All About Streaming Music Services

[eljr]

I appreciate whatever "classical" selection comes my way with their autoplay feature.

Not me. I am very select. Nothing more annoying than an algorithm directing my attention.
I have this feature turned off on all of my streaming from TV shows t0 music to my education courses, to ....

[ando]

Not me. I am very select. Nothing more annoying than an algorithm directing my attention.
I have this feature turned off on all of my streaming from TV shows t0 music to my education courses, to ....

Whatever works!

[DavidW]

Not me. I am very select. Nothing more annoying than an algorithm directing my attention.
I have this feature turned off on all of my streaming from TV shows t0 music to my education courses, to ....

Autoplay is just random tracks not necessarily whole works.  It makes sense with pop music, but not classical!

[Madiel]

Autoplay is just random tracks not necessarily whole works.  It makes sense with pop music, but not classical!

Actually it doesn't make sense with a lot of pop music. Good pop albums are not just random selections of songs. They are whole works just as much as any classical work with multiple movements.

I know of at least 2 or 3 high profile pop artists who've fought against this belief that everything is up for shuffling.

Which is why I don't use autoplay in either genre.

[DavidW]

Good pop albums are not just random selections of songs. They are whole works just as much as any classical work with multiple movements.

Well yes and no.  There are some big concept albums like what you talk about.  But most albums are just collections of songs, sometimes with a unifying theme, sometimes not.

[Madiel]

Well yes and no.  There are some big concept albums like what you talk about.  But most albums are just collections of songs, sometimes with a unifying theme, sometimes not.

I'm not purely talking about concept albums. There are MANY albums where the order of songs is carefully planned so that the contrasts of tempo and register and key work well.

Adele doesn't make concept albums but she made Spotify stop shuffling the order of the songs on her album. She planned an order. That's the way she wanted people to hear it. Saying otherwise is the equivalent of saying it doesn't matter whether you put the Adagio movement first.

I mean, don't worry, there are plenty of pop music listeners who also don't appreciate the effort that many artists put into structuring an album. But a hell of a lot of albums have structure. Just because people have stopped listening on physical media that enforces an order doesn't mean that musicians have stopped thinking that way. Hell, a lot of albums still have a Side A and Side B in their musical structure from the days of vinyl.

[AnotherSpin]

The most noticeable thing about today music, including pop, is that it is not organic. Nothing is endowed with true life anymore; the vanished Being is universally replaced with a soulless and rationalistic "will" and "self-expression". Everything is caged in a personal dimension; in this culture, everything begins and ends within the personal ego. If we are talking about structure here, we are talking about the structure of a petty mechanism.

[steve ridgway]

The most noticeable thing about today music, including pop, is that it is not organic. Nothing is endowed with true life anymore; the vanished Being is universally replaced with a soulless and rationalistic "will" and "self-expression". Everything is caged in a personal dimension; in this culture, everything begins and ends within the personal ego. If we are talking about structure here, we are talking about the structure of a petty mechanism.

As it happens, the work I'm listening to now sums up the state of consciousness I'm looking for - the remembrance that there's an immense universe outside humanity's day to day preoccupations. "Chronochromie imagines a natural world without people: a world of birds, mountains and changeless, abstract time."

[Madiel]

The most noticeable thing about today music, including pop, is that it is not organic. Nothing is endowed with true life anymore; the vanished Being is universally replaced with a soulless and rationalistic "will" and "self-expression". Everything is caged in a personal dimension; in this culture, everything begins and ends within the personal ego. If we are talking about structure here, we are talking about the structure of a petty mechanism.

People have been saying "kids today" for thousands of years, why should you be any different.

You want to see structure, The Eras Tour film is now streaming. Over 3 hours of music carefully planned to achieve a variety of tones and moods.

Then you could go to any of the 10 constituent albums and see how they're structured (though the first couple are admittedly a bit generic given Taylor's age at the time). But the tour is truly fascinating as it moves from big production numbers to intimate solos and back again.

