UPDATE: We received a note from Eric Davich, co-founder of Songza, explaining that the app “only shows you the playlists that are right for you in Concierge.” We like personalization, and that’s a good response to our complaint below. He also pointed us to the Decades directory under Explore in the Concierge section. That’s good to know about. We still think there is a disconnect between what the “brand new music” promotion promises, and what is easily found in the apps. That said, we love the “Today” playlists.
Dear Songza: Idea, great. Execution, not so much.
An email promotion of Songza’s “brand new music” playlists introduces a terrific idea — new releases in 59 categories. (“Every genre,” according to the promotion.) It’s a great way to stay current without having to dig. Songza’s curation team does the digging for you.
In the Songza app, following the email’s directions, we could find no more than 18 new-music playlists in the Android, iOS, and web apps. The constraint is Songza’s selection template, which presents six choices, then three more choices within each of the six. We found new-music lists for rock, indie, country, and a few others. One of the lists was “My ’09 Prom,” which we bet doesn’t contain new music. We were hoping to find new blues and new world music, but our anticipation turned to sorrow.
A sorrowful experience is probably not given high priority in Songza’s app-development meetings. We hope Songza provides a better path to what could be a distinctive feature.
PS — we did find the “Blog 50” list, featuring new underground hits from music blogs, and it is terrific.