[ratiolat]

Interesting. For example how would one find a "new" Tool or Deftones? Current algorithms probably don't "pick up" not-yet-so-popular things. For example Shelton San (I found out about them via word-of-mouth), although I'm frequent user of Spotify. This means that classical promotion channels are still necessary, as otherwise things get lost in noise.

[fantasybuilder]

I noticed that Spotify surfaces similar artists who are also of a similar popularity. So it's not like it doesn't understand that particular style, it just has to somehow pick a couple of dozen artists to show in that very coveted spot.

So what worked for me in the past is finding less popular artists and then checking their similar artists.