We were having a discussion about music recommendation systems in class recently and there is a popular opinion that all these algorithms create echo chambers and don’t help us broaden our knowledge and interests in new ideas, arts, genres. I am documenting some of my thoughts/ rants on the topic here.
The things we get through the internet, not just music, even clothes & opinions that are a result of an “algorithm” without putting in work to go out, talk, research have inherently less value to us.
Value comes from effort. Algorithms run “at scale” by mega corporations will inherently always be attention grabbing and capitalistic because the big boys at the record labels, with greater resources, can afford to promote their artists.
Expanding your taste means sitting with an uncomfortable song for a few minutes. It’s so easy to skip for me because my attention span sucks, so I came up with some ideas that have worked a little and helped me discover newer/better music:
Recommendation algorithms push you a song. When you like a song, listen to the album, top to bottom. Listening to one song from an album gives a piece of story that you enjoy, but there is a whole lot of context you missed by skipping to the next similar song, which is part of a different story with a similar idea! Chase stories rather than a collection of ideas.
Go to record stores, open mics and jams, meet new artists, always pass the aux & listen to others’ playlists. Shazam it to hell! Whenever I hear music I like while walking around the city, cafés, malls, I Shazam it, listen to the album.
I have discovered great artists through algorithms, they don’t suck. It just cleverly masks your complacency and lack of personality, Without putting in a conscious effort and discomfort you will always end up safe in a curated bubble of saturated art.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCvbX_i-jG8 In this video my man crush Drew Gooden talks about how legendary shows like The Office and Parks & Rec struggled finding their footing in the first few seasons, they sucked at first and with trial and error got better and in fact are not benchmarks, but now with reduced attention spans, god forbid the first season sucks corporations are gonna just cancel it.
Art needs space to breathe, to fail, to experiment, to evolve
We need to be OK WITH THIS AND ENCOURAGE IT!
Thanks for coming to my bread talk
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