Music / mp3 blogs were one of the heights of the free and open internet. RSS, Hype Machine [0] (an aggregator), blog rolls, back links, etc, all allowed for both discovery and taste-making in an organic way that still let individuality shine through. New artists could gain visibility just by emailing a couple MP3’s. One could find a subset of blogs that matched one’s general taste and discover new artists every week.

Today’s world of algorithms and an endless sea of new music really pales in comparison. It’s completely soulless.

[0] - https://hypem.com/popular

HypeMachine was a core memory of my adolescence. I reminisce on the way the site encouraged music discovery through the aggregation of all the little niche blogs, among those pigeons and planes. Memories of Sitting in my room with old headphones while sorting by most recent. Unfortunately nothing has ever replaced it for me and unfortunately it has faded slowly as Spotify and SoundCloud gained more prominence. I agree, music discovery has become soulless…