[shadowofneptune]

Simple answer might just be that there's only so much that can differentiate one streaming service from another.

If we're making comparisons to the traditional music industry, the streaming services might not be the labels -- they could be the recording formats. Just as with buying a CD player vs buying a Minidisc player, very few people with go through the cost or effort to use many different forms of media.

[denimnerd42]

I still think automated playlist creation has a ways to go. That would be the differentiator to me. I hate spending time creating playlists because I have horrible memory of bands and song names. For some reason there isn't enough feedback on the app I use though. For example there's no "I love this song, but you've played this song too much for me lately"

[will_pseudonym]

YMMV, but I got 4 months of Tidal for $1 as a Black Friday deal, and I really felt like its "radio" feature was better than other services. It's one reason I miss Tidal over Spotify.

[runarberg]

I’m one of the people that still tune in to the radio and listen music programmed by professionals. I don’t subscribe to any streaming service, so I can’t speak for the decline, but perhaps during the pandemic more people spending more time at home find robotic programing on the streaming services inferior to human curated music on the radio.

[andreareina]

I feel like Pandora was very good for this, at least up to the point that I left the States and could no longer subscribe.

[harlanji]

I make a new playlist each year. I seed it with some stuff, and it’s locked in place at the end of the year. Same Spotify handle as HN. Add a song here and there, perfect the flow, make sure it shuffles.

[dragonwriter]

> If we're making comparisons to the traditional music industry, the streaming services might not be the labels -- they could be the recording formats.

The streaming services are more like a hybrid of radio stations and music retail stores; they are where people go to listen to and/or buy recordings.