I definitely disagree with the premise of the article. I have a playlist where I pull in my favorites from Discover Weekly, and it just turned one year old. I still consistently get great new songs to add to the playlist.
I've also gleaned some insight into my general disposition over the least year from the playlist. I can tell exactly when I was in a "mood" or a rut... When I was listening to lots of angry music, that was reflected in my suggestions and my picks. And when I was opening up and relaxing—that also shows through the playlist.
I'd say that if your taste in music has a wider range and not specific to a single genre, your Discover Weekly will be a lot more rewarding. And also, if you rotate through musical moods like seasons where some tastes come and go over the course of a month or two, your Discover Weekly will support that and help you indulge in the mood of the month.
Having talked with people that have close insight into Discover Weekly it actually only checks your last few thousand songs though (weighting them accordingly) and checks if those songs are on other peoples playlists, then choosing the songs on their playlists that are not on yours. This means that you have a pretty big pool of songs to start with (people with similar taste) that is getting smaller and smaller. The fact that those people also use discover weekly could lead to a bit of a feedback loop.
I found a friend who during a party came up and said "I listen to this song all the time, it's amazing!" and then the next and the next and the next song the same happened. We had been listening to the same (semi-obscure) music for the majority of the past year. It was only later that we discovered that we had both found the songs from discover weekly and were not at all as obscure and knowledgable about music, but hey: we had the same taste in music.
I use Spotify's discover weekly and I'm consistently impressed by the new music that the app shares with me. Bands I've never heard of before that all fit beautifully within the type of music I enjoy. I totally disagree with the author's point.
Discover Weekly in this article is a microcosm of the problems with Spotify generally.
Spotify (especially on desktop) has a LOT of issues. From poorly implemented shuffle play to random removal of features (notifications to ctrl-f to playlist organization), and a complicated by a total lack of dev communication on any platform.
I think the issue with Spotify is not that their core is bad, it's that they never manage to improve and while they act like they're listening, they're not really listening. If there was any worthy competition, I'd switch.
Regarding their desktop client; totally true. I recently discovered that keeping the Spotify App idle over 2 days, it had written 50 GB to my SSD. Not worth killing my disk over this service.
I've switched to Google Music. Although that has its own set of problems, I find it has better (or more dynamic) machine learning implemented for playlists and discovery mechanics. You can even reset the information it has learned from, and start over if you wish.
Making Google listen to change-requests (in one of their not-so-prioritized) products will of course not be likely either.
Spotify is running for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week here and I have no complaints. I love the UI and responsivess, even on my 3Mbit ADSL line. It's everything I ever wished for in a music app.
The songs with a checkmark are the ones I've liked and added to my collection. I haven't finished listening to the playlist yet, but I like almost every song that it recommends.
The songs I didn't save aren't bad either and I've never had a recommended song which I totally disliked.
It's incredible how it can suggest songs of various genres and still hit my sweet spot.
So I don't agree with tfa.
I would love to be able to re-generate the playlist on demand and also suggest the 'direction' in which it should go - like 'mellower', 'harder', 'sweeter', etc.
But all in all, Spotify is doing a really great job.
How long have you been using the Discover Weekly function? After almost a year, I find my current discover weekly playlist looks very similar to yours. I have a similarly large number of check marks against songs in the list, but not because I've recently added them. Or recently discovered them.
I've since switched to the Daily Mixes, which also seem to have the same stuff most days, and then Release Radar, which finally now gives me something fresh.
So +1 for Release Radar, but everywhere else I feel is lacking, and ultimately, I do agree with tfa.
Despite Spotify's vastly superior user interface and a much quicker Android app, I've found myself switching to Apple music for the singular reason that their curated playlists are much, much better than Spotify's.
I don't have the hours and hours to spend online on music blogs downloading obscure MP3s like I did while I was at university, trawling through to find stuff I like. So now finding new music is more of a challenge.
I've found the curated approach of Apple to be much better than the algorithmic approach of Spotify (and Spotify's curated playlists are also worse).
