Is Spotifys Algorithm Ruining Music?

SoundGuys Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UC3lJL1pUvQ2Ih2qZ-4ozrLw

Support on CashApp: $Vegasworldinc77

Merch SALE! Shirts, Hoodies, Phone Cases, and more! Visit http://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/1119...

BlueSky/Instagram/Tik Tok/Threads/Spill: @Vegasworldinc

Facebook: http://Facebook.com/HipHopRightNow

Hip-Hop NOW Podcast's Theme music is produced by McLovin Beatz (@mclovin-beatz)

Become a YouTube Member today!

HHNP Memberships

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Hip Hop Now. Pot fat as if from
the future, you know what to do, show as out
of my black life, so disrespect the leg hip hop
is say this today. Let's get right into the business.

(00:23):
What up, y'all? I am your host Vegas and this
is Hip Hop Now podcast. A bonus episode, something that
we haven't done on this podcast in a while or
at all, if I'm thinking about it correctly, A reaction,
but a reaction in a very different way. Uh, this

(00:43):
is a video reaction. And as you read the title says,
is Spotify's algorithm destroying the music industry? Now, big shout
out to everybody who's support of this podcast. Hit that
subscribe and if you like the content like it, of
course comment I'll redo comments for sure, but more importantly

(01:06):
share with people you know enjoyed this kind of content. Now,
the video, and why I chose this video for this
podcast to react to is because for a long time,
in audio form, mostly I've done an episode, an annual
episode called State of the Streaming Services. Right, I've been
doing this since Spotify came to America. Yes, there was

(01:30):
a time where it was only in the UK. Some
of y'all need to catch out. You know, some of
us been here but and there was no Apple Music, remember,
but as you know, Apple Music and Title and you know,
Amazon Music and Spotify came along. I would do this
podcast strictly to at a consumer podcast, right, to give

(01:52):
you options as it relates to you know, which service
works best for you in it. For the most part,
it was always about the amount of music, right, and
the quality of music. That's all. That's all my videos
were about. All my podcast was about, you know, the
amount of music, Like, hey, Spotify is the most music

(02:16):
and they you know, they have high quality audio or
Apple has lossless or whatever it may be. So that's
what it was generally about. But I stopped doing them
because it's really not about that. Nowadays people have what
they have and they happy with it, and if they
want to switch, they'll switch. But now it's more about

(02:36):
your experience on that, right, the additions of AI, Like
there's an AI DJ on Spotify, right, there's different versions
of high quality audio on each. Some offer videos like
YouTube does also and then Spotify does. Some now include

(02:57):
podcasts like Spotify, So it's a whole experience surrounding it.
But what I will say is I like this channel,
which is Sound Guys, mainly because you know, I found
them because I was, you know, in the market for
some headphones, and you know, I watched some of their

(03:17):
reviews and you know, they give some really in depth
reviews about headphones, speakers, whatever it may be. So if
you ever in the market for you know, some gym headphones,
some over the air headphones, like some studio joints, real quick,
let me just share it before we getting a video, right, So,

(03:37):
these are like my old school you know, once upon
a time, these were my go tos. Was for the gym,
probably mostly, but also I used to walk around with
them very basy. These are the studios. These is an
older version. I had to replace the cups. I think
they kind of looked dope, but I had to replace
the cups because they got all, you know, stanking nasty.

(04:00):
But then at some point I converted over to like
in air joints for the gems, which is great, but
in this case, and I'm not going to take it out,
is the sony and forced Okay, maybe I'm thinking of
that real quick, just so some people want to see.
And I don't weigh these in the gym at all
because I don't want to destroy them, so I stick

(04:21):
to the in air buds at the beats fits I
think it's called beat fits whatever. One of them joints,
the joints that go in the air with the wingtips.
But these are my like if I'm in the crib
and I really want to listen to something, you know,
and I want to hear every part of the track,

(04:41):
like Doctor Dre. Albums on here that he produced sound crazy.
But and recently or more in recent times, I don't
know if y'all know this. Rizzard did a classical album,
but it's not really to me, it's not really like
classical music. It sounds like Wu Tang music. But when

(05:04):
he scores for movies and stuff like that, likes it
sounds more like that. It sounds like he scored for
a film, but on some moutang stuff it was pretty dope.
But I use these to listen, and Apple has a app,
like a classical app that is designed for listening to

