Opinion: Have we really hit a point where music is a chore?
When I first started paying for Spotify Premium, the main feature that drew me in was being able to control my music queue. While using the free version of the app, I could still build playlists and shuffle them, but a premium account lets me decide exactly what to listen to next. Anyone who’s ever met me (or even walked past me when I’m wearing one of my million band shirts) knows that music plays a massive role in my life, so when Spotify launched an AI DJ, I was intrigued. Essentially a personalization of Spotify’s existing algorithm, the DJ plays around five songs of a certain mood or theme before cutting in to introduce the next song. I’m a DJ for the campus radio station, KWVA, and I was curious how the program would measure up.
I walked away from the experience frustrated, believe it or not. Fundamentally, the DJ isn’t very different from Spotify’s regular recommendation algorithm. One major difference that drives me up the wall is that you can’t see the queue of what the DJ will play next. Though this mimics the radio in some ways, I’m not a fan. And for a program that’s supposed to know all about me and my tastes, it misses the mark more than I’d like. Of course it does! There’s just no way an algorithm can “know” what I want to listen to at any given time better than I do. Other times, the DJ makes minor choices that are just plain bizarre, like saying R.E.M. and Aretha Franklin have the same “vibe” or that “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones is perfect for a fun family barbecue. In what world?
The thing that really drives me crazy, though, is the voice it uses. It’s based on the company’s head of cultural partnerships, Xavier Jernigan, and I’m sure he’s a perfectly lovely person. It’s just strange to me to know that the voice isn’t really human because it’s coming from a machine and there’s no one at the other end of that. Call it jealousy on my part, but it’s annoying that artificial intelligence can talk with that knowing-tastemaker quality I’m trying so hard to cultivate.
I still think real DJs win the battle, though. When I’m on air (Thursday 8-10 AM on KWVA!), I make an effort not only to share facts about the songs and bands I’m playing, but also to add a personal touch. I talk about the concerts that I’ve been to and share memories of the people and moments that introduced me to the music I like. No artificial DJ can share the memory of Bob Dylan glancing at it while playing “To Be Alone With You,” which is something that really happened to me, I swear. Though Spotify claims that the DJ shares facts about the music it plays, I’ve found in my own experience that this feature is lacking and surface-level at best. None of the personalization is there.
Maybe after reading this, you’re convinced that I’m just a bitter old radio grouch, and I’m certainly not going to argue that point. You’ve got me there. Of course, I have a personal stake in traditional radio, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t wish more people listened to it. That said, Spotify’s AI disturbs me not only as a DJ, but as a person. I’m curious about when we got too lazy to choose the songs we listen to.
Every time I’ve heard AI pitched in a positive way, people champion its ability to complete boring jobs so that humans have availability for more fulfilling work. In reality, I notice that it seems to be used more frequently to take over the creative sphere. For something that was supposed to be used for menial tasks, it does a lot of writing and drawing. It troubles me to see AI being used to replace creativity, especially since its output lacks the fundamental human element of truly meaningful art.
If we’re really at a point where it’s too boring to even pick the songs we listen to, I have genuine concern for the future of art. Technological innovation is interesting, of course, and I still have hope that AI could be used to genuinely help people and make a positive difference in the world. That said, its current creative applications are misguided and I, for one, have no desire to be spoon fed entertainment from an algorithm that doesn’t know me as well as it thinks it does.
