Music discovery used to happen almost by accident. A radio station, a relative's record collection, summer camp or some unexpected song could introduce you to something you'd never gone looking for. Has streaming made that experience better, or simply more predictable?

Ryan O'Donnell argues Spotify has introduced him to more new artists than anything else in his life. Shane isn't convinced, especially when an algorithm can keep serving variations of what it already knows you like.

So what's missing when discovery becomes personalized by data? From music directors who could hear a hit to playlists built specifically for you, there's a bigger question underneath it all: do we discover music differently when another human being chooses what we hear?

Topics: music discovery, Spotify, radio, music algorithms, new music

Originally aired on 2026-09-28