(05:25):
Apple music. So that combined with the audio quality, with
the quality of these headphones, which have based but also
have a balance where you can listen to other forms
of music, it's pretty dope, you know what. I'm saying
to me, let me put this on the hook. So
that's the long story about me as an audio file

(05:48):
and a person who loves music. You who probably gets
all your music from a streaming service. But the question is,
and this is not just for Spotify uses, because it
kind of relates to everybody, but specifically Spotify. Spotify's algorithm
desjoying the music industry. So's let's check that out. I'll

(06:12):
be stopping and pausing every now and again to share
some of my thoughts.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
The way that we listen to music has changed a lot,
and it's mostly due to one app, Spotify, which has
taken over the music industry with over six hundred and
seventy five million active users. If you're not on Spotify,
you're probably using one of its competitors, like Apple Music,
that offer a very similar experience to.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
The Spotify playbook.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
That playbook consists of using algorithmic playlists and song suggestions
to keep you engaged within the app. On the surface,
these algorithms sound like a great idea, I mean, more
of what you'd love, right, But in reality, there are
real world negative consequences to these algorithms for both you,
the listener, and for the artists you know and love.
If we don't do something about it, now, there's a

(06:54):
real danger of losing the human component of music entirely.
Let's take a look at the impacts of the algorithms
on listeners, artists, and one potential danger that could destroy.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
The entire music industry as we know it now.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Music discovery has historically always involved a social interaction, whether
it was digging through record creates with friends or scrolling
through curated music blogs, Discovering music meant being part of
a community. Maybe a friend made you a mixtape of
music totally outside the ramo of genres that you typically
listened to. This human connection is what opens the door
to true discovery. But algorithmic recommendations, though convenient, remove the

(07:30):
emotional side of music discovery entirely. By attempting music discovery
without the human and emotional component, you might simply bounce
off of music that might have been resonant with you
if it was introduced in another context, save by a friend,
or in a different environment, whether it's Discover weekly Release Radar,
daily mixes, or AI generated playlists. Spotify and its competitors

(07:50):
have a lot of tools designed to feed you the
exact music that you want to hear. These apps learn
from your listening habits, and then they feed you more
of the same. While it might feel like you are
discovering music and reality, you're boxed in and getting force
fed more of the same jump the same genre, is
the same time periods, the same artists. You get placed
in a niche of music that ensures that you keep

(08:11):
engaging with the app, but with limited exposure to any
new art.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
That's a big one, right, And I guess it's I
guess it depends on the listeners. So leave your comments
in a converse section below about this. But do you
prefer a time that still exists now where other peers
or family or whoever puts you on to certain music

(08:40):
and that's how you get the music you listen to?
Or do you prefer using a streaming service and that
streaming service learning from your habits enough to not only
give you some of the Well basically suggests similar artists

(09:00):
compared to your music, because he said, you know, you
get similar junk. But is it junk? If you're listening
to Wu Tang and they decide they're gonna let you
you know, they're gonna offer you some nods in the mix.
No it's not junk. I want to hear some nods.
But so with that, for me personally, I kind of
think it's a give and take. I'm the type of

(09:24):
person i'll listen to because I have Spotify. I'll listen
to one of those playlists, and if the majority of
it is stuff I don't want to hear, I'm out. Okay,
but maybe, you know, maybe things will improve as time
goes on. So let's see what's next. Algorithms impacting the

(09:44):
music itself.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Here's the real upsetting thing. Though, it's not just how
we find music that's changing. The big artists create music
is also evolving to suit the algorithms. Tracks are getting shorter,
sometimes barely hitting the two minute mark. This is often
arrived within the first fifteen seconds. Why because platforms like
Spotify track listener behavior in those first few seconds, and
artists don't want their song skipped. After thirty seconds, the

(10:10):
play has counted as a stream. If a user replays
the song after thirty seconds or starts playing it again,
it counts as another stream. This means that there's now
a real financial incentive to make songs shorter rather than
having true storytelling. When Oldtown Road dominated the world of
streaming in twenty nineteen, record labels took notice a short
track with a catchy chorus right at the beginning is

(10:30):
an easy way to hack the engagement metrics of the algorithm.
The average length of a Billboard track dropped from over
four minutes in the early two thousands to merely three
minutes and seven seconds in twenty twenty one. There's now
a real pressure on artists to play into the algorithm
rather than tell a proper story through their music. This
also results in a homogeny of the type of music
that people hear.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
Artists, wait, wait, wait, before we go forward, this is
a conversation. This is a real conversation. Right. For example,
a lot of underground artists, and just to name a few,
here's a great example. Westside Gun just released an EP,

(11:11):
right it was I don't even know if it was
ten minutes after tracks were like one minute and thirty
one minute and fifty seconds and stuff like that. Now
those who are wives know what he just said. You know,
some of that is done by design to feed the algorithm.

