Remember when finding a new band meant digging through a friend's CD collection instead of letting Spotify decide for you?

I hit 37 last week and it just hit me how much algorithms run my music now. Back in 2005 I'd spend fridays at my buddy Dave's apartment in Austin flipping through his metal cases, taking whatever looked cool. Now I open Spotify and it's like 'here's your daily mix based on what you played for 3 minutes at 2am'. Feels less like discovery and more like being fed. Anyone else feel like the algorithm killed the hunt for music?

3 comments

3 Comments

charlescraig1mo ago

Used to roll my eyes at this take but you got me.

william_garcia1mo ago

@janah83 what's the last weird thing the algorithm pushed on you that actually stuck? Always curious if people's rabbit holes end up as deep as mine.

janah831mo ago

4000+ bands in my library on Spotify and I found most of them through the algorithm. It pushed me some weird italian prog rock band called Goblin that I never would have touched in Dave's apartment. The hunt was fun but it also meant I missed a ton of stuff that didn't get passed around my little friend group. Now I get to try weird stuff without spending $15 on a CD I might hate.