I use Apple Music for streaming. I try to give it as much data to work with as possible so it can recommend new music to me. If I like a song, I tap the heart icon. I’m pretty consistent about it. The problem is, as much as I do that, it doesn’t seem to be doing a very good job at helping me discover new music.
Whenever I look at “For You”, what I see is a bunch of playlists which are either collections of songs by musicians I already know, or other things that sound exactly like the music I already know. If it’s going to be learning my preferences – and the preferences of millions of people like me – it’s got a ton of data to work with, and what I’d like is for it to be gently helping me broaden my horizons over time.
What I get is: “You like music by sensitive people with guitars, here’s a whole lot of exaclty that.”
What I want is: “We know you don’t usually listen to hip hop, but we really think you might like this.”
Maybe the problem is that the super conservative choice is the right thing because most people just want to hear music they already know they like over and over again. But, for me, I feel like it’s a big letdown and makes these sorts of services a lot less useful and fun than they could be.
