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I've noticed there's a problem on streaming services where low quality artists basically spam the service with extremely low quality recordings of classical pie

I've noticed there's a problem on streaming services where low quality artists basically spam the service with extremely low quality recordings of classical pieces. They often sound like they just got a midi file of the score and played it back through a piece of software. The scores for most classical music are public domain so there is nothing "wrong" about this but no one really wants to listen to low quality MIDI playback versus a human performance. When you search for a given piece of classical music you have to wade through all this low quality stuff. It would be great if Apple Music finds a way to combat that. I recently switched from Amazon to Apple, Apple generally seems to have better control of the catalog so maybe it's less of a problem there.

fckgw 4y ago
Apple Music actually has a lot of human editors and curators controlling playlists and spotlighting featured music. I'm sure their classical service will be similar.
- ben7799 4y ago
  That's basically what made me switch. Apple has a huge advantage there, at least over Amazon.
- m000 4y ago
  That is true, but given that classical music probably has a much smaller audience to offset the cost of curation by humans, I wonder how the service will be profitable for Apple. My guess (which could be wildly off base) is that classical music is probably producing material in a much slower pace than pop music, so if the current catalog is curated once, updates will be incremental. So, given enough time, the service will eventually be profitable. And Apple can take on the task because they have deep enough pockets to not worry about recouping the cost of initial curation ASAP.
jeffbee 4y ago
I once asked Android Auto to play "act 2 from carmen" and it responded with an absolutely bizarre rendition of the Toreador Song that had been programmed into a MIDI in the voice of birds chirping. Just crazy. Sometimes I think the algorithm they use at YouTube Music optimizes for paying the least royalties.
least 4y ago
> They often sound like they just got a midi file of the score and played it back through a piece of software. I'd say it's more than likely they did play the piece themselves, just it's often done by individual piano players that don't really know how to record piano digitally effectively. They're pianists, not sound engineers, after all. Often you'll find recordings of the default piano patch built into their digital pianos, or you'll see them using low quality VSTs or good ones that they simply don't know how to get the best results out of. Hell, even if they're recording a real piano, they often don't have the best spaces, the best equipment, or even really know what they're doing. There's a lot of bad recordings done in good spaces as well. A sort of glimpse into recording piano from a wonderful pianist, Nahre Sol, can be found on her youtube channel [1]. It's really hard to get right, even if you're an excellent pianist because ultimately, recording engineering is an entirely different field of expertise. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzSef7k-BKs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzSef7k-BKs As far as filtering out the low quality stuff... is there even a reasonable way to do that? It seems wholly subjective. You could probably create a filter for recording labels that are known to put out good classical music recordings like Deutsche Grammophon and the like if you only want professionally recorded music.
- ben7799 4y ago
  I don't think we're talking about the same thing at all. There were low rent artists that had seemingly recorded every single famous classical piece. Not just piano pieces but all kinds of stuff. They pop up in search results, but then you listen to it and you can tell it's not a cello, it's a keyboard or midi sequencer with a cello sound. With a good keyboard and a human playing it you get the human nuance. That's not what a lot of these were.

fckgw 4y ago

Apple Music actually has a lot of human editors and curators controlling playlists and spotlighting featured music. I'm sure their classical service will be similar.

ben7799 4y ago
That's basically what made me switch. Apple has a huge advantage there, at least over Amazon.
m000 4y ago
That is true, but given that classical music probably has a much smaller audience to offset the cost of curation by humans, I wonder how the service will be profitable for Apple. My guess (which could be wildly off base) is that classical music is probably producing material in a much slower pace than pop music, so if the current catalog is curated once, updates will be incremental. So, given enough time, the service will eventually be profitable. And Apple can take on the task because they have deep enough pockets to not worry about recouping the cost of initial curation ASAP.

jeffbee 4y ago

I once asked Android Auto to play "act 2 from carmen" and it responded with an absolutely bizarre rendition of the Toreador Song that had been programmed into a MIDI in the voice of birds chirping. Just crazy. Sometimes I think the algorithm they use at YouTube Music optimizes for paying the least royalties.

least 4y ago

> They often sound like they just got a midi file of the score and played it back through a piece of software. I'd say it's more than likely they did play the piece themselves, just it's often done by individual piano players that don't really know how to record piano digitally effectively. They're pianists, not sound engineers, after all. Often you'll find recordings of the default piano patch built into their digital pianos, or you'll see them using low quality VSTs or good ones that they simply don't know how to get the best results out of. Hell, even if they're recording a real piano, they often don't have the best spaces, the best equipment, or even really know what they're doing. There's a lot of bad recordings done in good spaces as well. A sort of glimpse into recording piano from a wonderful pianist, Nahre Sol, can be found on her youtube channel [1]. It's really hard to get right, even if you're an excellent pianist because ultimately, recording engineering is an entirely different field of expertise. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzSef7k-BKs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzSef7k-BKs As far as filtering out the low quality stuff... is there even a reasonable way to do that? It seems wholly subjective. You could probably create a filter for recording labels that are known to put out good classical music recordings like Deutsche Grammophon and the like if you only want professionally recorded music.

ben7799 4y ago
I don't think we're talking about the same thing at all. There were low rent artists that had seemingly recorded every single famous classical piece. Not just piano pieces but all kinds of stuff. They pop up in search results, but then you listen to it and you can tell it's not a cello, it's a keyboard or midi sequencer with a cello sound. With a good keyboard and a human playing it you get the human nuance. That's not what a lot of these were.