(11:34):
Right form songs just perform better. They find their way
to listeners who want to hear that music, which is crazy,
and I guess we'll learn a little bit more about that.
But also he said, one key thing when you're talking
about artists, and particularly in hip hop, hip hop is

(11:56):
full of a bunch of storytellers. What are you getting
and that short amount of time? Because when you go
back and you get in like four minute songs, there's
three verses, there's a beginning, middle, and end, especially if
you're telling a story or you just want to convey
the topic of this song, and it doesn't matter what

(12:16):
it's about. Now you have to do it in a
in half the time. It's kind of crazy, and all
most hip hop artists capable of doing that kind of thing.
Can older artists do that when you were accustomed to
hearing them have songs that were like four to five minutes.

(12:38):
It's crazy. Not most artists don't do it, but they
are a lot who do this all the time, and honestly,
it works.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
And their management are incentivized to copy whatever performs well
in the algorithm. Wonder why Post Malone and Beyonce are
making country music right now, because in the last six years,
country music streaming has increased by two hundred and eighty
seven percent rap dominated in the late twenty tens, country
has been the key to hacking the algorithm lately. On
the other hand, many of the algorithmic playlists on Spotify
are filled with unknown artists who will never see recognition

(13:10):
for their work. Spotify can feed you a perfect playlist,
and you can enjoy said playlists without reading the names
of any of the artists or the tracks that you're
listening to.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
This is by design.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
If you don't know or don't care who the artists
are that are creating the music that you listen to,
it undercuts any bargaining power that those artists have with
platforms like Spotify. Investigative journalist Liz Pelly uncovered the dark
side of the streaming industry in an excerpt from her
book Mood Machine, The Rise of Spotify and the Costs
of the Perfect Playlist. According to Pelly, here's how the

(13:42):
system works right now. Spotify partners with production companies like
Epidemic Sound and Firefly Entertainment that hire musicians to create
generic background music.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Those tracks are.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
Then released under fabricated artist names and seated onto playlists
by Spotify's internal teams. Musicians receive only a fl fee
while surrendering their rights, and Spotify pays lower royalties for
those tracks than they would to real independent artists. One
of your favorite chill jazz playlist fills up with anonymous
tracks created for a fraction of the cost. That directly

(14:13):
displaces independent jazz artists who might have earned meaningful income
from those placements. With a focus moving away from artists
and towards playlists and algorithms, Spotify could also be priming
its users to accept AI generated music. If you don't
know who the artists are in that jazz playlist that
you listen to every day, you won't notice when Spotify
starts swapping out human artists for AI generated tracks. Since

(14:34):
Spotify operates on a revenue sharing model with its artists,
using AI music means they would get to keep more
of their profits rather than having to pay out royalties.
The more Spotify stuff's anonymous music down your throat, the
less money gets paid out to real world artists. While
Spotify is not confirmed publishing its own AI music, the
company CEO has openly stated that he won't ban AI
music from the platform right now. Spotify's largest expense is

(14:56):
the royalties it pays out to artists. If the goal
of the business is to maximize profits, it would be
very lucrative for any streaming service to minimize this expense
as much as possible.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
Hold up before we go there, too, that's crazy that
now I don't think that would work. Well, never say never,
but I don't think that will particularly work with hip
hop because there's so much more that goes into it.
And I don't think any hip hop fan is gonna
let a playlist rock without looking at who made the song. Right,

(15:33):
If the song is dope, you might go look like,
who's this? I want to save them for my personal playlist.
If it's wack, they be like, yo, who is I
Get that out of here. But to his point, when
it comes to instrumental music like beat tapes, beat albums, jacks, whatever,

