Anyone else feel like Music algorithms are failing us?

[bruno]

Hey all,
Just wanted to share a personal project I've been working on — something that came out of a bit of frustration, and a lot of love for music.

Like most of you, I listen to music every single day.
At home I use Volumio for my Hifi set up. On the go, I bounce between Spotify, TIDAL, and Qobuz - great platforms, no doubt. (Qobuz is my fav!)

But at some point, I realized I wasn't discovering anything new anymore.
The algorithm had learned what I liked and just kept looping it back at me.
It was convenient... but I missed the excitement. The randomness. The unexpected 'wow'.

So I started building something different with a few friends.

It's called CORRD and the idea is simple:
You connect your streaming service, tell it how you feel, and it gives you a stream of music based on your mood — not just your history.
You can even tune what you want more or less of (underground, popular, high energy, etc.).

It's helped me rediscover music in a more human, less robotic way.
And we're also trying to give more space to indie artists that rarely show up in traditional recommendation engines.

Anyway, I just wanted to share the story.
If this resonates with you and you'd like to try it, feel free to DM me or reply here

Would love to hear what you think.
Thanks for reading!  
Marco

[foxandpeng]

Hey all,
Just wanted to share a personal project I've been working on — something that came out of a bit of frustration, and a lot of love for music.

Like most of you, I listen to music every single day.
At home I use Volumio for my Hifi set up. On the go, I bounce between Spotify, TIDAL, and Qobuz - great platforms, no doubt. (Qobuz is my fav!)

But at some point, I realized I wasn't discovering anything new anymore.
The algorithm had learned what I liked and just kept looping it back at me.
It was convenient... but I missed the excitement. The randomness. The unexpected 'wow'.

So I started building something different with a few friends.

It's called CORRD and the idea is simple:
You connect your streaming service, tell it how you feel, and it gives you a stream of music based on your mood — not just your history.
You can even tune what you want more or less of (underground, popular, high energy, etc.).

It's helped me rediscover music in a more human, less robotic way.
And we're also trying to give more space to indie artists that rarely show up in traditional recommendation engines.

Anyway, I just wanted to share the story.
If this resonates with you and you'd like to try it, feel free to DM me or reply here

Would love to hear what you think.
Thanks for reading!  
Marco

Thanks, Marco. Hopefully you will join our happy band of posters rather than just do a drive by to promote CORRD.

Not something I could ever imagine using  personally, but others might feel very differently 😁

[Daverz]

Sounds interesting from a machine learning perspective. 

[Kalevala]

Hey all,
Just wanted to share a personal project I've been working on — something that came out of a bit of frustration, and a lot of love for music.

Like most of you, I listen to music every single day.
At home I use Volumio for my Hifi set up. On the go, I bounce between Spotify, TIDAL, and Qobuz - great platforms, no doubt. (Qobuz is my fav!)

But at some point, I realized I wasn't discovering anything new anymore.
The algorithm had learned what I liked and just kept looping it back at me.
It was convenient... but I missed the excitement. The randomness. The unexpected 'wow'.

So I started building something different with a few friends.

It's called CORRD and the idea is simple:
You connect your streaming service, tell it how you feel, and it gives you a stream of music based on your mood — not just your history.
You can even tune what you want more or less of (underground, popular, high energy, etc.).

It's helped me rediscover music in a more human, less robotic way.
And we're also trying to give more space to indie artists that rarely show up in traditional recommendation engines.

Anyway, I just wanted to share the story.
If this resonates with you and you'd like to try it, feel free to DM me or reply here

Would love to hear what you think.
Thanks for reading!  
Marco

It sounds like you and your friends have some interesting ideas.     As for me, I don't currently subscribe to any music listening service.  Occasionally, I'll follow some youtube suggestions.  Overall, I listen to folks suggestions here and check into them first (re classical--sometimes some pop/rock/jazz, and other genres).  Also to some artists and songs that a friend of mine (who has a ton of LPs and CDs) suggests.  Or maybe, as in the case of the artist Celeste, I read an article on the BBC's website about then up and coming artists.

And as F&P said, I'd love to hear about what music you like too!

K

[Szykneij]

Those of us of a certain age used to listen to the radio. I still do, and because I live in a large urban area that has a wide variety of stations still on the air (including several college outlets), I have lots of choices to hear new music. That seems even more human to me than relying on any algorithms or programs, but I know there are many people who don't have that advantage

[DavidW]

That seems even more human to me than relying on any algorithms or programs, but I know there are many people who don't have that advantage

Some of the best services use curation by humans instead of mindless algorithms. Please don't think that all online services are like Spotify or Amazon!

[Spotted Horses]

Music algorithms have a wonderful feature. You can turn them off. On Apple Music there is a button for "infinite play" which you can deactivate. It even made a "radio station" just for me that I have never listened to. It is sad to think of that algorithm toiling in vain!

I read an opinion piece about how streaming has completely changed people's relationship with music. The author made it sound like you hit play and you are compelled to listen to what the streaming services sends you for the next 17 hours. Huh? I decide what to listen to, then I listen to it.