If you used to like finding new music through blogs, Hype machine does a pretty awesome job of taking the pain out of trawling for new stuff. They aggregate everything for you on their site so you just see and stream a playlist of music from all of the blogs you follow.
I miss Rdio in general. When I had to look for an alternative I was really surprised how far behind everyone else, including Spotify, was and still is in terms of overall user experience. Especially if you actually enjoy looking for music and labels instead of being served a weekly playlist that isn't completely irrelevant, yet still rather underwhelming.
Spotify’s Discover Weekly is crap. It schows me the same crap songs over and over again. A simple mix of albums similar to albums I downloaded on my phone would give a way much better selection. Or simply a
IF song have been seen at least 3 times in DW and skipped after 10 sec THAN do not show song again
would be a high improvement.
[edit] Spotify seems to spend more time curating this forum than curating Discover Weekly.
> IF song have been seen at least 3 times in DW and skipped after 10 sec THAN do not show song again
I am still amazed about the same thing. Why are they not understanding such obvious behavior with all the sophistication the app otherwise has (eg the match-running speed to music-beat).
I've had the same thing happen with book recommendations. While I was traveling for work more frequently, I picked my next books from the Hugo and Nebula award winning websites. I happen to enjoy space operas more than alternate history or fantasy books. After reading and rating a couple, Amazon / GoodReads' recommendations started recommending only stories that involve humanity venturing out into the void and (eventually) saving the galaxy. I happened to like the first recommendations. It saved me the trouble of looking up the next book to be devoured!
However, after six months of this, I noticed that I was stuck in a literary (can I say "literal?") reading rut that became increasingly obvious. Humanity discovers X. X becomes increasingly useful, but there's a hidden price. Y reveals the cost, and that humanity is now an underdog. Human Z, with side kicks, ventures out, and little did he know, plays an important role on the galactic stage.
Customization is nice in software. However - recommendation engines (today) seem particularly dim-witted, and result in the creation of a single-person echo chamber that becomes increasingly lonely the longer you spend interacting with it.
Every Friday I quickly scan through the Spotify new songs/discover and top lists and add the new stuff I like to my main playlist since I don't listen to the radio anymore so it is really the main way I get exposed to new music now. Discover I am lucky to find maybe 1 song a week on that I like and is new. It has just never worked well for me. The new releases by artists you like list is a goldmine though. But none of them are great to listen through on their own in my experience.
My guess: take jazz fans on one hand, and Justin Bieber groupies on the other hand. The jazz fans would in general appreciate way more the DW service than the Justin Bieber ones. Why so? Because the 'vector' that describes a jazz fan's playlist is probably much more specific and 'unique' than the vector of an heavily standardised MTV-based playlist. Everyone gets the recommendations they deserve...
I mean there are artists that I like as an exception because they're sentimentally meaningful to me. I don't want to hear other music, even in that genre. Bieber fans might only be fans of Bieber's music and not other pop.
I wonder if anyone's studied this. Maybe it's not a common sentiment...
Discover weekly is hit and miss for me. Some weeks I find plenty of great material, and others I find a lot of junk - that being said I can understand it would be hard to match music you'd like all the time.
[+] [-] JasonSage|9 years ago|reply
I've also gleaned some insight into my general disposition over the least year from the playlist. I can tell exactly when I was in a "mood" or a rut... When I was listening to lots of angry music, that was reflected in my suggestions and my picks. And when I was opening up and relaxing—that also shows through the playlist.
I'd say that if your taste in music has a wider range and not specific to a single genre, your Discover Weekly will be a lot more rewarding. And also, if you rotate through musical moods like seasons where some tastes come and go over the course of a month or two, your Discover Weekly will support that and help you indulge in the mood of the month.
[+] [-] fecklessyouth|9 years ago|reply
Do you do this manually, or use the API?
