tastes were so different back then I don’t think I’ll ever remember it all.
It doesn’t if you don’t use services and algorithyms… But damn crap like Spotify is popular. I would never, but it’s like they hand it out when you turn 5 and say this is the default!
I haven’t used it for a while, but I remember Spotify recommending some pretty neat and niche stuff. It just really depends what you feed it to begin with.
If you start with “Popular top 40 corporate-bred pop artist of the month”, it will swiftly taylor the algorithm to more of the same, and once it’s got an idea it mostly goes one direction and it’s really difficult to get it to recommend other styles that aren’t Harry.
Fun puns and anecdotal evidence aside: Spotify sucks especially because of how it pays artists next to nothing.
I personally skim Freegal from my local library, Bandcamp on Fridays, and buy MP3s from 7 Digital if I want to support the artist. (I don’t know 7 Digital’s revenue take, but I at least get to own the music forever, and in FLAC if I want!)