Damon Krukowski’s “Power” episode explores the effects of digital distribution of art and how it affects our choice/selection of music. He elaborates on this idea by describing the function of the algorithms used by massive streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. These algorithms are designed to maximize usage of their services. The algorithms goal is to keep consumer retention through creating custom generated playlists based on AI interpretation of the music they listen to. After all, alienating your consumers music taste doesn’t live up to the new modern paradigm of tailored consumer experience. In a system that rewards sameness, powerful and exciting music that you would otherwise never hear, become marginalized as its punished for not matching up with your tailored experience. Therefore permanently held outside our view of the millions of songs already competing for our attention. Powerful corporations have such a handle on our consumption of music, that it’s difficult to exploit the enormous power and value in marginalized music. We miss opportunities to challenge our music taste and inherently prohibit the discovery of some of the best music the world has to offer.

Another take on the influence of streaming services, are who the algorithm uplifts. Musicians with access to better financial and/or circumstantial opportunities will have an advantage in “beating” the algorithm and achieving some form of success on these platforms. This inevitably means that musicians of underprivileged backgrounds never have their art – their truths heard and spoken to the masses, forever lost in the others millions of song that’ll never be heard in the mainstream.