I get that there are three things this site will think I should be ashamed of:
- Using Alexa
- Using Spotify
- Being a Collective Soul fan
I will accept criticism of the first two, but not the third. I’m a loud and proud Collective Soul fan, I’ve been to at least 10-12 of their concerts, they rock
We have an Amazon Echo. My wife got one and loves it as do my kids so I’m stuck with it. I hate Spotify as the CEO is a huge Zionist. I plan on migrating to Deezer or something once I get around to copying my playlists.
Anyway, since I was cooking I grudgingly decided to use Alexa to play some Collective Soul. Shouldn’t be a problem, they just had the most #1 Alterative Rock hits on Billboard during the 90s (not a typo) and over 3.8 million monthly users.
I said the precise statement into the Echo speaker:
“Alexa, plays songs by Collective Soul on Spotify”
The response was “playing songs by Machine Soul Collective”
I tried a few different variations of the same statement, and each time Alexa directed me to this Machine Soul Collective “band”.
Turns out it’s just AI generated slop “music” with only a few thousand monthly listeners.
So what gives here? Why is Alexa not playing music from a major band and instead directing me to AI slop? Is this intentional? Do they make more money by not paying royalties to an actual band? I don’t know but this is really bugging me.
intentional, i linked article this year that spotify was diluting its playlists both with gig instrumentation and pure ai, so that one, say, electronic ambient playlist will play some mix of artists with labels and random stuff they cobbled themselves.
one might suspect proliferation of seo is next logical step.
Spotify tries to get it’s users to listen to songs that aren’t part of their normal revenue split with the major record labels.
There was an article a while back about how their auto-playlists were dominated by a handful of tiny labels. These record labels make deals with a smaller revenue split, but with the promise of being forced on to users. For the label it makes sense since nobody was listening to these songs anyway, so some money is better than no money. And it makes sense for Spotify since they make more money as well.
It is probably intentional
Lot to unpack here. First of all, Collective Soul is awesome. I love the self titled album but honestly didn’t really follow them after that. Sorry. But they do rock and I’m glad to see someone still loves them. That’s really cool.
Second, don’t think Alexa cares what Spotify songs pay more. Alexa is an Amazon service. Not the same company.
Third, Spotify is changing how AI slop works on the service. I thought they were taking it off but I think they’re just scaling it back. I don’t think they pay people who upload AI slop much less though.
I just don’t get why Alexa would think I want some AI slop no one listens to instead of an actual band. Maybe it’s just a weird Alexa issue idk
First of all, Collective Soul is awesome
Hell yeah
Probably. I remember there were complains years ago Spotify was forcing Drake tracks into everyone’s playlists because that’s what it wanted people to listen to. They could easily do the same with their own music that means they don’t need to pay anyone.
- Being a Collective Soul fan
I fucking love Collective Soul and agree they fucking rock. “Shine” and “December” are two of the greatest songs of all time.
Sometimes you just have to go Where the River Flows
Great songs
