Spotify may have fired the wrong person.
Spotify’s recent layoffs, impacting over 1,500 employees, have also affected its most popular (though unofficial) music discovery tool, Every Noise at Once. This website, loved by users for its detailed genre mapping and discovery options, will no longer be updated since its creator was among those laid off.
The Layoff’s Impact on Music Discovery
Every Noise at Once was essentially a map to Spotify’s vast musical universe. This was created by Glenn McDonald, a former employee described as Spotify’s ‘data alchemist’.
The site was unique for its easy-to-navigate, yet insightful approach to the music discovery. It offers a visual and interactive map of over 6,000 music genres on Spotify.
The website had various features for discovering music:
- Clicking a genre played a short audio clip, giving users a taste of its sound.
- Searching an artist’s name would show the genres associated with them, along with similar artists, broadening listeners’ musical horizons.
- It featured playlists for each of its 6,281 genres, allowing users to explore more music within specific genres.
However, McDonald’s layoff meant he lost access to essential internal data. This prevented the site from being updated with new music.
He also mentioned that the site is at risk of being removed entirely. But, he assured users that the site is at least preserved in the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine).
User Reactions to the Loss of Every Noise at Once
The end of Every Noise at Once has prompted a wave of strong reactions from Spotify’s user community. The feedback ranges from sadness over its loss to calls for Spotify to acknowledge the tool’s value and keep its spirit alive.
For instance, one user, victorvr, submitted an official suggestion to Spotify via the platform’s ‘Ideas’ forum.
The suggestion calls for Spotify to continue supporting Every Noise at Once’s functions. Here, he pointed out the unique role of Every Noise at Once in navigating Spotify’s vast genre landscape. This emphasized its importance for uncovering new music that might otherwise remain hidden.
Many users have supported this suggestion, with some sharing their own sentiments and experiences in response. These detail the value the site has offered for Spotify users.
Every Noise At Once vs. Spotify’s Native Music Discovery Features
Every Noise At Once offered a free deep dive into Spotify’s catalog, letting users find new artists and songs in a way that Spotify’s own discovery features haven’t matched.
Spotify has rolled out several features aimed at personalizing user experiences. This includes Spotify Mixes in 2021 and Spotify DJ in 2023. These tools create playlists based on what you already like, mixing in similar tracks Spotify thinks you’ll enjoy.
These features can be exciting at first. However, they tend to loop the same set of songs, preventing users from encountering a wide array of new music.
Feedback from users further emphasizes this gap. Many have voiced their dissatisfaction with Spotify’s discovery mechanisms. Some even pointed out how Every Noise At Once alternatives like Release Radar only offer a limited solution.
