🎧Downbeat.fm Vol. 3 Track 11

Another year is coming to an end and that means that your social feeds may have been inundated with Spotify Wrapped posts, and to a lesser extent, Apple Music Replay posts.

There’s a joke that follows these posts questioning if people are okay when the lists are filled with sad song after sad song.

Like a lot of jokes, there is some truth in there. In 2020 my Wrapped was entirely sad and angry songs. My favorite album of that year was how I dealt with lockdown and quarantine. I can’t really even listen to it any more because all of that anxiety comes back.

The one thing that is always interesting to me with these year-end wrap ups is how different they are for me across Spotify and Apple Music. I pay for both services and use them for very different things.

I listened to 39,887 minutes of music on Spotify, and 67,344 minutes on Apple Music for a total of 107,231 minutes. That’s 1,787 hours, or 74.5 days. And that doesn’t count to any of the hundreds of records I listened to, or the dozens of live shows I went to.

Spotify is what I listen to for most of the workday in between meetings and is where I discover 95% or more of the new music that I find. It also skews more indie, and towards smaller, unknown bands, and always selected by the algorithm.

Apple Music is where I listen to music at night, on the weekends, and when I’m driving. The songs and artists here are more deliberate.

Three songs out of my top five most played songs on Spotify are from women-led bands. On Apple Music, it’s two out of the top five. Those top five songs on Spotify - all from artists that are relatively new, 10 years or less. The Apple Music songs skew older.

I don’t put a lot of weight in these wrap-ups for me, because of how I consume music. But one thing that did make me look twice in my Spotify Wrapped was my “listening personality type.”

This seems very on target for me. I’m always looking for something new, something that I’ve never heard, that next song to come out of no where and knock me on my ass. I hope you’ve experienced that at least once or twice through these playlists.

🎄Also, with it being Christmastime, make sure to check out my Christmas playlist filled of classic Christmas songs and contemporary songs from a wide swath of genres, yes, including Ska and Big Band. Listen on Apple Music or Spotify.

MONTH’S Playlist
This month’s playlist features Tula Vera, Concrete Surfers, Wussy, Snarls, Ovlov, The Beths, and more!

Listen to this month’s playlist on

Quick Listening and Other Links

The music world lost a legend this week with the passing of Christine McVie. Check out her Fleetwood Mac songs Say You Love Me and You Make Loving Fun.

Merlin Mann, a podcaster that I listen to, has started making “introductory” Spotify playlists of bands. Songs that you may know, but likely don’t, to introduce you to a band. This is a great idea and something I may try. Check out the ones he created for The Police.

This site creates a “receipt” of your Spotify and Apple Music listening habits - though I couldn’t get Apple Music to work for me.