Apple Music is all I ever wanted

• 12 September 2024

I quit Spotify recently and now subscribe to Apple Music.

There was a time when I loved Spotify. When asked what music I listen to, I'd just say "Discovery Weekly". It consistently served up bangers and jams, and was something to look forward to each week. (Seriously, what an amazing public good to give people another thing to look forward to each week. Each day of the work needs some thing you look forward to, so you can monkey branch your way through the week until you reach the oasis of the weekend.)

During this time Spotify helped me discover many of my all time favorite songs, including deeply personal "wait that's me. that's MY song" listens like In My Apartment and Mr. Shoes Tied (both by the same artist!).

Then it enshittified. The algorithm got too tuned, and Discover Weekly started over-indexing on any niche I listened to a couple songs from. Yes, I have a soft spot for "comedy" artists like Weird Al and Bo Burnham. No, I don't want comedy songs to make up the majority of any playlist. Yes, I sometimes listen to video game soundtracks at work. No, I don't want video game songs to come up on my Discover Weekly.

But still there were playlists on Spotify! But then they got enshittified too. If you want Rock, you get "Your Rock Mix - Made For You" which curates songs that are technically considered Rock, but somehow all from artists you already listen to. If you want Hip Hop, your Hip Hop Mix will somehow have 50% the same artists as your Rock Mix did.

"But you like these songs," Spotify whimpers. When I want to listen to the songs I like, I'll listen to my library! I want the radio experience, I want to hear what's hot, something new, something to push my boundaries a bit.

Eventually I felt I was in a pit of despair being force-fed the same few artists and songs in every possible algorithmic playlist. It was honestly depressing, instilling a vague feeling that there was nothing new out there, nothing positive, just the same old garbage. It was almost sadistic, like some evil Spotify imp was rubbing its hands and laughing manically, "Oh, I bet he'll like THIS ONE, alright!", torturing me.

Needless to say, this was not good for my mental health.

Still I could look to the community playlists section and count on other people's curation -- and searching "sexy grilling playlist for autumn" got me through many a tough spot -- but it's also kind of a grab bag if a random someone's taste is actually good.

Every dog has its Daylist #

But then, in the darkness, a ray of light. The Daylist! The first time I listened to my Daylist, I thought "Whoever built this is getting promoted." Different genres for different times of the day! The recognition that a single person has varied music tastes, and they can be each given equal respect, instead of circling toward the lowest common denominator of algorithmic hell. And it rotated multiple times a day -- something to look forward to every couple of hours!

The Daylists were socially captivating too. Friends and I would compare our daylist titles -- "Forest cottagecore grunk"? What does that even mean?! And yet they felt deeply personal, authentically me, a reflection of my soul, many-faceted as it is. This was recommendations done right.

Unfortunately, no honeymoon lasts forever. Gradually I noticed that every daylist somehow had the same feeling to it. Each seemed to draw from the same limited set of genres; I learned to dread checking my latest daylist to see "cottagecore" or "goblin" yet again. I'm not a goblin! Why do you keep giving me goblin music?!

Somehow, palpatine returned the algorithm had guided me slowly, carefully, lovingly, back into the pit of despair.

There is hope #

But guess what, Spotify? This time I was in a better place, mentally. I used to take it on the chin, listening to algorithmic buzzkill after buzzkill, being told that this was my true musical identity, and too bad if I didn't like it. But now I knew that I was worth more than that. That happiness and joy are out there and ready to be experienced, and no local-maximum-brained recommendation system was going to keep me from that.

So I switched to Apple Music. They even gave me 3 months free! And you know what? It's amazing. The recommendations are good, and good in a way that still feels diverse to my interests. The algorithm is willing to get things wrong, and I MUCH prefer that over an algorithm so afraid of being wrong that it will never be right. Perhaps Apple, too, will eventually "learn me" and start spoon-feeding me depression tunes^[1].

But right now, Apple Music is all I ever wanted.

I only listen to a single playlist. It's called "Feel Good". And I do.

• Previous: Timeleft Review
• Next: You should write and publish a crappy book