My answer is - buy music. Not only because that way you'll get actual human works of art by real musicians who you like, but also because that way they stand a chance of actually being able to make a living so they can, y'know, make more music.
this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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By not updating my music taste for the last 15 years
Music peaked right around the time I was 20.
That may be when you stopped actively seeking new music. There are loads of amazing new artists in every genre. There is so much good new stuff coming out its hard to keep up.
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Be warned that all styles of music are getting AI inserted into them.
Your method works as long as you never use an algorithm to mix your playlist, but as soon as you do, you're likely to get an AI track inserted into your ears, even if it's 70s classic rock.
I only sub to Deezer, a French streaming service that actively filters AI music and blocks it from their algorithms and search results.
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Don't use Spotify, they actively try to put AI shit into your playlist so they have to pay less royalties. Not sure how scumbaggy other services are.
YouTube music is what I'm using, add them to your list of scum please.
I think I read that Qobutz at least tries to work against AI music.
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The answer is stop using streaming services. The AI problem will only get worse as people keep paying for these services because what CEO is okay paying an artist a premium when they could instead generate slop and sell that for the same price? Buy your music on Bandcamp or sail the seas, just stop using Spotify.
This. Streaming services are doing to music what Lars Ulrich thought Napster would do.
Are you using Spotify ?
Because they are mainly known for 2 things:
- they are nazi cunts who platform nazi cunts and play ads for nazi cunts
- they flood their library with slop as a way to funnel money to themselves rather than to legitimate artists.
I'm not aware of a streaming service completely free of slop, but I know some like Qobuz are actively detecting and removing it.
+1 for Qobuz. Seems like an ethical company. They pay artists 4x Spotify rates too.
Bamdcamp took a stand against blatant slop but will allow artists to use some generative methods in their music.
Tbf some generative methods are cool and foster creativity, like modular synthesis.
There's nothing wrong about using randomness to get your creative juices flowing. People have been using card decks, dice, Euclidean rhythms, sample and hold and so on for a long time (Andrew Huang has a lot of examples of tracks where the main instrument, theme and genre are randomly picked). I guess sanitized, corporate slop could be used the same way, as long as the artist is fully in control of the creative process. For me the line stops where slop is used as is, with no human creative input.
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If your kick is new music than you should just switch languages and listen to stuff pre 2022.
I listen to a ton of foreign language music. The 2022 piece would help but it won't last for me. Young people are always coming up with new sounds and I love that!
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Never stumbled upon AI generated music ever.
I have my local library with ripped CDs and pirated music mostly from the 2010s and below.
When I feel like discovering new music, I
- browse forums to find arists similar to those I already listen to
- I search for artists that have been featured in a collab in songs I already listen to
- Or, I use ListenBrainz's Weekly Exploration tab when I'm feeling bored.
No streaming bullshit, AI algorithms made to keep me hooked, and definetly no AI music to be seen or heard.
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Piracy. Private trackers are genuinely better stewards and curators of their libraries because unlike the the slop factories, they're made by real humans, for real humans.
I built up my own personal library through the years that I will probably still be working my way through in 10-15 years, when I find something I like in it I search out more. I realize that doesn't help anyone else, good luck out there
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I don't stream music, I buy albums on Bandcamp pretty much exclusively for lack of better options. Then I play them to death, and buy another handful. Some piracy. Some vinyl purchases.
I haven't come across any AI slop in my favourite genres top of the month lists on Bandcamp yet.
Cancel Spotify if that's what you use. I've been happy with Tidal.
Certainly not a magic bullet tho. I tend to not listen to a lot of new music so I don't give the slop much of an opening.
+1, I've been very happy with Tidal for years now. I go down discovery holes fairly often and have yet to come across anything AI. It does a good job of vibe matching what I wanna hear.
Plus the audiophile quality is very, very nice if you have the equipment!
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Spicetify has an anti AI extension for songs known to be AI, but I can't say how effective it is.
Listen to songs that are more then 10 years old. My autism doesn't like new music so I just have a playlist of over 4k. Although I did add a few from music creators from TikTok. Very little though. I'm quite strict
I find bands by going to shows. I buy vinyl there and add their music to my playlists.
By getting old.
I don't purposely listen to anything made after 2015.
Can’t help you with music but I share your frustration when it comes to being suckered into consuming AI slop. My entire adult life, text to speech has been a constant part of my day, so I pride myself on being able to sniff out when the person talking isn’t a person.
Even with these AI voices I’ll eventually catch an odd stutter or wonky prosody, but it may take a good minute or more of listening, and when I do figure it out I feel like I’ve been scammed.
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I listen to bands I trust and older music mostly
By streaming mp3s, which I have collected and updated for almost 25 years, from my personal server.
Listen to artists I know are human, if the artist doesn't show up in a web search sorry but they gotta go its too risky
Now, this is also what pisses me off about ai. I listen to older music to stay away from it. That might sound crazy, but the world is crazy...
i think last.fm + soulseek kinda works. i haven't seen shitty ai tracks on both of them.
Buy real CDs from artists I see play in person. Or CDs of artists that are long dead.
CDs are key, streaming random tracks you have no clue what you will get.
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By not letting an AI choose what you hear.
Seems pretty obvious, really.
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Related bands are less likely to be AI than cold searches. You can also check to see if they have any social media influence, AI bands are unlikely to have any live clips
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I own my media. I have old vinyl, 8-tracks, cassettes, cd's and digital files. I've never once "streamed" music except when I turned on my AC Delco radio back in the 70's.
I used to be able to just start a "smooth jazz" or "lo-fi" playlist and the algorithm would do its thing, but now I need to specifically look for "classics" or some such otherwise the slop shows up. I've not yet had this issue with the rest of my musical landscape though as that does default to real bands, but these "background" styles are definitely affected.
I listen to DJs on Twitch. I look up stuff on bandcamp.
Qobuz has seemed to stay on top of generated music for me so far even with recommendation playlists.
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