I am not music snob as I currently have electronica of some sort in my Spotify playlist (see this sample below).

My girls are incredulous when they heard this playlist and asked, Mommy, why are you listening to that?!

I try to be adventurous when it comes to things I love, like music. Just to see what’s out there.

However, I do agree with Rick Beato. Everything is just too easy nowadays. AI-generated music, streams that go down the drain, the disposability of everything that is created nowadays. The Billboard Top 100 these days is anemic. My kids are listening to music that is 10 or 20 years old because they’re better, as they said.

But streaming apps like Spotify and SoundCloud did open opportunities for deserving artists. It opened up my world and playlists even without going to indie music haunts like 70s Bistro. I found gems like Raining in Manila by Lola Amour, which is reminiscent of the Manila Sound of the 1970s and early 1980s.

They have a similar vibe (for me) as IV of Spade, especially with this song Mundo. They sound like children of VST & Co, in a good way. Like old school music that feel familiar but isn’t.

Without streaming, I wouldn’t have discovered local artists like these below.

Before streaming, before Apple Music Store, before Limewire, people were stuck with whatever is being played on mainstream radio—which is very much influenced by the political economy of the medium and music business in general. I remember I wrote a paper in grad school about this. I can’t remember if it was for a broadcasting course but anyway, I was lucky that I have a high school friend who used to work for Alpha Records who I interviewed for this.

So yes, we are making AI music nowadays, devoid of creativity all for a quick buck. We are creating disposable music. However, there are still gems out there that are now given bigger platforms and they will find their audience, unlike before when you’re at the mercy of radio stations. If you don’t get airplay, you’re dead.

Maybe, just maybe, we should all do away with the normal practice of seeking what is on the Billboard Top 100 or even the list of the most streamed songs. Those lists these days are mostly garbage. And don’t get me started on the TikTok viral music. 🙄

There are better music out there.