An Update on no more spotify
I genuinely forgot how it feels like to listen to albums without having the alternative of switching to a random playlist because your attention span is so short or playing the same bunch of songs over and over again. As I noted almost a month ago, Spotify eventually found a way to not let me take advantage of my hacked version to exploit their app without funding the capitalist and this made me have my magnificent comeback to pirating music via Telegram era. The results since then have been surprising. Based on the chart that I made, I had listened to an average of 2.5 albums a day which took me up to 2 hours which perhaps is related to how much I walk or bike every day.
I also realized that I truthfully didn't listen to any album apart from my favorite artists for the last couple of years. What I was doing was primarily listening to the albums in a very disorganized way or going back and forth with them without actually listening to them as an album, but more like a playlist of the songs without an order.
Another problem, presumably the most crucial one, is the matter of algorithms. I used to go through music blogs to track down what is interesting and hot on the deeper status of music nerds and discover fresh artists or more niche bites that occasionally introduce you to a decent upcoming artist. Yet, using Spotify made me trap myself into this comfort bubble that you repeatedly listen to the same music because there is no point in testing new stuff which I don't think is a bad thing at all since not every music listener is indeed a music nerd or see a necessity to uncover other genres.
Regardless I still can't deny the fact that by pirating music I'm still robbing the artists to some degree but at this certain time, does it really damage them? Like first of all, I used to live in Iran and currently, I'm in China where technically I need a VPN to use Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube Music, and the money that will get to the artist in this procedure is almost nothing and as I mentioned last time, I love to market what I like so I think I'm contributing with my fantastic marketing skills (aka harassing and spamming my friends to listen).
What I was listening to lately? That's a fair question. This month I went through various catalogues from Saba and Quadeca to Beirut and Richard Dawson but what stood up the most was J. Dilla's "Donuts". I think Donuts is one of those albums that every Hip-Hop fan constantly hears about when it comes to the "What are your Top 5 albums" discussion and OH MY GOD you should listen to this album to acknowledge how magical it is. I started listening to it while I was taking a shower and then biking to the library on a lovely sunny day and listened to the last couple of songs while setting up my stuff there and frankly, it was a 10/10 experience. You really want that album to be the soundtrack of your life to feel the charm of Dilla's sampling and addictive loop gives you a sweet peace of mind. RIP the goat.
So yeah I guess overall it's satisfying to free yourself from the algorithms periodically and experience new things without having someone on your feed talking about how this album is overrated or that artist is an industry plant or Playboi Carti is the David Bowie of our generation.