The July Sweatdown 2K25 has arrived and it might be a good time to have a conversation about Spotify.

The Sweatdown has existed since April of 2018 as a monthly collection of music I’ve been listening to. Sometimes it’s old tracks but it’s usually new music. Everything from indie to synthwave to rock to alternative and more. Every December is a culmination of the music I’ve listened to.

The Spotify Conversation

I have recently started writing down to archive all of the playlists I’ve made on Spotify over the past few years. Including July, that’s 88 Spotify Playlist’s I’ve created since April 2018. It’s one of the only consistent things I’ve been able to keep up in my life. That’s also why these are important to me.

I’ve considered at various times to push them more, maybe try to go full blown writing about the songs and such, but I don’t know if I have the time and energy to work on that. I also haven’t really stayed connected to the music industry. The wrestling stuff I do at GrapPro is enough work.

But I have no intention to stop.

I just don’t know how long I can stay on Spotify. It only costs me $14 a month so it isn’t really the price. I can pay for that no problem. It’s more the fact that Spotify is leaning harder and harder into AI generated music.

This is something I’m well aware of being a problem no matter where I go. If I move these playlists anywhere it’s probably going to be YouTube Music, which I get included in my YouTube Premium purchase. For the same cost as Spotify I get ad-free YouTube plus the YouTube Music app which works pretty much the same as Spotify. The only drawback I’ve seen is that the Release Radar/Discover Weekly isn’t as strong as Spotify so I’ll have to put a little more grease in my hands on finding new music every month but that’s fine by me if I can escape the AI shit that’s getting pumped out now.

For a lot of people the issue is the €600 million investment in AI military defence company the CEO of Spotify made. What pushed me over the edge was the way everyone was fawning over the generated AI band The Velvet Sundown.

There is this really cowardly way that so many publications and people are just going, “WELP WE CAN’T HELP IT THIS IS THE NEW NORMAL GUESS WE JUST GOTTA EAT SHIT” and I hate it. And like I said, I know it’s a problem no matter where I go. But I don’t get AI generated music pushed on me on other platforms like YouTube Music quite like Spotify is now doing it. I’ve run into issues such as looking for Citypop music and finding playlists made of fake citypop music. But one click out and a click onto a different playlist I can find real artists and nobody is mixing the real and fake.

And that’s my worry going forward. The longer I’m on Spotify, the more likely it’ll be I accidentally push an AI generated artist. Heck, I might have done it already and don’t even know.

And this truly bothers me. And bothers me enough to think about leaving Spotify.

So if you do listen to my playlists and are reading this? Thank you for the support. Just understand at some point I might go offline from Spotify and move it to YouTube Music or another streaming service. I want to still keep them as easy as possible to find and enjoy. I did do the February Sweatdown 2K25 on YouTube but I think I need a dedicated Channel for it.

Stay tuned!

July Sweatdown 2K25 Features:

sunburn by almost monday
Cheeky by The Dare
heatwave by Marlhy
The City by Kasador
Nose on the Grindstone by Tyler Childers
Nothing’s The Same by Luella
Bass Guitar by Yukon Blonde
Nothing’s Broken by Sub-Radio
Urgent by Child Seat
No Perfect Love by DRYVE, Lucy Daydream
Back to the Bedroom by Hotel Mira
Salvation by Twin Atlantic
Nostalgia by Mother Mother
Bad Luck by Chief
End of May by PRXZM

Thank you for reading and thank you for listening. Photo by me of the American Niagara Falls on the Canadian side in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.