How do I find new music? People here may mention a composer or work unfamiliar to me.  Sometimes I see a work recorded by a favorite conductor, performer, ensemble, record label. Sometimes I just like then sound of the composers name.

[DavidW]

How do I find new music? People here may mention a composer or work unfamiliar to me.  Sometimes I see a work recorded by a favorite conductor, performer, ensemble, record label. Sometimes I just like then sound of the composers name.

I do that, but I also will listen to something curated by Qobuz or a new release... or I will use either list to give me a composer, an artist, a type of work (e.g., piano quartet), and then search for something in the catalog.

[Szykneij]

Some of the best services use curation by humans instead of mindless algorithms. Please don't think that all online services are like Spotify or Amazon!

I am admittedly old school when it comes to this. I guess I prefer to be my own curator. When I hear something of interest on the radio, on a streaming service when visiting my nephew, in a restaurant bar, or from some other source, I'll do my own exploring. Shazam and YouTube are especially helpful in that regard.
  I'm probably outside the norm in that my musical interests are more diverse than most. When I'm driving in my car, my in-dash MP3 player might play a succession of tracks by Steely Dan, Andy Williams, Joshua Bell, Willie Nelson, The Monkees, James Galway, Ella Fitzgerald, Glen Campbell, The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, and The Kronos Quartet. I might be the only person in the universe happy with that string, but that's what I like.
  I'm not being critical of on-line services at all. I just feel, personally, that a single service could never satisfy me completely.
  If I was home, there would be more classical included in my listening, but I find the length, dynamic range, and development of most classical works not conducive to the acoustics of a moving automobile. I am curious, though, of how well classical fits in the OP's program since this is, of course, a classical music forum.

[foxandpeng]

How do I find new music? People here may mention a composer or work unfamiliar to me.  Sometimes I see a work recorded by a favorite conductor, performer, ensemble, record label. Sometimes I just like then sound of the composers name.

In recent years, I've taken a great deal of my inspiration for new music from GMG, if I'm honest. Either that, or watching the labels that interest me for their new releases - BIS, Ondine, Naxos, Toccata, Dacapo, and so on. Quick scan every month for what is coming up.

Works for me. I can't stand the idea of a radio station or an algorithm making the choice for me. Probably because I work in software development and tech projects, and have a pouty face.

[Kalevala]

Like @Szykneij I also have found inspiration from the radio (I forgot to mention    earlier).  The trick is finding the time to listen and being able to pay attention to it....life is busy.

K

[Spotted Horses]

I do that, but I also will listen to something curated by Qobuz or a new release... or I will use either list to give me a composer, an artist, a type of work (e.g., piano quartet), and then search for something in the catalog.

I am not usually aware of new releases unless someone mentions them on a forum I visit. In ancient times when music was almost always purchased from a record store there was a new release section. It was rather small since only the major labels were represented. I used to look in the Schwann catalog which listed all records in print. You could look at a list of all recordings of a particular piece and ask your record store to order it. Amazing that people had so much patience in those days.

[Cato]

In recent years, I've taken a great deal of my inspiration for new music from GMG, if I'm honest. Either that, or watching the labels that interest me for their new releases - BIS, Ondine, Naxos, Toccata, Dacapo, and so on. Quick scan every month for what is coming up.

Works for me. I can't stand the idea of a radio station or an algorithm making the choice for me. Probably because I work in software development and tech projects, and have a pouty face.

Music algorithms have a wonderful feature. You can turn them off. On Apple Music there is a button for "infinite play" which you can deactivate. It even made a "radio station" just for me that I have never listened to. It is sad to think of that algorithm toiling in vain!

I read an opinion piece about how streaming has completely changed people's relationship with music. The author made it sound like you hit play and you are compelled to listen to what the streaming services sends you for the next 17 hours. Huh? I decide what to listen to, then I listen to it.

How do I find new music? People here may mention a composer or work unfamiliar to me.  Sometimes I see a work recorded by a favorite conductor, performer, ensemble, record label. Sometimes I just like then sound of the composers name.

Allow me to recommend some composers "under the radar" even here at GMG:

Etienne Mehul

Check out his symphonies!

Jan Kalliwoda: overtures and symphonies and chamber music!

Fartein Valen: the symphonies and other works!

[foxandpeng]

Allow me to recommend some composers "under the radar" even here at GMG:

Etienne Mehul

Check out his symphonies!

Jan Kalliwoda: overtures and symphonies and chamber music!

Fartein Valen: the symphonies and other works!

Thank you, Cato! Always on the hunt for new music, and appreciate it when someone makes thoughtful recs like this 😁

I'm a big fan of Valen, but have only ever passed Kalliwoda and Méhul at poking distance, due the time period and styles in which they wrote. I confess almost all my listening is to music written in the 20th and 21st century. That hasn't always been the case, but certainly in the last ten years. I did revisit some Dvorak and Bruckner symphonies earlier in the year, as both were part of my regular playlists back in the day. Neither really made a strong enough case for their re-entry, tbh. Never say never, however!

Willing to give these two recommendations a go, though 😊. The wisdom of GMG is often surprising!