[HN Gopher] Applying the Facade Pattern on Spotify for Artists
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       Applying the Facade Pattern on Spotify for Artists
        
       Author : cebert
       Score  : 18 points
       Date   : 2024-04-29 10:12 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (engineering.atspotify.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (engineering.atspotify.com)
        
       | nicholasjarnold wrote:
       | I appreciate that the engineers at Spotify wrote this post, but
       | not because it's a novel solution or because most software
       | engineers don't know this stuff (well, some don't I suppose).
       | However, I find it and others like it helpful to engineering
       | groups that exist outside of tech companies.
       | 
       | Why? It gives those groups and their technical leads something to
       | point to when discussing trade-offs, timelines and investments in
       | technology with product teams or more senior engineering
       | leadership whom might not have had a background in software
       | engineering and architecture. "Don't take my word for it, look at
       | what the engineers at Spotify, et. al. wrote about this topic."
       | 
       | Public service notice: Employing these patterns in small
       | companies that don't have any need for the complexity is an anti-
       | pattern.
        
       | HenryBemis wrote:
       | If only Spotify cared for users' input on the app, the app would
       | feel/look/act much differently. Example - I hate
       | "recommendations". Some time ago I could minimize them, now I
       | cannot any more.. so the-ir garbage is visible.
       | 
       | For any Spotify folks that read this.. anytime you build
       | something, if you REALLY care for people's opinion, go ahead and
       | add a On/Off/Show/Hide/True/False switch on the settings. Duh.. I
       | hate what you do with the app!
        
         | resource_waste wrote:
         | When companies knowingly and intentionally abuse their
         | customers, its time to change.
         | 
         | The company is in a position of power. Microsoft, Apple,
         | Google, all should be avoided if possible. Its not always
         | possible as previously mentioned.
        
         | egypturnash wrote:
         | Vote with your feet. Stop using Spotify. Dust off your
         | carefully-curated collection of music files and your favorite
         | player. Find music review blogs or internet radio stations that
         | you like. Start buying files again. Start buying CDs again and
         | ripping them yourself.
         | 
         | Spotify does what maximizes profit for Spotify, and after
         | almost twenty years of expanding to dominate a lot of the
         | online music space, this is _not_ going to match up much with
         | maximizing its likelyhood to surprise and delight your ears.
        
         | retrochameleon wrote:
         | It's been something like 5 years with no significant
         | improvement to UX and library management. Loading your library
         | is clunky and slow. Playlists are a nightmare to manage because
         | you can't create any folders or organization.
         | 
         | I'm so annoyed with Spotify, but my library of 5k songs is tied
         | up there, and I'm not a big fan of the alternatives that tend
         | to be missing artists I want. It's so time-consuming to try to
         | collect my own personal library of all this music.
         | 
         | If anyone has suggestions or reccs for ways to migrate from
         | Spotify, I'm open to options.
        
           | mancharface1 wrote:
           | > Playlists are a nightmare to manage because you can't
           | create any folders or organization
           | 
           | The desktop app on Mac allows for folder creation. While not
           | looking very hard, I wasn't able to find the same
           | functionality on iOS. Would be a nice addition to iOS if it
           | is not available.
        
       | legohead wrote:
       | Spotify please listen to your customers and spend a minute or two
       | implementing true shuffle [1], thank you.
       | 
       | [1] https://community.spotify.com/t5/Live-Ideas/All-Platforms-
       | Op...
        
         | chrisweekly wrote:
         | +1 yes, this. The ROI is there!
        
           | InitialLastName wrote:
           | >The ROI is there!
           | 
           | I like the feature request, but is it? How many people are
           | saying "I think I'll switch to Tidal" over a subtle feature
           | like this? How many people prefer the faked shuffle way?
           | 
           | What are the odds that Spotify originally did a true shuffle,
           | then at some point A/B testing "proved" that the modified
           | shuffle improved some metric? Not to mention that putting a
           | thumb on the shuffle function lets them manipulate plays and
           | maintain the sweet payola revenue.
        
             | legohead wrote:
             | I assume it's related to revenue somehow. They could hide
             | true shuffle somewhere deep in settings, not on by default,
             | whatever..
             | 
             | I spend a good portion of my time changing playlists and
             | restarting playlists just to get around their fake shuffle,
             | and I still end up hearing repeated songs. It's extremely
             | frustrating. I even tried out Amazon music, ready to make
             | the switch, but my family members don't want to move with
             | me, so I'm just dealing with Spotify for now. May end up
             | paying for my own Amazon/Other music service as well.
        
               | InitialLastName wrote:
               | I think you're proving my point: Even you, someone who
               | cares enough about the issue to work around it, continue
               | to give them your money.
               | 
               | I don't think what they're doing is my preference, but
               | you can find complaints about the shuffle algorithms for
               | every major music playback platform.
               | 
               | What would be a more generalized solution might be to
               | pick up the "Smart Playlist" concept that iTunes has had
               | for a long time, so you can work around the repeats with
               | a "Last played > 2 days ago" filter.
        
             | enlyth wrote:
             | > How many people prefer the faked shuffle way?
             | 
             | I am one of those people who prefer the fake shuffle. I
             | like how it kind of shuffles but still "knows" what I want
             | to listen to. There is a decade's worth of music in my
             | Liked Songs and my taste has changed over time, so I don't
             | want to listen to most of that music at a given moment, but
             | I still want to keep it there for archival/nostalgia
             | purposes
        
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