Spotify is saving music, not ruining it

I love Spotify. It has personalized playlists for every mood based on the songs you’ve saved, it tailors radio stations based off each like and dislike more accurately than Pandora does and it lets you seamlessly share singles, albums and playlists between friends. I can’t remember life before Spotify.

It can be difficult to communicate music with friends who have Apple Music or some other streaming service because it’s harder to share our music tastes. Links to new songs have to be typed into search bars, playlists have to be copied and queues of songs have to be made on the fly instead of with a simple swipe.

Music is an integral part of experiencing and sharing our lives with people around us. We have upbeat tunes for happy road trips, somber playlists for those days we don’t want to get out of bed and pump-up songs for when we want to lift like the Hulk. The curation of playlists for every type of environment can keep you in a bubble, but it’s also perfect for when you need a change of mental scenery.

If you’ve ever wanted to write in a Parisian café, Spotify has got you. There’s a whole genre for coffeehouse music. Are you doing AcroYoga or Zumba? The workout playlists have everything from “going on a run” to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. You can even learn a new language through playlists with lessons on vocabulary and songs sung in that language.

Now more than at any other point in history, music is incredibly accessible. It’s even possible to put your own sound out into the music-verse. Music sharing sites like SoundCloud have created a whole genre, called “SoundCloud rap”, and continue to be where underground artists can make a career out of streams and social media presence.

However, with the streaming services and music becoming easier to access, it has become more difficult for artists to earn their fair share. Some artists have resorted to streaming on alternative services like Beyoncé, whose album “Lemonade” can only be streamed on Tidal, her husband Jay-Z’s streaming service. Older artists, in contrast, focus more on selling physical albums, like CDs and vinyls.

Technology continuously draws our attention with social media and communication, but the individual medium of music players can slow you down and let you enjoy the music with intention. Listening to an old vinyl on a record player is truly a different experience from listening with your Apple AirPods.

The music world continues to explode in a flurry of creative expression, with artists finding their audiences and niches. Music will become even more refined. The sheer amount of music means you have reason to worry that you’re missing out on your new favorite artist or even genre. But there’s so much that we can fall in love with if we allow ourselves the time to listen.

I’ve found some of my favorite musicians through friend recommendations. my Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify reaches into the depths of the music world to bring back similar, yet new, sounds. You won’t always find something you like, but you can find something new that could lead you to something you’ll love. We live in a time when music doesn’t necessarily have to be found because it finds us. We get to experience different genres and viewpoints by hitting shuffle, which will allow us to stay connected in a cyberworld.

Daniel Gamboa is a UF journalism sophomore. His column appears on Fridays.