Following creators is the lowest context way to get involved in an entertainment. Familiarity doesn’t make something good, or even enjoyable. I find new creators through association with familiar creators. I wanted to like an album named after my (our) hometown, Anderson .Paak’s Oxnard, but two run-throughs didn’t hook me. Maybe after some time I’ll be ready for it. I’m hearing that Ventura is better, but if that doesn’t hook me, .Paak will get a pass in the future.
This brings up a key point for music algorithms. The last time I tried Pandora (maybe 2013/2014) I got burnt out because it’s focused on individual songs. I rarely listen to individual songs. I like albums and playlists of individual artists/bands. I tend to even avoid greatest hits albums and soundtracks. There are few algorithms that focus on albums, and therefore they all overlook me. I get way more value out of the lists at the bottom that include common songwriters or performers than of anything on Apple Music’s “For You” tab. For example, I just looked at the “For You” and scrolled down to “Thursday’s Albums.” There are four recommended “since you’re into Raekwon,” and three of four are already in my library. The only album they came up with that’s not already in my library is Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, which I listened to several times two years ago, but it didn’t hook me. At least they didn’t recommend DAMN. since it’s already in my library.
The things I watch tend to be things I’m sure I want to watch.
This creates media “silos” like the news silos we find ourselves in, but having tightened my attention budget, I don’t take big risks often. Unless I intend to watch passively, like with Triple Frontier, I simply quit watching, or listening, or reading, if something can’t hold my attention. I discussed some reasons for this tangentially in “The Writer’s Age of a Visual Medium”. I listened to every minute of about 200 consecutive episodes of the podcast WTF with Marc Maron, but only listen to the interviews of about 60% now, and only about 10% of the front matter. The remaining interviews either are deleted immediately or get deleted if the first ten minutes don’t engage me. My attention has become more selective.
I actively play against algorithms.
The biggest challenge tech company’s algorithms have with me is that I am cautious about how I share information online, and often work against the tracking devices put in place. 90% of my searches take place via Duck Duck Go, I don’t sign in to Google or use Google Docs unless a collaborator wants to, I don’t post very often on Facebook, or Instagram, or Twitter, and when I sign on, I sometimes purposely counter program, “liking” both right- and left-wing political opinions that I disagree with, following many websites by traveling directly to the url, or using RSS, and not “liking” their posts on social media. My Apple News feed includes the Washington Post and Fox News, and I distrust their narratives equally. I should say, rather, that I trust their bias equally. And I never, ever, “like” or “heart” or “share” an article via Apple News or Facebook, lest they give it more weight somehow. I will occasionally “dislike” or “hide” things so that I see fewer headlines about celebrities and murders, but it doesn’t seem to work because I still find too many to tap on. That’s my own fault — they can still track my attention, as I am certainly susceptible to confirmation bias as well as hate- or shame-clicking. This is why I find Apple the lesser of two evils between them and Android; they seem to protect my information slightly better.
Why recommendations may work better for others.
Most folks consume entertainment without much thought.
I don’t intend this as a criticism. My dear sister, who I would never begrudge her media habits, consumes books, magazines, podcasts, and music. Why she likes them is rarely important to her; she likes them, that is what is important. I am simply much more obsessive about what these things mean, what the value of art and entertainment is, and why it’s important to choose based on even a capricious system of merit. I know I am in a small minority of the world population. And I don’t mean only because I am incredibly privileged. That is a factor, but additionally, I just think about this stuff more, which is neither good nor bad.
It can be very difficult to tell high from low quality.
I think of my own ability to judge, especially when I was younger. There are areas where I don’t have the experience to judge whether something is worth my time. There are albums I listened to fervently five or six years ago that now sound boring and dated. There are artists I loved to pore over who now bore me terribly. There are books I dug into and read series of that I couldn’t bear fifty pages of today. Considering that entertainment’s biggest consumer group is younger than I am in my mid-40s, at best their taste is less developed. And I’m reaching the point where I care less about good from bad. I feel less judgment today toward entertainment than I did even ten years ago. I spend plenty of time looking at Instagram, which outside of personal acquaintances consists mostly of skateboard videos and comics artists’ work-in-progress. I just want a diversion sometimes.
Most consumers have to be told what is available.
The way they are told is in the silo they, or the algorithm, have created for themselves. I aggressively curate my recommendation engines. This does create something a silo, but like I said, I want some connection with the recommendation. Today I find myself searching viewpoints that I don’t have a deep knowledge of, particularly the historically marginalized, and seeing what strikes me. My Twitter feed is loaded with people of color, queer people, women, and marginalized cultures, because I am always interested in underground artists.
The Sopranos Season One is mostly junk.
My taste is my taste, and I find that being told what to watch doesn’t often work.
I need to have some type of qualitative reference point or instinct that the media is of reasonable quality. Some media are easily identified as such. Substandard quality in comics is easy to tell at a glance. If a compelling trailer can’t be cut for even the most boring movie, then either no one cared enough so I don’t care to watch it, or the film is junk. Music is the most taste-specific in my consumption pattern, and I find it easy to tell if something is of interest to me within a vaguely attendant listening of an album.
Television is the hardest, because even my favorite shows have weak first seasons. Personally, I think The Sopranos Season One is mostly junk, and that Mad Men, Veep, Breaking Bad, and even The Wire start off on the wrong foot. Deadwood seems to be the exception that tests the rule. Maybe it’s just that these shows get so much better as they hit their stride, but I’m sure there are good shows that I don’t watch because I lose interest during the first season. Conversely, there are a handful of shows that start so strong, I sometimes wish I stopped after two seasons. Hannibal being my strongest argument.
I acknowledge that free will is much rarer than I’d like to think.
I am a product of my conditioning and my brain function in ways I definitely do not control.
For most media, the talent are the main consideration.
Pop culture is defined by what’s popular. I don’t understand why I seek new creators, but I also don’t understand why others don’t. I already explained that I am obsessive about the people who make the movies, TV, comics, and music that I like, but I speak to people about things all the time and they can’t tell me who made it. I recently had a conversation with someone I trust to recommend quality. While we discussed the Amy Adams, I admitted I hadn’t seen The Fighter, and they said it was great. I mentioned that it was also Darren Aronofsky, and they said, “Oh, I don’t really pay attention to directors.”