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I posted this because this has been a problem forever, and the "solution" is funny to me--just add a 10-minute silent song to your library that will be first al

I posted this because this has been a problem forever, and the "solution" is funny to me--just add a 10-minute silent song to your library that will be first alphabetically. It made me wonder: how many extra streams has "Aaron Burr, Sir" from Hamilton gotten simply because it's likely the first alphabetical song in people's libraries? Is that offset by people who develop an irrational hatred of the song because they hear it every time they turn on their car?

dagmx 3y ago
It’s one of the main reasons that people give for being mad about that free U2 album on iPhones. Prior to that, most folks could ignore the broken behaviour of autoplay on connect that cars did. But once it was there you’d get it playing every time you got in your car.
- scubbo 3y ago
  ...source? It clearly can't be the band ("U2") or the album ("Songs Of Innocence") that were first alphabetically in anyone's library (unless it was _really_ sparse, and the first-alphabetically track on the album[0] is called "California (...)" - hard to believe there were enough people with libraries lacking any songs beginning with A or B to make this relevant. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Innocence_(U2_album)#Track_listing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Innocence_(U2_album)#...
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - hurrymaplelad 3y ago
    I use Spotify. U2 is the only album in my iTunes library, so this happens to me.
  - yodon 3y ago
    Source: I don't store music on my phone. U2 auto plays for me. The user base of major phone models is large enough that there are many many people who are different from you, regardless of who you are.
  - dagmx 3y ago
    I’m not making an absolute or academic claim, just one based on the majority of comments I see about it. So no source, feel free to disagree if you must. But some points : 1. The album was given away in 2014 2. Apple Music wasn’t a streaming service till 2015. Prior to that, the music app was only for bought or manually managed songs. 3. Spotify existed since 2006, Google Play Music since 2011, Rdio since 2010, Pandora streaming since 2005. 4. The Music app was (is?) the unchangeable default for when a play command was given. The album was given out well into the streaming era, which is when most people’s on device library would be smallest. So yes, it’s likely many iPhone users would have not had any other album in their library. Those who did would be the ones who bought other albums from the iTunes Store or added it themselves. It was estimated to have been given to over 500 million users. If even 1% of that had cars that auto played , and had no other music, that’s 5 million annoyed people.
  - tarboreus 3y ago
    I didn't put any songs on my iPhone, I use other apps. So, yeah, heard that dumb album a lot. Eventually deleted it and have tons of music on my phone, but not in Apple's ripoff ecosystem.

dagmx 3y ago

It’s one of the main reasons that people give for being mad about that free U2 album on iPhones. Prior to that, most folks could ignore the broken behaviour of autoplay on connect that cars did. But once it was there you’d get it playing every time you got in your car.

scubbo 3y ago
...source? It clearly can't be the band ("U2") or the album ("Songs Of Innocence") that were first alphabetically in anyone's library (unless it was _really_ sparse, and the first-alphabetically track on the album[0] is called "California (...)" - hard to believe there were enough people with libraries lacking any songs beginning with A or B to make this relevant. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Innocence_(U2_album)#Track_listing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Innocence_(U2_album)#...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- hurrymaplelad 3y ago
  I use Spotify. U2 is the only album in my iTunes library, so this happens to me.
- yodon 3y ago
  Source: I don't store music on my phone. U2 auto plays for me. The user base of major phone models is large enough that there are many many people who are different from you, regardless of who you are.
- dagmx 3y ago
  I’m not making an absolute or academic claim, just one based on the majority of comments I see about it. So no source, feel free to disagree if you must. But some points : 1. The album was given away in 2014 2. Apple Music wasn’t a streaming service till 2015. Prior to that, the music app was only for bought or manually managed songs. 3. Spotify existed since 2006, Google Play Music since 2011, Rdio since 2010, Pandora streaming since 2005. 4. The Music app was (is?) the unchangeable default for when a play command was given. The album was given out well into the streaming era, which is when most people’s on device library would be smallest. So yes, it’s likely many iPhone users would have not had any other album in their library. Those who did would be the ones who bought other albums from the iTunes Store or added it themselves. It was estimated to have been given to over 500 million users. If even 1% of that had cars that auto played , and had no other music, that’s 5 million annoyed people.
- tarboreus 3y ago
  I didn't put any songs on my iPhone, I use other apps. So, yeah, heard that dumb album a lot. Eventually deleted it and have tons of music on my phone, but not in Apple's ripoff ecosystem.