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How are musicians supposed to survive on $0.00173 per stream?
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this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2024
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I'm more concerned that streaming platform algorithms prioritise passive listening (maybe not more concerned... I'm not sure how concern is quantified). It goes against their business model to risk serving users music that might actually push, and thus potentially expand, their taste. Music that is challenging may cause a user to stop listening. Better for the auto play algorithm to serve up safe bets, homogenising the general popular music gene pool. Like serving endless Big Macs in case tom yum is too spicy or lamb shoulder is too rich. As a result, the way to find success in the era of streaming platforms is to play G-D-Em-C and sing about the boy/girl you like/liked. This causes a feedback loop where bland music leads to bland tastes, which leads to bland music...
btw, if you want to broaden your taste in music, go listen to an entire album with a few or just one song you like from a particular artist a couple of times.
You like one album they've done, go listen to the other work they've made. Trust me, it's very worthwhile.
This was how it worked until about 15 years ago. I got far more deeply into music and artists back then than now. I always feel I'm skating the surface with streaming, and the suggestions bore me.
idk about you, but i almost always have some of artist thats teetering on the edge of my hypothetical taste. Usually a song or two. If you have any just go listen to their collective works. Otherwise, try and explore genres you like, specifically ones with lots of variety, electronic music in particular is highly variable. Which is one of the reasons i really like it.
One thing i find that helps bring more music to the forefront is weird/abstract media. A lot of times people working on visual art, will back something with music they enjoy, especially if it's something more niche, the music is very likely to be a reflection of their personal taste, which is always a good strat. Sometimes that's movie soundtracks, other times it's just weird shit like an ARG that throws boards of canada in there for no reason.
You could tell how good the album was by where they placed the banger. If it was the last song on Side A, then you knew the album was going to be solid. If they put the hit song on A1, that meant it was probably going to be trash because they don't trust you to make it through 3-4 more songs before getting to the one you bought the album for. There are always notable exceptions -- they put the hit song on the end of Record 2 side B and then it wasn't even credited on the album (Train in Vain). But that album is 2 records of excellent songs with the possible exception of Jimmy Jazz.
this is certainly interesting, but also very subjective. From the data standpoint, it's something, that's for sure.
Yeah I almost exclusively listen to full albums. Definitely helps give context to the music and understand the artist better. I also agree that you should give it a few listens. Some great albums need you to dial in before you really fall in love with them. It's a more active process than just listening to an unending algorithmic recommendation stream, but the effort is rewarded!
Sometimes it takes decades. I bought Stiff Little Fingers "Nobody's Heros" back in the early 80's and only listened to it a couple of times. When I was digitizing my vinyl collection some 20 or 30 years later, I couldn't believe that it wasn't one of my favorite albums. Pretty quickly bought everything in the catalog and am still listening to their new records.
the flow between songs is sometimes better than the individual songs. Bonus points for artists that use transitory tracks between the main ones. Those are always weird.
A personal example of mine was morcheeba, had listened to their early albums, never the later ones, got a hold of a discog, that band is one of my top favorites now.
Ah Morcheba! Now that's a band I've not heard in a while!
Another album feature I enjoy is the "bonus" track at the end after an absurd length of silence. 1977 by Ash comes to mind. Nothing like going to sleep with an album on to be suddenly woken up by drunk people puking.
As well as transitional tracks, I love it when tracks genuinely feel like they exist as part of something larger. Whether through transitions within the tracks (Nonegon Infinity by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard takes this to the extreme) or by essentially turning the album into one long almost operatic piece (like Colours by Between the Buried and Me).
massive attack i believe, has a track that has a "hidden track" which is just like 8 minutes of ambient noise. After an immediate banger as well, so it just gaslights you. It's great.
i've always been intrigued by bands and artists that meld songs between the album, it's an interesting experience. Boards of canada does it somewhat. It's pretty hard to distinguish which makes it really interesting to listen to. It's all one thing, but a collection of many different things also. Very interesting.