[tshaddox]

I didn’t even try to upload my own songs. I just want to add stuff to my library and then be able to browse everything in my library by artist and album. On the iPhone app, this is impossible, which is absolutely baffling.

[aeon97]

The only way to get around this is to make playlists that are just different albums, which is what I do. Not a great system, and I think it has actually changed the way I listen to music for the worse

[dingaling]

Why hold on to the concept of a library? I just pick a genre that fits my mood and let ${MUSIC_SERVICE} generate a playlist. If I don't like a song I just skip it.

I don't see any advantages of spending time and effort curating a library, which harks back to the days of physical media.

[Tsiklon]

There's a couple of things I object to there, because personally I really enjoy exploring new music and the back catalogue of bands.

Some artists really put effort into developing their albums or EPs as a coherent expression. If we all were to change to experiencing music like you describe it would inevitably result in a sea change in how the art is created in the first place. Artists will look to optimize for that particular method of consumption, in much the same way we have a large focus on individual track releases now in the streaming dominated world. I feel this limits the expression of the artists in general

I think that this would lead to further stagnancy or homogeneity in the most popular genres, as the playlist generation will look to optimize for the most listeners. This would come at the expense of artists who are not already in the public's sphere of consciousness, and would deeply hurt genres which have infinitely deep pools of sub-genres and micro-scenes; the world of Heavy Metal comes to mind specifically here. I think this damages the overall health of popular music in totality.

More interestingly because music in general is an incredibly subjective experience, opinionated tastemakers can be crucial for exposing underground or breaking through artists to a larger audience. Historically people like John Peel, and more recently Anthony Fantano (TheNeedleDrop) bring new music from underground artists in a wide range of genres to people's attention. It can feel like a minor triumph when you discover a new album that just speaks to you in a style of music you have no grounding in, especially when it's recommended to you by someone you know or trust.

While you may listen to more music in the way you describe, I don't think it would invoke nearly the same level of connection that I feel now, personally I find that to be a bit bleak, and self-defeating in the long term.

[edhebert]

Sometimes the discrete unit I am looking to listen to is the album, not just a song.