David Hard

Q: Apple Music thinks I'm stuck in the 90's.

So, I thought Apple Music was supposed to be all about analyzing your musical tastes and pushing so-called curated playlists to your "For You" feed. Well... Apple Music doesn't get me, at all. Apparently, it thinks I am stuck in the 90's and only want to listen to bands like the Pixies and Sonic Youth. Yes. I love those bands. They are among my favorites. I own nearly every Pixies album and Sonic Youth album because that's what I primarily listened to when I was in my early 20's. But my musical tastes have evolved beyond that.

(And just a side note. If I already own every Sonic Youth album, I probably don't need to be getting playlists called "Intro to Sonic Youth" in my "For You" feed. I think I'm already very well aquatinted with that band.)
I own a lot of other music too! Everything from newer electronic music, to old school funk and soul, to new folk and bluegrass music. I make it a point to make new playlist that have everything BUT 90's indie music. I go out of my way to "like" all kinds of music. 70's punk. 80's synth. 90's hip-hop and R&B. and all of the new stuff by new and emerging artists that's coming out now. And still, Since I signed up for Apple Music, all I get is all 90's indie rock, all the time. I want Apple Music to show me something new. Don't "introduce" me to stuff I already know.

Does anyone know how I can train Apple music to be better at recommending eclectic and new music?

Posted on Feb 23, 2016 11:39 AM

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Q: Apple Music thinks I'm stuck in the 90's.

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  • by judysings,

    judysings judysings Feb 24, 2016 12:18 PM in response to David Hard
    Community Specialists
    Feb 24, 2016 12:18 PM in response to David Hard

    Hi David,

    The resource below explains your two options for training Apple Music.  Basically, tap more hearts (favorites) for the new music that you like and update your choices to remove old favorites that you no longer need to be reminded of.

    Refine the For You suggestions in Apple Music on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC

    Take care,

  • by David Hard,

    David Hard David Hard Feb 25, 2016 12:50 PM in response to judysings
    Level 1 (95 points)
    Feb 25, 2016 12:50 PM in response to judysings

    Thanks.

    I actually have done a lot of the things outlined in that article already. I do make it a point to "heart" new music that I want to see in my suggested music feed, I don't think I've ever "hearted" Sonic Youth (even though I do love their music) and have made lots and lots of playlists with new music and music from a lot of different genres. Everything from Bluegrass and americana to experimental electronic music to 60's soul to new hip-hop and R&B. All of which I've "hearted" the heck out of.

    And yet, currently, the top suggested playlists in my "For You" feed are things like, "Modest Mouse: influences" (which is all 90's indie music, by the way), "Indie Hits: 1996"  and "Intro to Lush." (I own nearly every lush Album, so again, I don't really need an introduction.) Not a single bluegrass mix, or new hip hop and R&B. It's all 90's  indie music, all the time.

    Like I said, I DO like 90's music, so I don't want to lie to the algorithm and say that I don't. I would like those preferences to be factored in when making suggestions to me. I just thought that maybe it wouldn't ONLY give me 90's music.

    Weird.

    Maybe I'll experiment a little and reset the music preferences and say I don't like Sonic youth and the Pixies. See what happens.

  • by David Hard,

    David Hard David Hard Feb 29, 2016 10:27 AM in response to judysings
    Level 1 (95 points)
    Feb 29, 2016 10:27 AM in response to judysings

    OK. So now I'm thoroughly confused. I don't know what the Apple Music algorithm uses to make recommendations. But it doesn't seem to factor in anything I put into the "choose artists for you" feature. I experimented with it over the weekend and the results were usually the same. Mostly 90's alternative music.

    I tried resetting the bubble app and completely eliminated "Alternative," "Indie," "experimental," from the choices. I chose genres like Classical and Christian Gospel, and other Genres that I normally wouldn't choose, just for the sake of experimentation. Then, when the app asked me to choose artists, I made sure to avoid any artists even remotely related to 90's indie and alternative artists. I chose people like Mary j blige, The alman Brothers and Leonard Bernstein.

    And guess what. The for you feed DID give me a bunch of new playlists. But the very first one was titled, "Indie Hits: 1990" with the very first track being a Sonic Youth track.

    So I thought maybe I should give it a day. Maybe I needed to give it time to change it's recommendations. The next crop of playlists had a playlist at the top titled "Feminism in the 90's."

    No christian gospel music. no classical music, no Mary J. Blige.

     

    ALSO, I've been trying to use the "I don't like this suggestion" feature. I'm not really a huge fan of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, so I marked it as something I didn't Like. The next day I had two playlists that featured Yeah Yeah Yeah's songs.

     

    So something is broken. Or the algorithm just isn't that good to begin with, Or Jimmy Iovine is making all the playlists, He is DEFINITELY stuck in the 90's.