[AnotherSpin]

People have been saying "kids today" for thousands of years, why should you be any different.

You want to see structure, The Eras Tour film is now streaming. Over 3 hours of music carefully planned to achieve a variety of tones and moods.

Then you could go to any of the 10 constituent albums and see how they're structured (though the first couple are admittedly a bit generic given Taylor's age at the time). But the tour is truly fascinating as it moves from big production numbers to intimate solos and back again.

People who know that so-called "progress" is crap see gradual and permanent degeneration in everything, whether it's on the scale of millennia, centuries or decades.

I don't have anything to say about Taylor Swift, I'd rather stay silent.

[Madiel]

People who know that so-called "progress" is crap see gradual and permanent degeneration in everything, whether it's on the scale of millennia, centuries or decades.

I don't have anything to say about Taylor Swift, I'd rather stay silent.

So your only two options are progress or degeneration.

Interesting. There's an undistributed middle, you know.

[AnotherSpin]

So your only two options are progress or degeneration.

Interesting. There's an undistributed middle, you know.

Progress is a term sly manipulators use to mask degeneration. What options you're talking about?

[Madiel]

I'm talking about things being different over time without inherently being better or worse.

But to paint such a monolithic picture either way, of constant progress or of constant degeneration, frankly strikes me as a bit ridiculous.

To pick one obvious example of genuine progress, average life expectancy is now decades higher than it was a few generations ago. If you think that's evidence of degeneracy then I'm afraid I can't agree.

[AnotherSpin]

I'm talking about things being different over time without inherently being better or worse.

But to paint such a monolithic picture either way, of constant progress or of constant degeneration, frankly strikes me as a bit ridiculous.

To pick one obvious example of genuine progress, average life expectancy is now decades higher than it was a few generations ago. If you think that's evidence of degeneracy then I'm afraid I can't agree.

Bingo. We live, or rather exist, in an era of quantity, but not quality. Becoming instead of being. And there have been no fluctuations and not expected to be. Call it monolithic, if you like.

[DavidW]

I mean, don't worry, there are plenty of pop music listeners who also don't appreciate the effort that many artists put into structuring an album.

I only listen to pop music by albums, but sure jump to conclusions, it is after all what you do when you have your dander up!

You want to see structure, The Eras Tour film is now streaming. Over 3 hours of music carefully planned to achieve a variety of tones and moods.

Then you could go to any of the 10 constituent albums and see how they're structured (though the first couple are admittedly a bit generic given Taylor's age at the time). But the tour is truly fascinating as it moves from big production numbers to intimate solos and back again.

Oh no!  OH NO!!!  You're a swifty!!  How did we end up with a Swifty on this forum!?!

[Madiel]

I only listen to pop music by albums, but sure jump to conclusions, it is after all what you do when you have your dander up!

I didn't say you don't listen to albums. I said you don't appreciate their structure. Which is evident by your words, not your listening habits.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I only listen to pop music by albums, but sure jump to conclusions, it is after all what you do when you have your dander up!

Oh no!  OH NO!!!  You're a swifty!!  How did we end up with a Swifty on this forum!?!

I didn't say you don't listen to albums. I said you don't appreciate their structure. Which is evident by your words, not your listening habits.

Come on guys...please take a deep breath! You both have things to contribute.

And yes, I do appreciate a well-thought-out album.  For me (an example):  Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love".

PD

[DavidW]

And yes, I do appreciate a well-thought-out album.  For me (an example):  Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love".

PD

Yeah that is a great album.  Also Paul Simon's Graceland!

Oh and I wasn't angry, I was making fun of Madiel for being a Taylor Swift fan.

[Madiel]

I ignored that part. I was a forum member long before I was a Swiftie.

[DavidW]

I'm having terrible problems with Presto's app.  It freezes up and will stop playing, searching etc. on both the Windows app and through bluos. 

I'm finally going to take Spotted Horses advice and try Amazon Music.