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"Justin Fowler\u00A0is the co-founder of\u00A0Audio Press\u00A0\u2013\u00A0a way to consume news and content through audio.\r\n\r\n\r\nWhen Pandora Radio launched in January of 2000, it didn\u2019t seem to\u00A0catch on until that half of the decade. By using algorithms, Pandora was able to make a personalized radio station based on a song or artist of your choice.\r\nSeveral years later, the formula remains mostly the same, with more technology to\u00A0create the\u00A0listening experience possible. But along the way, a\u00A0trend has resurfaced: human curation.\r\nYes, much like the mix tapes and CDs of the past, playlists are back in the spotlight. With the launch of Beats Music (part Apple's recent acquisition), Songza (recently acquired by Google) and similar services, the human curation of music has been given a revival, steering listeners away from selections picked by a computer.\r\n\r\nMultiple use cases, one radio\r\nFinding music through personalized radio stations like Pandora and Spotify is an awful way to discover new music. I\u2019ve tried several different options\u00A0from\u00A0Rdio to iTunes Radio and have not found an experience I enjoyed and could rely upon to find new music.\r\nWhy?\u00A0People use personal radio stations for various reasons. I\u2019ve used Pandora Radio to play music at a party or get together, yet I expect it to be able to work for discovery, too. Rdio is going in the right direction here;\u00A0it\u00A0lets you choose whether you want to listen to the \u201Cartist only,\u201D or go full \u201Cadventurous,\u201D with a total of five options in that spectrum.\r\nPlaylists, on the other hand, typically have a given purpose; they're grouped specifically to fit an event or function. A playlist allows the listener to get a glimpse into the tastes of the creator(s) of the playlist, instead of the results from lines of code.\r\n\r\nNot the way it was meant to be played\r\n\r\nThere is something to be said about the way that music is played, and in what order. Songza got this part right with its concierge service. Depending on your mood or activity, you are then paired with a playlist that is played in a specific order. It's not a streaming\u00A0station that merely picks the next song based on what it thinks you\u2019ll like.\r\nThere is a time and place for the shuffle button. But, albums and playlists are typically put in a specific order for a reason, and right now, that\u2019s not something that radio services seem to care about.\r\nSongza, 8tracks and Beats Music have a common focus: human-created playlists. Despite being \u201Clow tech\u201D when compared to music algorithms, playlists still offer a listening and discovery experience that feels authentic.\r\n\r\nA look into someone else\u2019s tastes\r\nThe unique thing about a playlist is how human it is. When you create a playlist, you\u2019re sharing information about yourself. Sharing a playlist allows for others to look into your music tastes and even into your personality.\r\nThis connection is what makes following artists on services like Spotify seem more emotionally-invested. You get to hear music that the artists are inspired by, and what they're currently jamming to at this very moment.\r\nA playlist has a set beginning and end. It is also set in a specific order for the listener. This makes the discovery experience better because you know when you can move on to the next playlist. On a personalized radio, there\u2019s no telling when you\u2019re going to find the \u201Csweet spot,\u201D when it starts playing the songs you like.\r\n\r\nHuman-curation empowered with technology\r\n\r\nWith all that said, relying on solely humans to create playlists is not always practical, yet algorithms alone aren't\u00A0quite enough. As Tim Cook put it, \u201CBeats doesn\u2019t ask people what they want to listen to. It tells them. That\u2019s curation.\u201D\r\nSpotify and Rdio both have about 20 million songs or more. How can someone possibly be expected to know what they want to listen to out of a sea of songs?\r\nIt takes a blend of both algorithms and human curation to find the right music at the right time.\r\nAlgorithm heavy services do not get much better when you listen and like/dislike more songs. It even seems that by liking and disliking certain songs, we are\u00A0\u201Cconfusing\u201D the radio and\u00A0taking it in a completely different direction.\r\nA human can see things in a song that an algorithm cannot see. For now.\r\nContext is key for music, and that is where services like Songza and Beats Music are picking up tips from FM radio. These services are essentially using algorithms to help people discover new playlists, instead of discovering new songs. This allows for a marriage of both technology and human curation.\r\n\r\nWhat's next for music startups\r\nThe playlist hasn\u2019t changed in a long time. Right now, it\u2019s just a list of songs that play in order. I think there\u2019s room for music startups to grow if they can make the playlist even better.\r\nThe good news for music startups is that the service with the most advanced\u00A0algorithms won\u2019t necessarily be the best service out there. By building the right community, music startups will\u00A0be able to thrive by having superior human curators - paid or unpaid.\r\nDon't miss:\u00A0Gramofon: a cheap Wi-Fi router that lets you stream Spotify to any speaker"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/dd/2014/07/12/crave-human-curated-playlists/>