"Tracks on Tracks"

A well-deserved rant on Apple Music's lazy "curation"

Warning: Some cussing ahead.

Another reason why curation has failed

Hey folks,

Sorry for the double email today. Today’s track recommendation is in a separate email to follow.

I was on the Underground in Toronto yesterday and I saw this ad for Apple Music’s Tracks on Tracks.

“Change here for Line 4.”

I checked out the website and what I found shocked me. I’m generally a calm person, but this left me fucking seething.

The first playlist was Halsey’s discography. That’s right—45 songs, all by Halsey dumped shamelessly into one playlist.

“Enjoy your commute with the best of Halsey.”

That’s a given if you have EVERY Halsey song on there, yes? (facepalm)

Another one was the “Chill Commute”. Two problems here:

• you have a LOT of ambient noise on any public transport and it will be impossible to listen to instrumental music

• How is this curation when there’s no diversity?—most tracks are by an artist named Ludovico Einaudi

Then come the celebrity “curators”—this time it’s Sam Fender

Featuring the artists you need on your radar now, including Billie Eilish,…

I’m so flabbergasted that I turned British. YOU WAT M8?

Unless all of us were in a collective ketamine-induced coma since two thousand and fucking seventeen, Billie Eilish has been MORE than on our radars. There’s an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to the awards she’s rightfully won. That’s like saying Bill Gates should be on the radar for the world’s richest people. Is Sam Fender even “curating” this playlist?

The next travesty is this atrocious promise:

We have you covered with the newest and best music

And it has Heat Waves by Glass Animals. From 2020.

Then come the usual culprits- Genre Playlists. The Pop Playlist is “curated” by Selena Gomez.

More Billie Eilish, Maroon 5, Ellie Goulding and Imagine Dragons.

I mean, where is the creativity, the intention? Why is each track there on that playlist, in the order that it’s in? How could I know that some algorithm couldn’t have just slapped that whole thing together? I mean my friend was writing terminal scripts on Ubuntu to list all the songs he had on his hard disk back in 2006.

“I’m in!”

You deserve better as a reader and listener

I spend a good part of each day thinking about the songs I want to share, the stories behind them, or simply time to stitch together irreverent copy. I’ve been doing this daily for 3 months, without missing a day. I want you all to take a moment to reflect on the efforts all music newsletter writers on this platform are putting in to give you the email you enjoy daily, weekly, or fortnightly.

Take a minute and open the Discover page for the Music category. Find someone you vibe with and make their day. Tell them Nikhil sent you. Sign up and engage with their work as you do with mine. Consider upgrading to a monthly subscription if you can afford it. Recommend their work. Make them go viral.

Just because someone in corporate thought “Tracks on Tracks” was inspired copywriting manna doesn’t mean you have to buy their insipid, uninspired, lackluster, and lazy bullshit.

Buy me a coffee instead.

-Nikhil.