music

I’ve come to the conclusion that streaming music platforms are a shared lie we all agree to that suggests we’re paying for music when we’re actually may as well be pirating it, we just pay $10 a month to keep the cops away.

It’s been fun to see Matt’s evolution of thought here, going from not thinking Spotify’s rates are an issue, To realizing all music streaming is a bit of a sham… I think the one point that keeps getting glossed over is it’s Spotify’s choice to do free ad-supported tier, which is the worst part of it all and why rates are cheap per listen. Should artists want to give that up and lose potential revenue? That’s not a question for me to answer, but I do think it’s something to reckon with. But yes, buy music. Bandcamp is great.

King Gizzard frontperson Stu Mackenzie said in a statement to the Music that he was “trying to see the irony in this situation.” He added, “But seriously wtf we are truly doomed.”

Continuing the conversation about “ethical streaming services…” I’m not going to say this wouldn’t ever happen on Apple Music (just look at their spotty App Store track record), but these types of stories of AI music making it to Spotify—and being promoted on the platform—seem to happen quite a bit. Again, the music loving ethos that brought Apple back from the dead with the iPod and iTunes no longer exists, but Spotify seems like they are pushing a lot harder for “responsible AI” in music today.

H/t to Crucial Tracks for this incredible find. So much fun listening through the demos that led to the creation of the best album of the year.

I don’t think it’s ethical to use Apple Music, but I DO think it’s unethical to use Spotify. I don’t think the “How to quit Spotify” article made any point other than finding a more ethical alternative to Spotify, which isn’t hard… and yes, pay per stream has to be a part of that equation.

Related to the previous entry on pay-per-stream, in typical Crucial Tracks fashion, Jason nails everything here, including why Spotify isn’t a great place to be and why you can’t just shrug off the pay-per-stream part of the discussion. Just because there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism, doesn’t mean you can’t try—especially when you can do so for the exact same price.

In the months since Geese released its third studio album, “Getting Killed,” the band has been rhapsodically heralded as the redeemer of a certain kind of noisy, lawless rock and roll.

Spoiler alert: Getting Killed is making my top ten albums of the year. Easily. I wasn’t a huge fan of their last album, but singer Cameron Winter released his debut solo album, Heavy Metal, which made my top ten last year, and they’ve done a great job of combining the sounds and styles to make something that’s absolutely wonderful.