The cyber utopians tell us, the explosion of the web, of steaming services that include almost every song ever recorded, lead to all kinds of niche-listening, all kinds of previously overlooked types of music to thrive. But getting people to listen to a wide range of music doesn’t seem to be happening, and it has consequences not just for musicians but for fans.
@themisreadcity: Spotify is making you boring: When algorithms shape music taste, human curiosity loses — Artist Rights Watch
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Music Technology Policy 
This is a bit of a stretch. It’s up to the individual to develop his or her own taste. That calls for active involvement in choosing those things to which the individual is exposed – and not just exposed. It’s likewise up to the individual to delve deeply enough, and to think clearly, about what he or she has encountered, especially with regard to art. Spotify is no more “making people boring” than did the hit parade or Top 40 radio. If you passively consume that which is dished out to you without taking care to develop an individual sense of taste, then you will be more boring than if you sought your own path. One can use Spotify just as easily to choose music as to have it dished out by an algorithm, just as one can develop and exercise one’s taste by one’s choice of readings, viewings of films, and so on.
The question isn’t the platform you use. The question is whether the consumer is prepared to actively choose and think about what he or she encounters. Anything else is just an excuse for intellectual sloth.
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