\n<\/p>\n
I<\/span>f you use music to set or fix your mood, Spotify is a tantalising tool. Feeling sad? Cry to your personalised \u201cDepress Sesh Mix\u201d. In a romantic crisis? Stew in your own \u201cSituationship Mix\u201d. As I write this, I\u2019m listening to Spotify\u2019s Daylist, a mix that refreshes every few hours based on my own listening habits. Today\u2019s vibe is \u201cfunky beats roller skating tuesday early morning mix\u201d. At 120bpm, the algorithm knows I need some energetic house to roll from my bed to my desk.<\/p>\n The problem with this listening experience isn\u2019t just the creepy AI-driven intimacy of it all, more that the same songs are recycled in a predictable loop. Spotify\u2019s algorithm has anaesthetised artists I once enjoyed. Every time I hear the slippery psychedelic bass of Khruangbin slinking into one of my playlists, or flow in seamlessly from another artist\u2019s radio, I violently hit skip.<\/p>\n A decade ago, Spotify favoured human-curated playlists made by artists, celebrities and music aficionados. But in 2021, the streaming company pivoted towards machine learning, feeding \u201cnearly half a trillion events\u201d into computer models every day. Now, user data \u2013 chiefly our listening history, interactions with Spotify\u2019s user interface and the time of day \u2013 is packaged into a mixtape for every micro-occasion.<\/p>\n Advocates argue this is a chance to democratise music promotion, neatly matching artists with their audiences. Critics suggest this ultra-subjective experience limits musical discovery to the already familiar \u2013 and the less it\u2019s challenged, the more my music taste narrows. So as a test, I quit Spotify for a month, to bring some soul back into the way I find music.<\/p>\n First, I consulted people who had never used streaming services, like my dad, who grew up in 1970s London in the heyday of punk and glam rock. Hunched in a booth in his local record shop, he would listen to a sample and take a punt on what vinyl to buy \u2013 A-side or B-side. Some albums apparently missed the mark, and others, like Pink Floyd\u2019s Dark Side of the Moon, transported him to a different universe. He insisted I start with my favourite artists, and listen to every album front to back, as if reading a story.<\/p>\n Inspired, I bought a $30 record player in an op-shop and hunted for vinyls. Late to the record renaissance, it was slim pickings \u2013 Australian pub classics, Christian country or Christmas hits. But when a friend pointed out my new turntable was missing a needle, it became a dusty but decorative addition to my living room.<\/p>\n My 20-year-old neighbour had another suggestion: a diamante-encrusted iPod, which she produced in a ziplock bag like a hallowed artefact. Found for $200 on Facebook Marketplace, plugging in wired earplugs and hitting shuffle was a nostalgic throwback. But this romance was short-lived: the iPod was incompatible with my Bluetooth speaker and demanded hours of admin to upload music.<\/p>\n The biggest challenge came when driving my old silver Subaru, as I was stranded with only a single CD, a flimsy aux cord and my thoughts. Stuck with silence, I wondered what the new grinding noise was \u2013 until I discovered my local community broadcaster, Vox FM 106.9. More than 5 million Australians listen to community radio every week, for 17 hours on average \u2013 and now, I can see why. The station prides itself on \u201creal music\u201d and even has the tagline \u201cYou never know what you like until you try it\u201d. Just what I needed! And it\u2019s true, I had forgotten how good it feels to wind down the windows and blast Push the Button by the Sugababes, and then to roll them up again when a classical German song, a mystery even to Shazam, comes on.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to Saved for Later<\/span><\/p>\n Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia’s culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n I contacted Justin Moon, who runs a popular underground radio station and record shop in Newcastle. He sources music from record fairs, friends, and Bandcamp \u2013 distributing interesting sounds as a conduit, or Hermes figure, to lay (or lazy) people like me. Moon is noticing that his customers are searching for a more \u201cactive\u201d listening experience. \u201cIt\u2019s not this kind of passive wash-over-you rubbish that you make your two-minute noodles to and forget all about 10 seconds later,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Music \u2013 like film, TV, and food \u2013 is now served to us effortlessly, instantly. But this has caused the way we consume music to be more siloed. Spending a month hunting for new music myself, rather than relying on an algorithm, made me feel more connected to my parents, friends, radio presenters and even complete strangers. Their recommendations \u2013 whether to my taste or not \u2013 came with a part of themselves, a memory, or a shared interest.<\/p>\n After my month\u2019s Spotify hiatus, my algorithm hasn\u2019t been cleansed. Over the course of writing this piece, my daylist has evolved into \u201cfrench indietronica swimming pool tuesday afternoon\u201d, whatever that means. There are two Khruangbin songs on there. It\u2019s safe to say I would rather play roulette with the radio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you use music to set or fix your mood, Spotify is a tantalising tool. Feeling sad? Cry to your personalised \u201cDepress Sesh Mix\u201d. In a romantic crisis? Stew in your own \u201cSituationship Mix\u201d. As I write this, I\u2019m listening to Spotify\u2019s Daylist, a mix that refreshes every few hours based on my own listening<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[5663,5661,5660,1816,3642,686,3602,5662,5647,2781],"class_list":{"0":"post-12102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-algorithms","9":"tag-escape","10":"tag-khruangbin","11":"tag-learned","12":"tag-month","13":"tag-music","14":"tag-quit","15":"tag-samey","16":"tag-spotify","17":"tag-streaming"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}