Discovery of the Middle in an Impossible Musical Dispute:

There is a battle going on over Spotify because of accusations that their star podcaster is spreading “misinformation” over the airwaves. Regardless of what the truth will turn out to be, people are currently cancelling their music subscriptions for purely political purposes. Now Spotify is stuck in an almost impossible situation because there is no way to please both sides of this awkward disputation.

I can understand that some people may take offense to the opinions of certain podcast personalities, but I couldn’t imagine throwing away my entire music collection because of that. I’m way too much of a fan of the service I guess. There’s no way I could ever go back to terrestrial radio again, and I’ve donated all of my old CD’s to charity. I probably wouldn’t listen to them anyway because my tastes have evolved and changed considerably since those days.

I’m old enough to have operated old record players and 8-track cassettes. I’ve probably listened to every genre in every decade at some point. I’ve been a member of monthly music-by-mail services like BMG back in the 80’s. Created contraband cassettes using scotch tape and “obscene” rap music. Satellite radio on XM-Sirius, downloads from Napster & Kazaa etc. Burning music on CD’s and MP3’s on iPods. Then Pandora came around and changed everything. A whole new world of musical discovery. But even that great product ran into its own limitations eventually. Enter Spotify at about $10 per month, with access to just about everything instantaneously.

Here is an excellent example of why I love these intelligent music services. Because they “understand” what you like and then offer fresh suggestions every week. Helping you discover all of the musical gems of the world that you would probably never hear on the radio or find just randomly. The following song is called “The Middle” by Bosco Rogers, and I heard it for probably the second time last night. However, I liked it enough to take a look for it on YouTube out of curiosity. Turns out that it’s over 7 years old, but only has 167,776 views. But on Spotify, it has over 3 million listens! Why? Because it’s a great song that can be suggested through discovery. And I have dozens more obscure tracks like these in multiple genres in my ever expanding music library thanks to Spotify. If they have a good enough video, I’ll probably post them all here eventually. Enjoy and stay tuned.

About The Author

Blake Walley

Blake Walley is a writer, reporter and producer. An idealist and truth-seeker obsessed with the future. A new media trailblazer and outside-the box-thinker. Former Las Vegas bartender influenced by Gonzo journalism. Inspired, eccentric, and always up for a challenge. Blake has been making waves for 10 years with his original analysis and creative style.

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