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Tangential, does anyone know of good recommendation systems that aren't completely out of left field? Youtube's algo is pretty great in my experience unlike Spo

Tangential, does anyone know of good recommendation systems that aren't completely out of left field? Youtube's algo is pretty great in my experience unlike Spotify's (which never seems to understand what a genre is), but youtube isn't the best for music. Edit: Spotify also has a habit of recommending more "mainstream" stuff, while a lot of what I listen to isn't the typical "Billboard Top 100". Youtube seems much better at suggesting songs with only a few thousand views that nearly perfectly match my taste, rather than playing yet-another-David-Guetta track (no offense to Guetta).

0xEF 3y ago
Maybe don't hand off your preferences to an algorithm? Make playlists. I'm not being snarky, but as a former Spotify user, it annoyed me that I'd have to skip every third or fourth tune because it did not fit what I was looking for. I ended up moving to Napster and Bandcamp, despite their awful UX on anything but mobile. When I am having my coffee or whatever, I add stuff to playlists, then just let it run for the day. By using both and flipping between the two when I feel like it, I discover a lot of music I never knew I liked and I am much happier for it, rather than asking a streaming service to build my playlist for me. I find it worth the extra little bit of work and much more personalized.
- user_7832 3y ago
  Thanks for your reply, is discovery decent on Napster/Bandcamp, and can they suggest based on your tastes or is it more non-personalized? One of my main "issues" is that I am very slow/hesitant to listen to new music and therefore mostly stick to known tracks unless something forces new music - heck, Hotel California is still the only Eagles songs I'm familiar with. Hence I prefer to break in/expand my taste by listening to similar music (initially, at least).
  - defrost 3y ago
    There's the pivot by cover | instrument path ... eg: Hotel California -> Hayseed Dixie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keX84EUVd-I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keX84EUVd-I then, if you can live with a banjo, add a didgeridoo .. surprisingly there's a cover (not of Hotel California) featuring both instruments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr3iI8gg2fo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr3iI8gg2fo
    - user_7832 3y ago
      Thanks!
sashaaldrick 3y ago
surely here 'youtube music' would fit your needs. I switched from Spotify to YT music a few months ago, exactly because it had my youtube music listening history already there and there are lots of songs that aren't on spotify.
- user_7832 3y ago
  Thanks, I do use Youtube Music sometimes/often, but unfortunately some mixes still only appear on Youtube (even when others by the same channel are available on YTMusic). However it feels like Spotify is still much more of a music service than YTMusic which is why I don't want to fully dump Spotify. Stuff like the autogenerated playlists like "On Repeat" or the yearly recap and the other analytical tools, amongst others. (I will say that I wished Google Play Music was still around. Being able to buy tracks outright using Play credit was really nice.)
npteljes 3y ago
One that I use is Mixcloud. Mixcloud has a recommendation algorithm, just like any other streaming site, but the value is that on Mixcloud, the unit is not single tracks, but rather mixes, mostly around an hour long. So, during that hour, it's not an algo that mixes the music, but a person, and there are many on Mixcloud who do a good job not just with the selection, but also with the specific order and the transition from one track to another. Some do such a good job that from my favorite mix, I don't even like the particular songs that much, as they are a bit boring and drag out simple ideas for too long. But in the mix they are presented in, every idea of them shines for just the right amount of time, and the way the blend into one another, each of them elevates the next one's experience. Finding DJs and radio people with similar tastes was definitely work, but the payoff was also huge for me. I have many dear favorites that I accumulated over the years, and that I go back to from time to time.
- user_7832 3y ago
  > Mixcloud Thanks for the suggestion, this sounds interesting. So if I understand right most/all these mixes are human-curated, right? Some of my tastes like Melodic House/Ambient are slightly more popular so I might be able to find a decent mix there.
  - npteljes 3y ago
    They are supposed to be human curated, yes. The quality of the mixes definitely vary, but with a bit of time, it will be easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. Mixcloud also has a labeling system, so it will understand things like "melodic house", even having charts for it if it's popular enough. Labels are also a good way to discover music, especially now, with the many specialized net-labels. If by any chance you like dark ambient too, Cryo Chamber on YouTube can be a good one. I find their mixes excellent as background music for reading, for example.
    - user_7832 3y ago
      Thank you! Haven't heard of Cryo Chamber, the biggest ambient name I'm familiar with is Brian Eno, also maybe Justin Boreta or Tycho but I don't think they'll qualify as dark ambient.

