Artists vs. the Algorithm: The Importance of Artist-Curated Music

Across the Horizon releases playlists from its first 55 episodes across all platforms

Playlisting is an important part of everything SUSS does. In the early days, before there was SUSS, we were using the playlists of Spotify and Pandora to discover new music that related to our diverse interests, ranging from Ry Cooder to Brian Eno to John Cage. What we heard in these playlists ultimately informed a lot of our initial artistic direction. This was 10-15 years ago, and if you can remember back that far, playlists were a pretty useful tool. They helped us all discover new artists and make the connections between lots of different music.

Even in the early days of SUSS, when we started making our own playlists, we found that they were a great way to not only put SUSS’ music into context, but also begin defining the type of music that we were calling “ambient country.” It was very interesting to see others copying our playlists and adding their own spin on it. And it was our first inkling that what we were doing was more about building a community around a love of this type of music rather than defining a musical genre.

At the same time, we were also aware that the major streaming platforms (or DSPs) were starting to create playlists around this music using algorithms rather than human taste and curation. Playlists were suggesting that we listen to music that we already owned or listened to and passing it off as “discovery.” The end result was less engagement, fewer surprises, more homogeneity; more music from the bigger, established acts, and less from the up-and-coming artists that we were more interested in.

Our reaction to this was to move beyond playlists and create a podcast (originally called Ambient Country, hosted by Bob) that added more context to the music we were listening to — and that we knew others were listening to as well. And once Bob started having co-hosts bring their own playlists onto the show, the diversity of the playlist music grew exponentially.

This all ultimately evolved into what is now known as the Across the Horizon music series — the first label project (as far as we know) that puts the curation and selection of music into the hands of the artists themselves. In other words, “What would you do if you could invite eight artists onto your label every year and then let them choose two other artists to join them? Where would it go and what would it sound like?”

The music series was built to be entirely artist-centered and pure 100% human-curated content –– responding in defiance to a climate of algorithmic playlisting and artificial intelligence DJs. The Across the Horizon music series is a celebratory acknowledgment of the human relationships at the center of music, the chance encounters and all that beauty that emerges from collaboration.

Which brings us back to the concept of playlisting. In a recent interview, Mina Kim of WQED spoke with Liz Pelly, author of “Mood Machine” (a must-read that has become the definitive primer on the topic of streaming music, and playlisting specifically). Liz warned that the dominance of algorithmic playlists on streaming services could mean that individual artists matter less than the playlist itself. She also warned that algorithmic recommendations reinforce existing habits rather than fostering true discovery. “Streaming recommendations are extremely metrics-driven,” she notes in the interview. “The goal isn’t to introduce you to new music — it’s to keep you streaming.”

Like Ms. Pelly, SUSS doesn’t believe there is a single solution to the playlisting problem, but we do encourage listeners to take action by buying music directly from artists, supporting independent labels and radio like NTS (where Bob hosts a monthly show called, The Across the Horizon Radio Hour), and seek out trusted critics and curators instead of relying on algorithms.

As Ms. Kim wrote in the same article, “Ultimately, reclaiming the value of music will require multiple approaches — but it starts with recognizing that streaming, as it stands, is built to serve platforms and major labels, not artists or listeners.”

To that end, SUSS is very excited to finally launch its first cross-platform collection of artist-curated playlists based on all the music played in the first 55 episodes of the Across the Horizon podcast. These playlists are curated by SUSS as well as the co-hosts of these podcasts — hosts including David Moore, Hayden Pedigo, William Tyler, Marisa Anderson and many, many more. You can find them HERE.

Until next time, thanks for listening, finding new music and letting us know what you think!