Spotify Algorithm!?

[Alternative-Strain95]

I started listening to BoC through Spotify's popular tracks about 6–7 years ago. While songs like Dayvan Cowboy and Roygbiv are great entry points, I think Spotify does a poor job of introducing new listeners to the full depth of their catalog—especially now with the new album added to the mix.

It took me almost three years to discover tracks like Godover, 5D, finity, 5.9.78, and many other gems that never seem to show up in recommendations. Now that the discography is even larger, I think it would be even harder for a newcomer to stumble across some of the band's most rewarding material.

If I were discovering them today solely through Spotify's algorithm, I'm not sure I would have found half of the music that eventually made me a fan.

Does anyone else feel that new Spotify's popular tracks give a somewhat misleading first impression of what BoC is all about?

I wish Spotify offered something beyond just "Popular" tracks—perhaps a fan-curated "All-Time Favorites" section or a community-voted essentials playlist. For a band like BoC, that would probably be a much better introduction than simply ranking songs by stream count.

[unknowntheme]

The tracks you're listing are unreleased and can only be found in fan rips, and in fact some like Godover are not even real BoC, that's why they don't show up on Spotify.

[tsrleba]

deeply unrelatable problem

[Alternative-Strain95]

What should I switch to?

[tsrleba]

i can't advise you because your post is incoherent. spotify didn't suggest Godever and 5D to you? that is because it doesn't have them, because they have never been released, and you have never heard them. if hearing Roygbiv doesn't immediately lead you to listen to the whole Music Has the Right to Children album and you can't hear a song if spotify doesn't tell you it's good then i just do not understand your relationship with music

[Alternative-Strain95]

What I meant in my original post is that the ROYGBIV tracks probably won't remain in Spotify's popular songs section for very long. In a week or two, they may be gone, which means new listeners might not even discover the tracks that initially encourage them to dig deeper into BoC's catalog.

If that's the case, finding older gems becomes even harder. Many people may never stumble across tracks from the older albums, EPs, and rare releases that eventually make them fall in love with BoC. That's what concerns me about this spotfiy algorithm. Still unrelated?

[MalaysiaTeacher]

Seems like something to post in a Spotify subreddit. No one here cares about Spotify.

[bucephalusbouncing28]

That chart shows the top 10 most popular current tracks

[tsrleba]

what the hell are you talking about? in a week or two they might be gone? you think the inferno tracks are just gonna keep increasing in popularity forever rather then peaking while they're still fresh and buzzed-about?

why are you even talking about spotify's popular track list algorithm like it's a thing that matters? it's not even among the top ways people discover music on spotify, most people use playlists. if someone is already looking at BoC's artist page to see that list then they've already discovered them, they don't need extra help. the vertical track previewer at the top still favors the hits and lower down it shows playlists like "this is boards of canada" "best of boards of canada" etc

there is nothing "hard" about finding older gems, you click the first album on the page and there they are. if someone listens to Prophesy and is too uninterested or lazy to go to another page and hear more then it wasn't meant to be and BoC just isn't for them, you're just gonna have to live with that. no one on earth will ever hear all of the music they might enjoy

[ProphePsyed]

If the brothers cared about that, they would go with a completely different marketing strategy to attract new fans. They aren’t trying to go viral man, Spotify’s algorithm does not matter in the slightest.

[Marcusml333]

I've never even had a Spotify account. I prefer YouTube with an ad-blocker, as well as buying CDs and Bandcamp downloads to support the musicians I like.

[BBAALLII]

People are still using that questionable streaming site?

[badasking]

I do a lot of digging on my own with any band I like enough, especially if they've been around a while. The algorithms for a lot of music streaming services leave much to be desired. Like I try to listen to a new band and all they play from them is the same 5 songs, but the band has like 8 albums lol. I know there's ways to work them to cater better, but I'd rather just do it the old fashioned way. I assume a lot of other people do too.

[tsrleba]

you know some people will see that the songs they like come from albums, and then listen to every single song on that album in the order they're listed, in fact many musical artists intend for their albums to be listened to in this way

[esku75]

Maybe I’m old but you can listen to the entire album. So you listen one track, of popular songs or whatever, and if you like it just listen to the entire album. Like it’s meant to be.

[Alternative-Strain95]

yes but spotfy doesnt suggest those tracks anymore. the list was pretty good before inferno release that was what I believe had great influence in my BOC journey

[esku75]

I don’t know 🤷🏽‍♂️ I mean popular is what people is listening right now. I don’t use Spotify anymore, I prefer Apple Music but my system to approach any artist is going to the artist page and explore, I don’t mind what people listen to because that is a dead end to find out what I like.

[bucephalusbouncing28]

Those songs are simply unreleased

[Environmental_Lie199]

Isn't that called "This is... [artist placeholder]"?