0xEF 3y ago

Maybe don't hand off your preferences to an algorithm? Make playlists. I'm not being snarky, but as a former Spotify user, it annoyed me that I'd have to skip every third or fourth tune because it did not fit what I was looking for. I ended up moving to Napster and Bandcamp, despite their awful UX on anything but mobile. When I am having my coffee or whatever, I add stuff to playlists, then just let it run for the day. By using both and flipping between the two when I feel like it, I discover a lot of music I never knew I liked and I am much happier for it, rather than asking a streaming service to build my playlist for me. I find it worth the extra little bit of work and much more personalized.

user_7832 3y ago
Thanks for your reply, is discovery decent on Napster/Bandcamp, and can they suggest based on your tastes or is it more non-personalized? One of my main "issues" is that I am very slow/hesitant to listen to new music and therefore mostly stick to known tracks unless something forces new music - heck, Hotel California is still the only Eagles songs I'm familiar with. Hence I prefer to break in/expand my taste by listening to similar music (initially, at least).
- defrost 3y ago
  There's the pivot by cover | instrument path ... eg: Hotel California -> Hayseed Dixie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keX84EUVd-I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keX84EUVd-I then, if you can live with a banjo, add a didgeridoo .. surprisingly there's a cover (not of Hotel California) featuring both instruments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr3iI8gg2fo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr3iI8gg2fo
  - user_7832 3y ago
    Thanks!

sashaaldrick 3y ago

surely here 'youtube music' would fit your needs. I switched from Spotify to YT music a few months ago, exactly because it had my youtube music listening history already there and there are lots of songs that aren't on spotify.

user_7832 3y ago
Thanks, I do use Youtube Music sometimes/often, but unfortunately some mixes still only appear on Youtube (even when others by the same channel are available on YTMusic). However it feels like Spotify is still much more of a music service than YTMusic which is why I don't want to fully dump Spotify. Stuff like the autogenerated playlists like "On Repeat" or the yearly recap and the other analytical tools, amongst others. (I will say that I wished Google Play Music was still around. Being able to buy tracks outright using Play credit was really nice.)

npteljes 3y ago

One that I use is Mixcloud. Mixcloud has a recommendation algorithm, just like any other streaming site, but the value is that on Mixcloud, the unit is not single tracks, but rather mixes, mostly around an hour long. So, during that hour, it's not an algo that mixes the music, but a person, and there are many on Mixcloud who do a good job not just with the selection, but also with the specific order and the transition from one track to another. Some do such a good job that from my favorite mix, I don't even like the particular songs that much, as they are a bit boring and drag out simple ideas for too long. But in the mix they are presented in, every idea of them shines for just the right amount of time, and the way the blend into one another, each of them elevates the next one's experience. Finding DJs and radio people with similar tastes was definitely work, but the payoff was also huge for me. I have many dear favorites that I accumulated over the years, and that I go back to from time to time.

user_7832 3y ago
> Mixcloud Thanks for the suggestion, this sounds interesting. So if I understand right most/all these mixes are human-curated, right? Some of my tastes like Melodic House/Ambient are slightly more popular so I might be able to find a decent mix there.
- npteljes 3y ago
  They are supposed to be human curated, yes. The quality of the mixes definitely vary, but with a bit of time, it will be easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. Mixcloud also has a labeling system, so it will understand things like "melodic house", even having charts for it if it's popular enough. Labels are also a good way to discover music, especially now, with the many specialized net-labels. If by any chance you like dark ambient too, Cryo Chamber on YouTube can be a good one. I find their mixes excellent as background music for reading, for example.
  - user_7832 3y ago
    Thank you! Haven't heard of Cryo Chamber, the biggest ambient name I'm familiar with is Brian Eno, also maybe Justin Boreta or Tycho but I don't think they'll qualify as dark ambient.