Writing about the decline of Pitchfork made me sad about the music industry — and also about the state of music discovery. Besides the fact that TikTok doesn’t prioritize music as anything other than background noise, it means that artists have to win the viral lottery in order to make a hit. And that’s entirely out of their control.
But about two weeks ago, a friend of mine introduced me to Music League, a game where everyone in the league submits a song to a playlist, and a group of us started playing. About a day after the first one formed, I made two more: one for another friend group and one for family.
I’ve enjoyed hearing new songs. The family league introduced me to psychedelic rockers Dead Meadow’s “Binah,” which led me to their album Force Form Free, and a friends game was the first time I heard The Exploding Hearts’ “Rumours in Town,” which got me to the sublime power pop album Guitar Romantic. I would not have encountered the songs — and certainly not the excellent albums — on my own.
Music League makes music social in a way that social media algorithms, ironically, do not. Every league I am in has a group chat that erupts when a new playlist drops, and again when the votes are in. The comments on the songs are often very funny and might be my favorite part of the game.
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