Kudos to all the people who shared their opinions and mentioned many alternative services and tools. When I wrote the original post, I didn't know it would end up on HN and spark a discussion here, which means the topic is relevant. It's not just about the slop music itself, but the way Spotify is evolving (or devolving).
I enjoyed the Weekly Discovery and Made For You playlists for years and its suggestion mechanisms were just what I needed. I could tolerate the terrible UI and other minor flaws of the app as long as the excitement of discovering new music continued. I also didn't like the special promotions, podcast recommendations, and other novelties, but the real value was there and it kept me paying for the service.
The changes started around 2020, when the playlists started to contain fewer songs and artists that I could call discoveries. I found myself in what could be called a music bubble, and it didn't feel like it was growing much.
Also, when I first started using Spotify, I spent a lot of time in the app and was more involved in the listening process. Now I was mostly just hitting the button, minimizing the window, and listening to music in the background. It became less interesting. I'd come back to the app occasionally to skip (or block) a track I didn't like. And then came the AI-generated tracks, which was the last straw for me.
Not that I hate Spotify, it's just sad to see it go the way of enshitification. It probably still meets the needs of millions of other users, but I'm no longer one of them. In fact, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be more conscious about my hobby again. I still have my mp3 library that I've been building since the late 1990s, and I still buy and donate to artists from time to time, so I just have to relearn how to do the things that AI algorithms have tried (and failed) to do for me.
Since you asked for a hack, here's one that I use.
Once you find yourself in a moment of struggle with staying focused, getting into the "right state", etc., do the following. Put everything aside, grab a pencil and a piece of paper, and go to some quiet place. Sit still and quiet for 10 minutes. Do absolutely nothing - produce minimum entropy. Then start writing down everything that starts coming down to your mind: any thoughts, worries, ideas, whatsoever. Keep writing until you feel like nothing else to add. Put a date and return to what you've been doing. You can throw the paper away or hide it somewhere, but most importantly forget about it.
Call it brain dumping or anything else. For me it doesn't mater how it works unless it works. I have my own adjustments to this technique, but generally it's the same. Sometimes I get very surprising insights and get simple answers for questions which seemed to be complicated. Sometimes it just helps to clear up my mind. Anyways, I hope you'll find it useful. Good luck!
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