{"id":2976,"date":"2023-06-30T23:59:13","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T06:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jason-fu.com\/blog\/?p=2976"},"modified":"2023-07-01T00:04:33","modified_gmt":"2023-07-01T07:04:33","slug":"music-streaming-services-suck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jason-fu.com\/blog\/music-streaming-services-suck\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Streaming Services Suck."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Music streaming services suck. There, I said it. They suck and there’s no way around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Spotify
Not bad for MS Paint.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I started using Spotify earlier this year, after much resistance. I needed a music streaming service I could use while driving, and I my previous choice of YouTube made me feel weird using all that data and forced me to take my hand off the wheel to skip ads while driving. For a while, I was using Apple Music because I thought it came free with my phone plan (it didn’t), and honestly my experience with that app wasn’t great (why do I have to re-login every other day?) so I’m not going to talk about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either way, I had a feeling I knew all of this before I got into it, and it always sucks when your pessimistic assumptions turn out to be right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s talk about why music streaming services suck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(the major) streaming services pay artists per play.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I heard somewhere that Spotify pays you per play if the listener makes it past the 30-second mark. After that, it doesn’t matter whether they make it to the end of the song–you’ve been paid out. If the listener skips in the first 30 seconds, then you get nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sucks for a few obvious reasons. If an artist is looking to make any sort of money through streaming, they are beholden to this algorithm. As streaming platforms grow and more people want a piece of the pie, artists are incentivized to make music with catchy hooks to get people to stay through the first 30 seconds. They’re also incentivized to make shorter and shorter tracks. After all, why make one 10-minute song when you can make 10 one-minute songs and get paid 10x as much? This leads platforms to be flooded with music that sounds pretty much the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other side of the coin, someone whose track gets zero plays is making no money. They may become discouraged and give up their music career, even though their music may be amazing. All because they chose not to make music that fits the algorithm. They shouldn’t have to make music to fit an algorithm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A website like Forgotify<\/a> can help you discover music with few or no plays on Spotify. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

playlists are the backbone.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps my least favorite part of the streaming age is this migration to platform-created playlists. These playlists exist for a reason; listeners who don’t want to create their own playlists can use one provided by the platform, and will pretty much be guaranteed to get music that fits a vibe they’re looking for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One annoying yet understandable way that artists have adapted to this is to find a playlist they want to be featured on, like “Saturday Morning Jam” or whatever, and make music that’s similar to what’s already on that playlist. As I said before, this leads the platforms to be flooded with music that sounds pretty much the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
I was close.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Previously, I would judge whether I like an artist based on whether their albums are any good. I like to listen for comprehension of sound, maybe some recurring themes from start to finish, with extra credit for self-reference. In my opinion, that’s how you can tell if an artist is solid: if they know not just how to create good music, but to organize a set of music into one complete idea. Not every track has to be a 10\/10, and very often isn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Album music is dead. Instead, you get artists releasing a handful of singles to get onto playlists. The nuance is lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a niche gripe.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It’s probably no surprise to you to find out that my favorite genre of music is classical. It probably also won’t be a surprise to you to hear that streaming platforms and classical music are not made for each other at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The feature I miss the most, listening to music on Youtube, is having the ability to shuffle my classical music. I can create playlists of the pieces I like, slap the “shuffle” button, and be on my merry way. People won’t be splitting their long-form performance videos into single videos per movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Here’s an example of part of one of my Youtube playlists.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what one of those looks like on Spotify:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I mean, sure, it’s understandable. This is how the track list would be broken down on a CD. But sometimes it gets egregious<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Note the track lengths<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Rite of Spring<\/em> is a piece in two movements, and I’d be surprised if any CD tracks were broken up like this. Could this be a result of the first point I made in this post? Even if it wasn’t, necessarily, I have seen some others who have their track lists broken down like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I digress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would I shuffle The Rite of Spring<\/em> in its entirety in an playlist with loads of other classical pieces? You can’t. There’s no way to shuffle things in groups, and you can’t create a mega playlist full of smaller playlists or albums. Playlists are flat, and that makes it harder for me to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not everything is on streaming platforms.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Notably, many many video game sound tracks don’t make it to these platforms. The best you can get is imitations and covers, which are impressive and creative, but also aren’t what I’m looking for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If nobody uploads a cover for that album, you just won’t be able to find it, and Youtube or the source material will be your only option. You can’t really fault these platforms for this, though, since it’s up to the artist to decide whether they want their music on it. I guess if a games company decides it’s not worth it, that’s their call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

an omen.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The state of music streaming is a sign of the times, of when privately-owned or publicly-traded companies have all the control of their respective industries. I seem to be on a technological-apocalypse bent and unfortunately, it’s not ending soon. My next two posts are going to be about similar topics. I hope at least this post helps you realize why I think music streaming services suck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re interested in reading some of my previous posts about the current state of society, here is some select reading:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
should knowledge be free?<\/a><\/blockquote>