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Spotify killed the thrill of the hunt

erildrun.bearblog.dev

41–50 of 60 posts

Re: Spotify killed the thrill of the hunt

#41

I think this translates to a few different mediums. I'm thinking about modern matchmaking in video games today. I used to play a game called SOCOM II back on the PS2 and it was all lobby based. You had to jump around to find the right lobby with the game mode you liked, find people to play with and build community. There was time between games for banter. Now everything is automatic and instantaneous. It has its adva…

I've noticed that most people nowadays, myself included, don't use mics when they play. There's not a lot of banter or trash talk in lobbies anymore.

So true - same for me. Maybe because I'm older now? Not sure.

Re: Spotify killed the thrill of the hunt

#42
post #20

This goes beyond music honestly. All forms of media used to have a kind of social underground or niche. Remember when you played that one video game you found on a video retailers shelf and couldn't wait to tell your friends all about it the next day knowing for a fact that none of them had ever heard of the game before? How about when you found that basement horror film randomly made by the guy from the next town ov…

“All forms of media used to have a kind of social underground or niche.”

These things and their corresponding communities still exist, they’re just not big presences in the mainstream internet places like TikTok where they are overwhelmed by more popular options. It’s much like how you wouldn’t find an underground record at Sam Goody in the 90s.

Re: Spotify killed the thrill of the hunt

#43

Spotify is even worse now. Now it keeps automatically playing stuff I dislike. Even though I'm paying them. (Wait, let me go fix that last problem at least.)

That's my complaint as well. Spotify is tuned to show me what they want me to listen to rather than obsessively trying to deliver what I am interested in.

I flip back and forth between Spotify and Apple Music once or twice a year and AM does a better job in this regard.

Re: Spotify killed the thrill of the hunt

#44

> Now, it’s completely different. The moment some obscure demo drops, it’s everywhere, Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, Instagram, whatever. Everyone knows about it instantly. That sense of discovery, of finding a truly underground gem, just isn’t the same anymore. It’s too easy now. I don't agree. I want to be clear that I think youtube is terrible in many, many ways, but one thing I _do_ love about youtube is music…

100% agree. Youtube has been a steady source for my music discovery. Example: I came across a Vietnamese artist with a nice videoclip and not so much views. I really liked the music, so I dropped a comment. I've done this with multiple of these videos from all over the world. Most of the time I get an appreciating comment back and I notice it does something positive to the artist.

Another 'crazy' one was where I stumbled upon some good music. Clicked a little around and it happened the artist was also a show wrestler and had some videos about that. I left a comment about the absurdity of the internet and we had a small conversation in the comment section.

I never installed spotify and it's annoying if people share music from there. Have to make an account, blah blah. Maybe it's the same for Youtube, but I don't notice that because I'm already logged in.

Re: Spotify killed the thrill of the hunt

#46
I tend to agree. The less popular an artist the worse the algorithmic recommendations. Trawling last.fm similar artists is a good source of new artists to listen to and the best are tailored recommendations for friends. I have friends that are good for shoegaze and rock recommendations, others for black metal, a few for death metal and grindcore. My favorite band has never had their catalog on streaming and I found them via a recommendation on a forum years ago.

I don't subscribe to _any_ streaming services. All listening is done via a Navidrome server.

Re: Spotify killed the thrill of the hunt

#47
I don't think Spotify should be used for music discovery. I know it has that feature and I know the app wants you to embrace it, but I would say: don't use it.

Use YouTube for this. You can find experts, fans, all kinds there who will guide you through genres and act as non-algorithmic, human-sense-making curators. Use Spotify only to find the specific tracks and albums you already know the name of, to listen.

He has identified a real problem, and the good news is there is a solution.

Re: Spotify killed the thrill of the hunt

#50

So don't use Spotify. Go to a record store. Hardly needs a blog post.

I was thinking the same thing. Seems unpopular opinion but in way, it’s the world we built. Video stores vanished and everyone bought Netflix. Record stores disappear and everyone left for YouTube. Complaining now is a little late, perhaps boycotting those services would have been better. But these services are so convenient like amazon … why is my corner store now disappearing? Progress and everyone seems to want it…

How have record stores disappeared? I live in a fairly remote area, the largest town in a two hour drive in any direction, which has about 30,000 people and we have TWO record stores. Two!
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