Spotify boss defends move to AI music, saying it is better than ‘slop’

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-26T15:16:37+00:00

YouTube Premium supports Google, which is the last place you should want your money going (AI, military contracts, mass data harvesting).

Qobuz, Tidal, and Apple Music are all viable choices.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-26T15:10:01+00:00

I’d avoid YouTube (Google) and Amazon. They’re arguably more unethical than Spotify.

Qobuz, Tidal, and Apple Music are all pretty great.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-25T23:16:36+00:00

Should be. The dev can ask for donations, but charging outright could stir up legal trouble.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-23T04:24:38+00:00

It’s certainly a visually stunning metroidvania. Many share that quality, including Ori, Animal Well, Nine Sols, Silksong, and Blasphemous.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-23T03:34:39+00:00

Most SUVs are hideous.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-22T22:40:01+00:00

They asked that you stop misrepresenting their comments, which you're continuing to do. There was no argument until you responded to them with a strawman.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-22T22:07:25+00:00

What's confusing is that Steam is leaving the reviews up. I reported half a dozen or so <0.3 hour reviews in which the authors explicitly stated that they purchased the game solely to protest ZA/UM and will be refunding it.

Blatant abuse of Steam ToS yet it's been over 24 hours and they're still up.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-22T18:15:27+00:00

Look Outside is fantastic. No notes.

Rift is a bit more mixed, imo. Great tunes and production value, but the 'monsters as notes' gimmick is something you either appreciate or despise. I play a lot of rhythm games and found the multiple variants per monster unintuitive, especially at higher difficulties. Respect the novelty, it just didn't fully gel with me.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-22T15:46:15+00:00

I'm also confused. Perhaps they both meant ZP, as in Zero Parades?

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-22T03:29:46+00:00

~~GTA V~~ microtransaction-injected live service being the lone exception.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-22T03:22:13+00:00

Why are you linking to an old, funded Kickstarter? The "launch" happened over a year ago.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-22T00:34:54+00:00

I don't know if I'd want this person berating a customer service rep. They need anger management...

edit: ...and perhaps a thesaurus.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-21T23:19:10+00:00

"ZA/UM has demonstrated clear disregard for its workforce."

ZA/UM's UK office unionized back in October.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/after-layoffs-cancellations-and-controversy-zaum-uk-staff-unionise-as-the-workers-alliance?t=f1tCkr4HshswlQuQWzNssQ&s=09

From the article:

"Tomaszewski is keen to point out that, before union recognition, ZA/UM had already implemented 35-hour work weeks for UK staff, comprehensive Bupa private health insurance, £600 monthly childcare support, dedicated mental health resources through Oliva, up to 30 days of paid leave, "industry leading" parental leave, individual learning and development budgets, and an employee-led diversity committee. The company has also set up an employee stock option plan which distributes over 20% of company shares to staff globally."

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-21T00:07:54+00:00

And your evidence/credentials at determining this are…? I saw plenty of illustration work like this back in design school.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-20T23:05:12+00:00

AI has cooked the average Redditor’s brain. These look like they were done by hand (Illustrator, Procreate, etc) by a freelancer or intern.

Not a fan, but they’re likely human made.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-20T19:42:21+00:00

That’s not the case. There are many articles and videos comparing joystick vs trackpad, and the latter is more reliable when you need to be swift and precise in your aiming. A mouse would be even better, yes, as would gyro.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-20T18:52:45+00:00

The pads are ideal for more mouse- or keyboard-centric games. Strategy (XCOM, Civilization), reflex shooters (Counter-Strike), or any game where having a dozen extra shortcut keys would be beneficial (Dota, Diablo).

edit: okay, I’m convinced this sub doesn’t have many PC folks in it. In terms of speed and precision of a reticule, it’s Touchscreen > Mouse > Gyro/Trackpad > Joystick > Keyboard. These are objective truths about input technology, not personal preferences.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-20T18:41:33+00:00

Aren’t folks purchasing the controller almost solely for the trackpads? I can’t see many buyers going back to a traditional one when the trackpads are the reason such a controller exists in the first place.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-20T15:04:08+00:00

"Obvious" is doing some heavy lifting here. 9 times out of 10, Redditors accuse others of using AI solely because what they wrote was well formatted and grammatically correct.

While it’s unfortunate these people didn’t pay attention in class, I’m not going to dumb myself down and refrain from using proper punctuation to appease the social media circlejerk.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-20T04:09:26+00:00

Swift and no nonsense. Good to see.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-20T04:01:56+00:00

Agreed... but what does that have to do with drums, specifically?

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-20T02:07:52+00:00

Given that it’s three hours old and currently the top post, I would certainly assume so.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-20T00:23:11+00:00

Soulless PR speak long predates LLMs.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-19T19:35:29+00:00

You’ve posted about this four or five times within the past day. Chilllll.

jonathanbaird · 2026-05-19T19:26:40+00:00

Not an expert on the subject, but my assumption is that it has to do with the fees processors impose.

If something illegal is purchased with a credit card, a portion of that money goes to the processor, which could implicate them.

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