Inside The Playlist Factory
This is a great article on BuzzFeed about the people at Apple, Spotify, and Google who are spearheading a future of music streaming that is human-curated, not dictated by algorithms. With many services today that allow us to listen from catalogs of millions of songs, music-streaming services such as Apple Music, Spotify, and Google Play are placing heavier emphasis on human-curated playlists to help listeners find what they want and differentiate their services in today’s market.
I found this article insightful because it highlighted professionals in the industry whose work is influential yet uncredited. I have been using Apple Music almost exclusively for a year, and I love the editorial aspect of the service because the curated playlists, new music, and editor’s notes on albums are extremely helpful in separating the wheat from the chaff regarding music discovery. Although everyone’s tastes are nuanced and what people like and dislike is highly personal, I think what Apple Music is doing in particular—building itself on a foundation of knowledgeable and passionate experts—is working to its advantage.
As far as the future of digital music streaming, I do not believe algorithms will ever completely go away, but I think (and hope) the idea of a more personal, people-involved service will always exist in some form.