Absolutely. I dumped Spotify and the rest a couple years ago and went back to an mp3 player. Since leaving streamers I’ve discovered so much more music than I ever did with the algorithms. My old “safe” music I used to listen to seems boring by comparison.
Lately mostly checking top album downloads in any genre, checking posts on Lemmy, and paying more attention. A side effect I wasn’t expecting when I went to a music player (with wired headphones, the extra effort was part of the point) was my listening became much more deliberate. It’s purposeful to listen to music now, and as a result I’ve become more aware of music in general. It’s no longer just something to have on.
I’ve found a surprising number of artists from hearing a song on a TV show or movie (like Peacemaker, discovered Foxy Shazam). Music used to be background noise for me, now I actually hear it.
I’d guess about 75% of the music I’ve been listening to this year is different enough from what my normal taste used to be that an algorithm would have never shown me any of it. I went from “safe indie radio music” to Mongolian metal and Japanese synth lol.
Absolutely. I dumped Spotify and the rest a couple years ago and went back to an mp3 player. Since leaving streamers I’ve discovered so much more music than I ever did with the algorithms. My old “safe” music I used to listen to seems boring by comparison.
How are you discovering music now?
Lately mostly checking top album downloads in any genre, checking posts on Lemmy, and paying more attention. A side effect I wasn’t expecting when I went to a music player (with wired headphones, the extra effort was part of the point) was my listening became much more deliberate. It’s purposeful to listen to music now, and as a result I’ve become more aware of music in general. It’s no longer just something to have on.
I’ve found a surprising number of artists from hearing a song on a TV show or movie (like Peacemaker, discovered Foxy Shazam). Music used to be background noise for me, now I actually hear it.
I’d guess about 75% of the music I’ve been listening to this year is different enough from what my normal taste used to be that an algorithm would have never shown me any of it. I went from “safe indie radio music” to Mongolian metal and Japanese synth lol.