(15:55):
that's quite possible that you could be listening to a
playlist that has a ton of AI artists and producers. Well,
I guess one sky net On on this playlist, which
is crazy to think about. And honestly, recently I was
making my own personal new playlist for summertime. I do

(16:18):
that all the time. I take a bunch of dope
joints that kind of represent summer that come out for summertime.
And I make a playlist, so I'll go to the
playlist that are offered as far as like Top twenty
in the US or whatever, and I noticed there were
like a lot of people I had never heard of before,

(16:38):
where I'm like, is this a hit? Or like I
don't understand. And I think some of what he was
talking about was represented in those playlists, because there were.
It was to the point where it was a bunch
of new names, Like, for example, it was like the
new release playlist I think on Spotify is called like
new Release Fridays, and there's a lot of hip hop

(17:00):
that I listen to a lot of hip hop, and
it was a bunch of recognizable names from like one
to ten. And then it just started getting real sketchy,
and I was just like, is this all indie artists?
Like I couldn't understand. So obviously, me as a music fan,
I was out of there. But some people, you know,
they just gonna let it rock, all right, take an

(17:22):
action against the algorithms. This is last part.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
So what can we do to protect this industry. I'm
not going to tell you to delete Spotify, or avoid
listening to your discover weekly. There's an undeniable convenience to
these features that can lower the barrier to entry to
listening to good music, and it allows you to listen
to music before deciding to buy. But if you miss
the feeling of really discovering something new, try mixing in
some human curated elements again. Ask a friend what they've

(17:47):
been listening to lately, take a stroll to your local
record shop, or attend some live music events. Well I
can afford it, actually buy the music from your favorite
artists on a platform like Bandcamp, Amazon Music, or Cobos.
At the very least, try to spend some time each
week listening to music with intention. Take notice of the
artists that appear in your playlists and dive into their
albums or see if they are on tour in your

(18:07):
area soon. Shout out your favorite artists on social media
and shazam the music that you hear while out and
about to remember the feeling that a certain artist track
gave you in that moment. The only way that we
can prevent algorithms from garbling up the entire music industry
is if we keep it alive through real human connection
algorithms can be helpful, sure, but when they take over

(18:28):
the whole experience, we lose more than just the thrill
of the hunt. We lose the humanity behind the music.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Great video. Go and subscribe to sound Guys on YouTube
if you are interested in content like that. Again, they
cover a lot of different things as it relates to sound.

(18:57):
You know, a lot of equipment for your antiity. But
I mean, I think he said it right there at
the end. You know, there are other ways to get
to the music discovery you're looking for. Right. Not everybody
is listening to music all the time. Not everybody who
was a hip hop fan when they were younger are
hip hop fans later. And some of that has to

(19:18):
do with just whether you find the things right. Some
people love jazz and they have their record collection, but
they're afraid to go and look for what's new because
they came up in a time where you just go
to the record store and you go to the jazz section.
And that was that. But I think he mentioned it
the other outlets. There is band camp. Band camp you

(19:41):
if you want to get real deep with indie discovery,
whether it's hip hop or something else, you can just
go through band Camp and other sites like it. Again,
like he said, it doesn't mean you have to get
rid of your streaming service, but you should be mindful.
You know, the more you let rhythm AI dictate your

(20:03):
music listening experience, even if you're given input, which is
how AI works right now, you still can have a
better experience by doing some of the things he mentioned.
And one quick thing, I want to shout out Pandora,
who were kind of doing it first. And I had

(20:25):
Pandora like it was probably more than a decade now
and recently I just started listening to it, like when
Spotify went down, I was like, let me check out Pandora.
And it's just something to be said about I know
up the streaming services do this now, but there's something
to be said about actively curating your music in real

(20:46):
time so the algorithm truly understands what you don't and
do want to hear. And nothing is perfect, but I
just found it. So leave your comments in a comment
section below. What streaming service do you use? Do you
use playlists? Do you use the AI playlist? Do you

(21:08):
use that DJ thing on Spotify? Leave your comments in
a comment section below. Follow me on social media at
Vegas World, Vegas World, I n C. And check out
the weekly podcast, Hip Hop Now Podcast right here on YouTube. Subscribe, like, comment,
but most importantly share with people you know enjoy this

(21:31):
kind of content. Until next time, y'all. I'm not a critic,
I'm a fan piece.