Originally published in Eighty Twenty magazine (Issue #1)

FOREWORD

If you are not already aware of the continually worsening exploits of today’s music industry– perpetuated by the likes of Universal Music Group and Spotify, there are several recently published works exposing the dire conditions of the contemporary music business. Before beginning this guide, I implore any unfamiliar readers to read Liz Pelly’s exposé Mood Machine. The book is a masterful piece of investigative journalism that pulls back the curtain on the deplorable status-quo of the business. It’s worth ten times the price of the hardcover. It is also a gruesome read that, for those who care about art and financially-sustainable artistry for art’s-sake, instills more anger with every page-turn. If you’re not yet convinced, read her article Ghost in the Machine. It provides a brief look at “ghost artists”– one of many Molochian horrors borne out of Spotify’s ongoing march towards increasing revenue at all costs.

If you’re wise to the tragedy of the modern music industry and seek support in inching closer toward any of the following ideals:

• engaging in active music discovery (through good-faith recommendations from real, art-loving human beings)
• redirecting your financial contributions to artists and away from billionaires
• becoming a member of a music community, local or otherwise
• advocating for meaningful change in the music industry

this guide (in parts) will attempt to provide you with practical advice, insight, and tools to channel your love of music towards creating a better landscape, little by little, for artists and listeners alike.

1. Active music discovery

Until the streaming era, there wasn’t a need for use of the word “active” as it pertains to music listening/discovery. Before “Discover Weekly” and algorithmic playlists, music listeners always actively curated the music they listened to. Even the most passive extents of the pre-streaming listening spectrum (i.e. choosing a radio station in the car) are acts of active listening/discovery. It’s probably helpful to first explore the concept of “passive” music listening…

Spotify champions passive music-listening as a techno-utopian way of eliminating the “friction” of discovering new music. Spotify’s listeners are sold the promise of never again having to listen to a single second of unsavory or challenging music.¹ The inevitable cost of this promise is an ever-increasingly diluted stream of formulaic music to be algorithmically digested, categorized, and matched to you (or at least the computer’s definition of you as the advertising profile of a human). Gradually converting their customer-base to embrace passive music listening means Spotify can more effectively manipulate music listening behavior in ways that increase corporate revenue. To accept the convenience of passive music listening is to also accept Spotify’s– and indirectly, major labels’ corporate interest as your own.

Art at its best resists categorization (despite endless minting of new sub-genres, post- prefixing, and “wave” assignments). Pattern-matching is instinctual, breaking the mold is the essence of artistic endeavor. Finding and experiencing excellent art requires active curation at the individual level; listening to songs you never want to hear again, researching and understanding musical genres and sub-genres, exploring the landscape of independent record labels, etc. At the end of the day, the cost of enjoying great music is: a little bit of work.

Here’s my tiered advice for active listening/discovery for wherever you’re at right now:

Tier 1 — Discover Weekly-pilled: I have no idea where to start, all I know is Discover Weekly and the skip button

I’d suggest first developing your genre vocabulary. At base, try to better understand the sub-genres associated with your top-five favorite artists. Find other works in these genres and determine what aspects of sub-genres you like or dislike. Although genres are an imperfect categorization tool, they provide a good jumping off point for discovering new music in a similar sonic region. Explore three sub-genres of your favorite “main” genres. i.e. House → Acid house, Tech house, Footwork

I also acknowledge there is a time and place for passive listening in everyone’s life. It’s not always practical to have a custom-made playlist for every daily occasion and sometimes you don’t want to listen to an album front-to-back. For some passive listening alternatives to Spotify, look to internet radio stations like NTS.live. NTS is one of several excellent online radio stations for which most of their 24/7 programming is archived for post-broadcast listening. You can find sets DJ’ed by a wide variety of artists and throw on some background music without giving any royalty share to Spotify or letting the machine in the sky decide your next song.

Tier 2 — I think I know what I like: I already know what I like in terms of genre but don’t know where to find it outside of Spotify playlists

Try doing some research into your favorite independent artists’ record labels. Independent labels have traditionally tried to present a specific viewpoint in terms of genre, locale, scene, etc. For you, this means that your favorite artists probably have some labelmates whose music aligns with your taste. Check out some of the longer-tenured indie label websites’ “Roster” or “Artists” pages and see if you find anyone you already know. If a song you like has a featured artist, see if they are signed to a different label and check out that label’s artists.

Tier 3 — Indie-label head: I know everything there is to know about indie labels and I want to go deeper

Great, now it’s time for unsigned or self-signed artists. Finding great unsigned artists is hard work– they usually don’t have access to the PR / marketing machine and thus require deeper digging to find. Record labels pay people (A&Rs) good salaries to do exactly this work; be aware that it’s not always easy but it is immensely rewarding to have the privilege of being “early” to discover small unsigned artists.

The most immediate way to discover unsigned music is by attending local concerts. The twin cities (and most mid-sized US cities) have vast music scenes with tons of talent performing nightly. You can research local venues to get a sense for what sorts of acts they tend to book, or find the nearest venue and buy a ticket at the door. Local shows are also a great way to meet other aficionados to exchange recommendations. Regularly attending concerts and meeting concert-goers, venue staff, and artists/performers is a surefire way to discover great local music.

Tier 4 — I’m at the shows: I know everyone in the local scene and I want to have cooler taste than all my friends

Outside of shows, becoming a part of music communities is another easy way to discover new music. In Part III I will go more in-depth about music communities/scenes and ways to participate in them. For now, I will define “music community” as any group of people that share a common interest in music. Some examples:

• regulars at a music bar
• a group of friends you already have with (even partially) aligning music taste
• a sub-reddit for a specific artist e.g. /r/frankocean
• a Facebook group centered around music e.g. Twin Cities, MN Music Scene

Becoming actively involved in an already-established music community will inevitably lead to a solid stream of new music recommendations. Making a conscious effort to engage in social music discussions (whether it be online or in-person) is the ultimate way of discovering great music.

All of this may seem obvious– and it is! Yet, it still bears repeating. Spotify has succeeded in rotting our brains. Before streaming we all spent time selecting, purchasing, downloading, and transferring tracks to iPods, Spotify has rendered this thought unacceptable now. Step one of making music better is acknowledging that the algorithmic streaming system has made us lazy and feeds us slop. Creating a financially sustainable future for artists depends on listeners willing to exert some effort and rejecting the machine’s music taste.

To be continued…

Part II: Artist-centric, economically sustainable music-listening

Part III: Participating in musical community

Part IV: Becoming an advocate-patron