[+] [-] runj__|9 years ago|reply
I found a friend who during a party came up and said "I listen to this song all the time, it's amazing!" and then the next and the next and the next song the same happened. We had been listening to the same (semi-obscure) music for the majority of the past year. It was only later that we discovered that we had both found the songs from discover weekly and were not at all as obscure and knowledgable about music, but hey: we had the same taste in music.
[+] [-] gcr|9 years ago|reply
(EDIT: I was wrong; this algorithm is public knowledge.)
[+] [-] simonswords82|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] the_mitsuhiko|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wosos|9 years ago|reply
Good experience so far for me.
The only real caveat I have with spotify is the awfully buggy applications.
[+] [-] ivraatiems|9 years ago|reply
Spotify (especially on desktop) has a LOT of issues. From poorly implemented shuffle play to random removal of features (notifications to ctrl-f to playlist organization), and a complicated by a total lack of dev communication on any platform.
I think the issue with Spotify is not that their core is bad, it's that they never manage to improve and while they act like they're listening, they're not really listening. If there was any worthy competition, I'd switch.
[+] [-] alvion|9 years ago|reply
Recommend this thread, where I became aware of the problem https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/56auoi/huge_amount_o...
[+] [-] NegatioN|9 years ago|reply
Making Google listen to change-requests (in one of their not-so-prioritized) products will of course not be likely either.
[+] [-] spiderfarmer|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dan1234|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] delegate|9 years ago|reply
The songs with a checkmark are the ones I've liked and added to my collection. I haven't finished listening to the playlist yet, but I like almost every song that it recommends. The songs I didn't save aren't bad either and I've never had a recommended song which I totally disliked.
It's incredible how it can suggest songs of various genres and still hit my sweet spot.
So I don't agree with tfa.
I would love to be able to re-generate the playlist on demand and also suggest the 'direction' in which it should go - like 'mellower', 'harder', 'sweeter', etc.
But all in all, Spotify is doing a really great job.
[+] [-] oarsinsync|9 years ago|reply
I've since switched to the Daily Mixes, which also seem to have the same stuff most days, and then Release Radar, which finally now gives me something fresh.
So +1 for Release Radar, but everywhere else I feel is lacking, and ultimately, I do agree with tfa.
[+] [-] willbw|9 years ago|reply
I don't have the hours and hours to spend online on music blogs downloading obscure MP3s like I did while I was at university, trawling through to find stuff I like. So now finding new music is more of a challenge.
I've found the curated approach of Apple to be much better than the algorithmic approach of Spotify (and Spotify's curated playlists are also worse).
[+] [-] skray|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ricardobeat|9 years ago|reply
I miss the infinite streams of Rdio with the adventurous -> familiar slider a lot. You could stay on the same station for months at a time ;(
[+] [-] thirdsun|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] NumberCruncher|9 years ago|reply
IF song have been seen at least 3 times in DW and skipped after 10 sec THAN do not show song again
would be a high improvement.
[edit] Spotify seems to spend more time curating this forum than curating Discover Weekly.
[+] [-] 1337biz|9 years ago|reply
I am still amazed about the same thing. Why are they not understanding such obvious behavior with all the sophistication the app otherwise has (eg the match-running speed to music-beat).
[+] [-] mikehollinger|9 years ago|reply
However, after six months of this, I noticed that I was stuck in a literary (can I say "literal?") reading rut that became increasingly obvious. Humanity discovers X. X becomes increasingly useful, but there's a hidden price. Y reveals the cost, and that humanity is now an underdog. Human Z, with side kicks, ventures out, and little did he know, plays an important role on the galactic stage.
Customization is nice in software. However - recommendation engines (today) seem particularly dim-witted, and result in the creation of a single-person echo chamber that becomes increasingly lonely the longer you spend interacting with it.
[+] [-] sanswork|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cyrillevincey|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gcr|9 years ago|reply
I wonder if anyone's studied this. Maybe it's not a common sentiment...
[+] [-] whatok|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] parr0t|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] purplelobster|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dEnigma|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] arekkas|9 years ago|reply